Stone mould
Stone Mould
1380-1400 (made)
1380-1400 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This object has sometimes been described as a mould for goldsmiths. Thin sheet metal could have been hammered into the mould to produce shallow reliefs. A number of silver reliefs made using such a mould survive on fifteenth and sixteenth century objects from across Europe.
However, a relief produced from a mould like this could just as likely be of tin or pastiglia. Such reliefs, once taken from the mould, could be applied to a wide variety of objects, many of them types of object that no longer survive. The late fourteenth century Italian author Cennino Cennini gives directions for producing tin reliefs from stone moulds, and suggests that, once gilded, they could be used to decorate walls, chests, stone, parade armour and almost any other type of decorative object. Low metal reliefs of this type were evidently once common, and formed an important link between the techniques used by metalworkers, furniture makers and painters.
However, a relief produced from a mould like this could just as likely be of tin or pastiglia. Such reliefs, once taken from the mould, could be applied to a wide variety of objects, many of them types of object that no longer survive. The late fourteenth century Italian author Cennino Cennini gives directions for producing tin reliefs from stone moulds, and suggests that, once gilded, they could be used to decorate walls, chests, stone, parade armour and almost any other type of decorative object. Low metal reliefs of this type were evidently once common, and formed an important link between the techniques used by metalworkers, furniture makers and painters.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Stone mould (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Carved limestone |
| Brief description | Relief, limestone, Two Chimerae, Venice, 15th century |
| Physical description | Limestone panel, the top of which is missing incised on both sides with designs. On one side, two figurative scenes are depicted - a young man kneels before two women under a canopy, and at right angles to this, a scene showing five men in a rowing boat. On the other side are a number of designs, including two quatrefoils with an archer and a winged figure respectively. A crack runs through the middle of the stone, and there are minor chips and scratches. A brass tube has been inserted into one of the sides. |
| Dimensions |
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| Object history | This piece was acquired at auction from Sotheby's, and had previously been with Piero Tozzi and Edwin Lubin in New York. It was said to have been excavated in Florence. Nothing is known of the early history of this piece. Historical significance: This object is an important survival of a type of object that must once have been very common. The designs on this piece also reflect the kinds of quite fragile and ephemeral decoration that would have once graced a number of different sorts of object. Finally, it demonstrates the concern of artists to find ways of producing repeating patterns or decoration with the minimum of effort, in order to maximise production and profitability. |
| Historical context | This object has sometimes been described as a mould for goldsmiths. It is true that goldsmiths did use moulds for reproducing relief ornament: a number of such reliefs can be seen on a late fourteenth century shrine of St Brigit in Vadstena, Sweden. However, a relief produced from a mould like this could just as likely be of tin or pastiglia. Such reliefs, once taken from the mould, could be applied to a wide variety of objects, many of them types of object that no longer survive. The late fourteenth century Italian author Cennino Cennini gives directions for producing tin reliefs from stone moulds, and suggests that, once gilded, they could be used to decorate walls, chests, stone, parade armour and almost any other type of decorative object. Low metal reliefs of this type were evidently once common, and formed an important link between the techniques used by metalworkers, furniture makers and painters. |
| Production | A number of similar reliefs survive in collections across Europe. Some, such as a relief in the Museo Civico, Bologna, are made of stone, whilst others, such as a pair of matrices in Norway (Tonsberg, Vestfold-Fylkesmuseum), are made of bronze. The style of the figures in the boat in the V&A relief, composed mainly of rounded blobs, can be parallelled in the praying figures of one of the Norwegian reliefs. However, the scene of the two women under a broadly Giottesque baldaquin, and the geometrical forms and grotesques of the reverse of the V&A relief would seem to suggest an Italian origin for this piece, probably Northern Italian, although the tradition that the relief was excavated in Florence means that we should not rule out a central Italian origin. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This object has sometimes been described as a mould for goldsmiths. Thin sheet metal could have been hammered into the mould to produce shallow reliefs. A number of silver reliefs made using such a mould survive on fifteenth and sixteenth century objects from across Europe. However, a relief produced from a mould like this could just as likely be of tin or pastiglia. Such reliefs, once taken from the mould, could be applied to a wide variety of objects, many of them types of object that no longer survive. The late fourteenth century Italian author Cennino Cennini gives directions for producing tin reliefs from stone moulds, and suggests that, once gilded, they could be used to decorate walls, chests, stone, parade armour and almost any other type of decorative object. Low metal reliefs of this type were evidently once common, and formed an important link between the techniques used by metalworkers, furniture makers and painters. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | A.4-1993 |
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| Record created | March 2, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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