A Bacchanal of Children thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sculpture, Room 111, The Gilbert Bayes Gallery

A Bacchanal of Children

Plaquette
ca. 1500 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Plaquettes are small plaques made of bronze, brass, lead or precious metals. They originated in the 1440s with the desire to reproduce coins and hardstone engravings from ancient Greece and Rome. Some were made as collector’s pieces, to be viewed and displayed in private, and others for practical purposes. They also inspired designs in other media, from architecture to bookbindings. The rimmed edges on independent plaquettes such as this suggest that they originally formed part of a larger casket. This one is an impression taken from a triangular sandbox used for sprinkling sand on to ink to dry it.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleA Bacchanal of Children (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Bronze
Brief description
Plaquette, bronze, depicting a Bacchanal of children, school of Riccio, Italy (Padua), 16th century
Physical description
Trapezoidal bronze plaquette depicting a Bacchanal of children. To the right, Pan is seated playing a fantastic lyre and accompanied on the syrinx by a child. A crowd of children lead a goat to him, one boy is falling off the goat's back and another bestrides a crawling satyr who is sucking the goat's udder. Double moulded rim above and below, the background minutely punched.
Dimensions
  • Height: 43.5mm
  • Width: 109mm
Credit line
Salting Bequest
Object history
From the Salting bequest.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Plaquettes are small plaques made of bronze, brass, lead or precious metals. They originated in the 1440s with the desire to reproduce coins and hardstone engravings from ancient Greece and Rome. Some were made as collector’s pieces, to be viewed and displayed in private, and others for practical purposes. They also inspired designs in other media, from architecture to bookbindings. The rimmed edges on independent plaquettes such as this suggest that they originally formed part of a larger casket. This one is an impression taken from a triangular sandbox used for sprinkling sand on to ink to dry it.
Bibliographic references
  • 'Salting Bequest (A. 70 to A. 1029-1910) / Murray Bequest (A. 1030 to A. 1096-1910)'. In: List of Works of Art Acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum (Department of Architecture and Sculpture). London: Printed under the Authority of his Majesty's Stationery Office, by Eyre and Spottiswoode, Limited, East Harding Street, EC, p. 66
  • Maclagan, Eric. Catalogue of Italian Plaquettes . London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1924, p. 24
Collection
Accession number
A.419-1910

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Record createdOctober 20, 2004
Record URL
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