Mazers are wide, shallow drinking bowls made from the burrs of a maple tree, mounted with a rim of gold or silver. They were costly versions of the universally used plain wooden drinking bowl.Wooden bowls were widely used and cheap in the medieval and Renaissance periods. This bowl, however, is made of precious serpentine marble, although it otherwise has the traditional size and shape of a late medieval mazer, made of maplewoood. Goldsmiths often incorporated in their work precious or semi- precious stones or rarities from distant lands, like coconut shells. These materials added a touch of exoticism to their objects and increased their value. It is likely that this mazer was owned by a wealthy person, and that it was designed to be displayed and admired, as well as used.
Mazers are the most numerous form of surviving drinking vessel from England, and were widely used in the medieval period. The word mazer is derived from the Old High German masa meaning 'spot', because certain sorts of maples were mottled in colour.Maplewood has a fine grain, and withstands continual wetting and drying without warping. Wooden bowls of this design probably influenced the shape of the plain drinking bowls of precious metal which no longer survive from England, but which are known from Germany, Scandinavia and France, such as those in the Rouen treasure ( V&A 106-9-1865).
Physical description
Mazer with a turned serpentine bowl and silver-gilt mounts. Silver-gilt foot embossed with eighteen lobes. Rim clapsed by notched chased triangles with subsidiary triangles between them.
The gilding has been renewed. The underside of the bowl support is ungilt.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (made)
London, England (probably, made)
Date
ca. 1500 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Silver-gilt mounts, serpentine marble
Dimensions
Height: 10 cm, Diameter: 16.3 cm, Weight: 0.62 kg
Object history note
Per Crichton at the Swaythling Sale
Historical significance: Wooden bowls were common and cheap in the medieval and Renaissance periods. This bowl however is made of precious serpentine marble, although it otherwise has the traditional size and shape of a late medieval mazer, made of maplewoood. Goldsmiths often incorporated in their work precious or semi- precious stones or rarities from distant lands, like coconut shells. These materials added a touch of exoticism to their objects and increased their value. It is likely that this mazer was owned by a wealthy person, and that it was designed to be displayed and admired as well as used.
Another serpentine bowl in the collection (650-1865), displaying the arms of the Order of St John, was probably used as an ornament rather than as a functional object.
Historical context note
Mazers are wide, shallow drinking bowls made from the burrs of a maple tree, mounted with a rim of gold or silver. They were costly versions of the universally used plain wooden drinking bowl. They are the most numerous form of surviving drinking vessel from England, and were widely used in the medieval period. The word mazer is derived from the Old High German masa meaning 'spot', because certain sorts of maples were mottled in colour.Maplewood has a fine grain, and withstands continual wetting and drying without warping.
Wooden bowls of this design probably influenced the shape of the plain drinking bowls of precious metal which no longer survive from England, but which are known from Germany, Scandinavia and France, such as those in the Rouen treasure ( V&A 106-9-1865).
Descriptive line
Serpentine mazer, the mounts of silver gilt, England, ca.1500
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Philippa Glanville, Silver in Tudor and Early Stuart England, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1990, fig 120, no.3
Marian Campbell, 'Gold, silver and precious stones', in English Medieval Industries, ed. John Blair and Nigel Ramsay, London 1991, pp. 156-7
Exhibition History
English Silver from 16th- 20th century (Muzei Primenjene Umetnosti 01/09/1980-31/10/1980)
English Silver from 16th- 20th century (Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow 01/10/1977-31/01/1978)
English Silver from 16th- 20th century (Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow 01/10/1977-31/01/1978)
Labels and date
BOWL
Serpentine marble mounted in silver-gilt
English; first quarter of the 16th century
Materials
Silver-gilt; Serpentine
Techniques
Gilded; Chased; Turned
Categories
Drinking; Metalwork; Eating
Collection code
MET
