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Cupid Asleep

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

This bronze plaquette is ascribed to Fra Antonio da Brescia, Italy, ca. 1500.

There is an enlarged copy of this plaquette, executed in 1529, on the wall between the choir and the ambulatory of Chartres Cathedral.

Fra Antonio da Brescia was active between 1487 and 1514. His works are not dated but due to the depicted persons the time is identifiable. He was apparently active in Brescia, Padua, Treviso, Venice and Verona.

Plaquettes are small plaques made of bronze, brass, lead or precious metals. They originated in the 1440ies 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


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleCupid Asleep (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Bronze
Brief description
Medallion Plaque, Cupid Asleep, ascribed to Fra Antonio da Brescia, North Italy, ca. 1500.
Physical description
A round Medallion Plaque with a heavy moulded rim, showing a winged cupid sitting on a floor and leaning with his right arm on an outdoor architectural structure. In the background is a tree.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 8.26cm
Historical context
There is an enlarged copy of this plaquette, executed in 1529, on the wall between the choir and the ambulatory of Chartres Cathedral.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This bronze plaquette is ascribed to Fra Antonio da Brescia, Italy, ca. 1500.

There is an enlarged copy of this plaquette, executed in 1529, on the wall between the choir and the ambulatory of Chartres Cathedral.

Fra Antonio da Brescia was active between 1487 and 1514. His works are not dated but due to the depicted persons the time is identifiable. He was apparently active in Brescia, Padua, Treviso, Venice and Verona.

Plaquettes are small plaques made of bronze, brass, lead or precious metals. They originated in the 1440ies 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
Bibliographic references
  • Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1857. 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. 26.
  • for similar version see: Martini, Luciana. Piccoli bronzi e placchette del Museo Nazionale di Ravenna. University Press, Bologna, 1985, pp. 163-164, no's 42/43
Collection
Accession number
4082-1857

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Record createdJune 18, 2008
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