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Bowl thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Medieval & Renaissance, Room 10a, The Françoise and Georges Selz Gallery

Bowl

1300-1325 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This bowl was probably intended for use while dining and is likely to have been used as a drinking vessel. The bowl forms part of the so-called 'Rouen Treasure' hoard, said to have been found in an iron box when pulling down a house in Rouen in 1864. Three further bowls, four silver spoons and a gold écu of Philip VI of Valois (ruled 1328-50) from this hoard are also in the V&A, whilst other bowls are in Paris ( the Louvre and the Cluny Museums) asnd in St Petersburg (the Hermitage).


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver, raised
Brief description
Circular silver bowl, undecorated, with engraved coat-of-arms under base, with the mark for Paris ca.1300-1325.
Physical description
Circular silver bowl, undecorated, with an engraved coat-of-arms ( showing two wings or sails below a fleur-de-lis) under the base, stamped with a fleur-de-lis within a diamond, the mark used by the goldsmiths of Paris after 1313.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 18.4cm
  • Depth: 4.6cm
  • Weight: 0.24kg
Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries
Marks and inscriptions
  • Paris town mark under base: a fleur-de-lis in a diamond (The fleur-de-lis was introduced as the Paris mark on 18 June 1313. Since the goldsmiths of Paris were already using a fleur-de-lis together with a personal mark as early as 1355, this bowl may date from the early part of the 14th century [see Lightbown, 1978 in References].)
  • Engraved coat-of-arms: two wings or sails below a fleur-de-lis in a shield (unidentified; also appears on two bowls of the so-called Gaillon treasure in the Musée de Cluny, Paris and on a bowl in the Hermitage - see Object History)
Object history
The bowl forms part of the so-called 'Rouen Treasure' hoard, said to have been found in an iron box when pulling down a house in Rouen in 1864. Three further bowls (106 to 108-1865), four silver spoons (110 to 113-1865) and a gold écu of Philip VI of Valois (ruled 1328-50) from this hoard are also in the V&A. In 1961 Charles Oman suggested that they originally belonged to a larger hoard of silver, whose origin is unknown but was possibly near Gaillon in Normandy. This hoard also included pieces now found in the Musée de Cluny (traditionally thought to have been excavated in 1851 at the Château of Gaillon, once the country palace of the archbishops of Rouen), in the Basilewsky Collection now in the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg and in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Duke Charles the Bold Exhibition RF.2006/635
Historical context
This bowl is much simpler in design than other bowls found in the same hoard but the fact that it is made of silver, rather than the more utilitarian pewter or latten (a type of copper alloy), suggests it was intended for use in an affluent household. It is probably a drinking vessel, called a hanap in contemporary French inventories, which also indicate they were often made in sets. A similar-shaped bowl can be seen in use as a drinking vessel on folio 55 of the illuminated manuscript Oeuvres de Guillaume de Machaut, Paris, about 1350 from the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris [Fr.1586], illustrated in eds. Pierre Ennès, Gérard Mabille and Philippe Thiébaut, Histoire de la Table (Paris, Flammarion, 1994), p. 42.
Summary
This bowl was probably intended for use while dining and is likely to have been used as a drinking vessel. The bowl forms part of the so-called 'Rouen Treasure' hoard, said to have been found in an iron box when pulling down a house in Rouen in 1864. Three further bowls, four silver spoons and a gold écu of Philip VI of Valois (ruled 1328-50) from this hoard are also in the V&A, whilst other bowls are in Paris ( the Louvre and the Cluny Museums) asnd in St Petersburg (the Hermitage).
Bibliographic references
  • Lightbown, R.W., Secular Goldsmiths' Work in Medieval France: A History. London, The Society of Antiquaries of London, 1978, ill. (Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, no. XXXVI).
  • Lightbown, R.W. French Silver. London: HMSO, 1978. cat. no. 8, pp. 13-14, ill. (Victoria and Albert Museum catalogue)
  • Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle and Taburet-Delahaye, Elisabeth, Objets d'arts du Moyen Age, Paris, 1981. Cat. nos. 127-128, pp. 242-245, ill. (on two bowls from the so-called Gaillon hoard in the Musée de Cluny, Paris).
  • Oman, Charles. A mysterious hoard of early French silver, in Pantheon, xix, March 1961, pp. 82-87, ill.
  • Campbell, Marian. [Catalogue entry]. In: Charles Le Téméraire (1433-1477): Faste et Déclin de la cour de Bourgogne. Brussels: Fonds Mercator, 2008. p.288, no.111, ill. Catalogue of the exhibition held Musée Historique de Berne, 25 April - 24 August 2008 and at Bruggemuseum & Groeningemuseum Bruges, 27 March - 21 July 2009.
Collection
Accession number
109-1865

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Record createdNovember 4, 2004
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