Lamp in the form of a female grotesque thumbnail 1
Lamp in the form of a female grotesque thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Medieval & Renaissance, Room 64, The Wolfson Gallery

Lamp in the form of a female grotesque

Lamp
ca. 1510-1530 (made)
Artist/Maker
Briosco, Andrea (artist)
Place of origin
Padua (city) (made)

It was said that the Roman historian Pliny preferred the ‘even flame’ of a lamp to that of a candle for working at night. Based largely on antique forms, bronze lamps in the Renaissance were often fashioned into amusing grotesques. The cheeks on the sphinx are puffed out as though blowing on the flame, while the dragon, whose mouth housed the flame, is designed so that it can be carried or hung safely by the curled tail.


Object details

Categories
Lighting
Sculpture
Object type
Lamp
TitleLamp in the form of a female grotesque (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Cast bronze
Bronze
Brief description
Bronze lamp in the form of a female grotesque, possibly after a model by Andrea Briosco, Italy (Padua), about 1500-20
Physical description
Bronze lamp in the form of a grotesque horned, female sphinx, with strapwork and foliated enrichment, from whose breast a snail protrudes to form the nozzle, after a model by Il Riccio
Dimensions
  • Height: 11.6cm
  • Width: 5.6cm
  • Depth: 14.3cm
Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries
Production
Possibly after a model by Andrea Briosco, who is also called "Il Riccio"
Subjects depicted
Grotesques
Monster
Sphinx
Summary
It was said that the Roman historian Pliny preferred the ‘even flame’ of a lamp to that of a candle for working at night. Based largely on antique forms, bronze lamps in the Renaissance were often fashioned into amusing grotesques. The cheeks on the sphinx are puffed out as though blowing on the flame, while the dragon, whose mouth housed the flame, is designed so that it can be carried or hung safely by the curled tail.
Bibliographic references
  • Drury, C and Fortnum, E: A Descriptive Catalogue of the bronzes of European origin in the South Kensington Museum London, 1876, pp. 163 - 164
  • Radcliffe, Anthony: Ricciana, in The Burlington Magazine, CXXIV, July 1982, pp. 412-424
  • Avery, Charles: Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes in the Frick Art Museum, Pittsburgh, 1993, pp. 35-37, Cat. No. 2
  • van Biniebeke, Emile: Bronze Sculpture: Sculpture from 1500-1800 in the collection of the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, 1994, pp. 142-143, Cat. No. 43
  • Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1859. In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 35
Collection
Sculpture Collection
Accession number
4701-1859

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Record createdAugust 27, 2004
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O102888/lamp-in-the-form-of-lamp-briosco-andrea/
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