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Lamp - Lamp in the form of a female grotesque

Lamp in the form of a female grotesque

  • Object:

    Lamp

  • Place of origin:

    Padua (made)

  • Date:

    ca. 1510-1530 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Briosco, Andrea (after, artist)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Cast bronze

  • Museum number:

    4701-1859

  • Gallery location:

    In store

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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.

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

Place of Origin

Padua

Date

ca. 1510-1530 (made)

Artist/maker

Briosco, Andrea

Materials and Techniques

Cast bronze

Dimensions

Height: 11.6 cm
Width: 5.6 cm
Depth: 14.3 cm

Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries

Descriptive line

Bronze lamp in the form of a female grotesque, possibly after a model by Andrea Briosco, Italy (Padua), about 1500-20

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Avery, Charles: Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes in the Frick Art Museum, Pittsburgh, 1993, pp. 35-37, Cat. No. 2
The V&A version is not cited by C Avery

Attribution Note

Possibly after a model by Andrea Briosco, who is also called "Il Riccio"

Materials

Bronze

Subjects depicted

Grotesques; Monster; Sphinx

Categories

Lighting; Sculpture

Collection code

SCP

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Qr_O102888
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