French silver embossed ewer and basin

An image of Ewer and basin. Unknown (silversmith). Silver; embossed, chased and matted, and decorated with acanthus leaves and putti amid scrolling foliage. Helmet-shaped ewer on a short stem and oval foot, with projecting covered spout, the cover perforated at the end; cast harp-shaped handle; and covex cover with a raised circle in the centre and a cast 'turned' finial. The body of is decorated below the rim with a frieze of putti amid scrolling foliage separated by a filet from a calyx of acanthus leaves growing upwards from the junction with the stem which has a gadrooned 'frill' half way up. The spout is wrapped in acanthus foliage, and there is a leaf extending downwards from the top of the handle. The foot has a border of scrolling foliage, and the cover has acanthus foliage radiating from the raised centre. (A) Oval basin with applied reeded edge, wide rim, and shallow oval well. It has a plain centre, and on the rim, four putti amid scrolling foliage with a matted ground. The putti among foliage may have been derived from engraved designs by Jean Lepautre (1618-82). The ewer and basin are unmarked but are most likely to have been made in Paris. Height (ewer - to finial top) 21 cm, weight (ewer - whole) 880 g, length (basin) 41.5 cm, width (basin) 30.2 cm, weight (basin - whole) 923 g, circa 1656 to 1660.

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Ewer and basin. Unknown (silversmith). Silver; embossed, chased and matted, and decorated with acanthus leaves and putti amid scrolling foliage. Helmet-shaped ewer on a short stem and oval foot, with projecting covered spout, the cover perforated at the end; cast harp-shaped handle; and covex cover with a raised circle in the centre and a cast 'turned' finial. The body of is decorated below the rim with a frieze of putti amid scrolling foliage separated by a filet from a calyx of acanthus leaves growing upwards from the junction with the stem which has a gadrooned 'frill' half way up. The spout is wrapped in acanthus foliage, and there is a leaf extending downwards from the top of the handle. The foot has a border of scrolling foliage, and the cover has acanthus foliage radiating from the raised centre. (A) Oval basin with applied reeded edge, wide rim, and shallow oval well. It has a plain centre, and on the rim, four putti amid scrolling foliage with a matted ground. The putti among foliage may have been derived from engraved designs by Jean Lepautre (1618-82). The ewer and basin are unmarked but are most likely to have been made in Paris. Height (ewer - to finial top) 21 cm, weight (ewer - whole) 880 g, length (basin) 41.5 cm, width (basin) 30.2 cm, weight (basin - whole) 923 g, circa 1656 to 1660.

Image data

Accession Number: M.468 & A-1985
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Photographer name: Andrew Morris
Image height: 769 pixels
Image width: 1023 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.4 (Windows)
Filesize: 158.23kB

Key words

17th Century acanthus Baroque basin chased embossed ewer Fitz_AA French gadroons handle handled leaves putti putto Silver silverware spout spouted

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            "French silver embossed ewer and basin"
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