Abundance thumbnail 1
Abundance thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sculpture, Room 111, The Gilbert Bayes Gallery

Abundance

Plaquette
1450-1500 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Florence (made)

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. This was cast from an amethyst intaglio carving in the collection of Cardinal Pietro Barbo. It was presumably commissioned by Barbo himself as it shows his coat of arms on the rim.


Object details

Categories
Sculpture
Medallions
Plaques & Plaquettes
Myths & Legends
Object type
Plaquette
TitleAbundance (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Bronze
Bronze
Brief description
Plaquette, bronze, 'Abundance', Italy (Florence), ca. 1475-1500
Physical description
The head and shoulders of a female figure, seen three-quarter face, holding a cornucopia. The sunk centre is surrounded by a raised sloping edge inscribed in relief HOC.OPVS.E.FRVGES.EFFVNDO.COPIA.CORNV.
Below is the shield of a cardinal, with a lion rampant; probably for the arms of Pope Paul II, Pietro Bembo, as a cardinal or possibly of his nephew Marco Bembo who was made cardinal in 1467.
Dimensions
  • Height: 4.9cm
  • Width: 4cm
Marks and inscriptions
HOC.OPVS.E.FRVGES.EFFVNDO.COPIA.CORNV. (inscribed around the edge)
Object history
Aquried in Italy, £2.
Subject depicted
Abundance
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. This was cast from an amethyst intaglio carving in the collection of Cardinal Pietro Barbo. It was presumably commissioned by Barbo himself as it shows his coat of arms on the rim.
Bibliographic references
  • Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1864 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. 47
  • Maclagan, Eric. Catalogue of Italian Plaquettes . London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1924, p. 15
  • Pope-Hennessy, John. Renaissance Bronzes from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. Reliefs - Plaquettes - Statuettes - Utensils and Mortars . London: 1965, p. 77, no. 265 for another version see
  • Fiore FP, Alberti LB, Nesselrath A, et al. La Roma Di Leon Battista Alberti : Umanisti, Architetti E Artisti Alla Scoperta Dell'antico Nella Città Del Quattrocento. Milano: Skira; 2005, p. 347, 350, cat. III.14.1, repr.
Other number
III, 14, 1 (La Forma di Leon Battista Alberti) - Exhibition number
Collection
Sculpture Collection
Accession number
271-1864

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Record createdMay 9, 2005
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O111870/abundance-plaquette-unknown/
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