Current Location: Gallery 32 (Rothschild)
Maker(s)
Silversmith:
Unidentified
Printmaker:
Androuet du Cerceau, Jacques, the elder
Entities
Categories
Description
Silver-gilt, embossed, chased, and engraved. Circular with a narrow rim, curved well and domed boss. Decorated overall with with mythological and natural aquatic figures and animals, and strapwork against a wavy background. The boss is inset with a plaque engraved with the arms of Fuller.
Notes
History note: Sir Samuel Montague, first Lord Swaythling; sold Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 6-7 May 1924, Catalogue of the Renowned Collection of Silversmith's Work formed by the Right Hon. Montagu, First Lord Swaythling being a part of The Swaythling Heirlooms, on the second day of sale, p. 38, part of lot 113.
Legal notes
L.D. Cunliffe Bequest, 1937
Measurements and weight
Diameter: 45.5 cm
Place(s) associated
Acquisition and important dates
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed
(1937)
by
Cunliffe, Leonard Daneham
Dating
Renaissance
Mid 16th century
1559
-
1560
Note
Label text from the exhibition ‘Feast and Fast: The Art of Food in Europe, 1500–1800’, on display at The Fitzwilliam Museum from 26 November 2019 until 31 August 2020: This large silver basin is a masterpiece of the silversmith’s art using many different techniques. It has been embossed, chased, and engraved with marine imagery taken from two famous engravings by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau the Elder (c.1512– 86). One can imagine well-to-do diners dipping their fingers into the sweet-smelling rosewater, and taking a moment to feel the raised work and to look down at the mythical sea-creatures cavorting in the real and fictively rendered water.
The basin would originally have been silver; the gilding was added at a later date, possibly when the Fuller family replaced the original boss with their armorials.
The coat-of-arms of the Fuller family of Hyde House and Germans, Buckinghamshire was probably added in the early 19th century. Lapits round the edge of the boss suggest the original would have been enamelled.
The marine subjects were derived from two designs by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (c.1510-1585): 'The Triumph of Neptune' and 'The Battle between Marine Centaurs'.
School or Style
Mannerism
People, subjects and objects depicted
Components of the work
Whole Surface
composed of
gold
Decoration
Materials used in production
Silver
Inscription or legends present
- Location: On underside
- Method of creation: Struck
- Type: Maker's mark
- Text: H crowned
- Location: On underside
- Method of creation: Struck
- Type: Warden's mark
References and bibliographic entries
Related exhibitions
Identification numbers
Accession number: M/P.9-1938
Primary reference Number: 118296
Stable URI
Audit data
Created: Saturday 6 August 2011
Updated: Thursday 10 December 2020
Last processed: Thursday 16 March 2023
Associated departments & institutions
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
