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This delicate casket may have been intended for jewelry, cosmetics, or other personal items. The scenes combine four episodes from the life of the Virgin on the lid (Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, and Adoration of the Magi) with four episodes from the life of Saint Margaret on the side panels. Margaret was a Christian virgin who refused to accept the advances of a Roman official, Olybrius, for which she was tortured and finally beheaded. On the front, she is shown being judged by Olybrius; on the right end panel, she is being whipped; on the left end panel, she is shown in prison overcoming a dragon set loose to devour her; and on the back, she is decapitated.
French
H with lock: 1 7/8 x W: 4 5/16 x D: 3 1/16 in. (4.8 x 11 x 7.7 cm)
medium: ivory, silver and enamel mounts
style: Gothic
culture: French
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
America, New York
silver
Overall: 30 cm (11 13/16 in.); Diameter of mouth with rim: 13.2 cm (5 3/16 in.); Diameter of base: 13.4 cm (5 1/4 in.)
Sundry Purchase Fund by Exchange
Luxurious personal objects were an essential part of a privileged wardrobe during the 1700s and early 1800s, emphasizing their owner’s refinement and wealth. Especially popular were <em>étuis</em>, small ornamented cases containing miniature sewing, writing, or grooming implements that hung at a woman’s waist from an ornate clasp, known as a <em>chatelaine</em>. Despite its glittering surface, this small expensive set disguised a system based on the labor and suffering of enslaved or indentured people, whether in gold and stone mines or the shop where it was made.
England, 18th century
Did you know...
Stored inside this case are grooming and writing instruments such as a clasp knife, scissors, an ivory tablet, a pencil, a threading needle used for lacing corsets, and an ear scoop.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade
Fabergé’s craftsmen in Moscow, especially under the watchful eye of workmaster Feodor Rückert, became known for their work in the pan-Slavic or neo-Russian style, hearkening back to 17th-century motifs of Russian folk art. Often on rather conventional shapes, Rückert and his silversmiths created an explosion of color, achieved through the historic technique of cloisonné enamel in which tiny metal lines are soldered to the surface then filled with glass powders in various colors and fired to create a high gloss finish. The result is a spectacular evocation of the 17th-century originals. Far from mere copies, however, Rückert's designs, such as this tea service, employ naturalistic or abstract motifs in a thoroughly modern adaptation of a remarkable earlier period of Russian art and decoration.
Russia, St. Petersburg
silver gilt, opaque cloisonné enamel
Overall: 17.2 x 5.9 cm (6 3/4 x 2 5/16 in.)
Did you know...
This tea strainer is part of a larger tea service.
The India Early Minshall Collection
The style and quality of this manuscript's decoration is typical of deluxe Parisian books made for aristocratic or royal patrons. Most of the book's decoration appears to be the work of the Master of the Boqueteaux, an artist active at the court of King Charles V (died 1380). His style was apparently shared by a number of book illuminators working in and around Paris. It is very possible that the <em>Gotha Missal</em> belonged to Charles V, but is not provable because the manuscript has no royal portraits and lacks a colophon. Given the book's magnificent decoration, however, it would seem that it was produced for a Valois prince, if not for the king himself. The manuscript receives its name from the German dukes of Gotha, its later owners.
France, Paris
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; blind-tooled leather binding
Codex: 27.1 x 19.5 cm (10 11/16 x 7 11/16 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
This bronze bear sits on its hindquarters with its front paws raised, head slightly turned left, and mouth gaping open. It wears a collar around its neck with two rings on either side, where a chain would be passed through to suspend the ampulla. The bear’s head is hinged at the back of the collar to open the vessel, with the lower jaw forming a spout. The eyes were once pierced to prevent an airlock within the ampulla. Bears, like many other animals in antiquity, were used as a form of entertainment, demonstrated here by the bear’s “dancing” pose.
Italy, Roman
bronze
Overall: 14.6 x 10.4 x 9.5 cm (5 3/4 x 4 1/8 x 3 3/4 in.)
Did you know...
This ampulla was likely used to carry oil to the baths in antiquity.
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Originally, this scene depicted a man clasping the hand of a seated woman, whom the inscription identifies as ". . .te, daughter of Kleomachos and wife of Pheidippos." The maiden between them was either a daughter or servant. In keeping with Classical traditions, grief is not expressed directly through the man's facial expression, but rather by the mourning doves and the grieving gesture of the siren on the crown of the monument.
Greek
H: 21 3/8 x W: 21 13/16 x D: 4 11/16 in. (54.3 x 55.4 x 11.9 cm)
medium: marble, probably Pentelic
style: Attic
culture: Greek
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.