Mazer
ca. 1480 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Mazer bowls were popular drinking vessels until the 16th century. Favoured for their inexpensive materials and versatility of use, they were typically plain in their design. This example is engraved with the sacred IHS monogram, which suggests that it belonged to a religious community.
Sir Arthur and Rosalinde Gilbert began collecting in the 1960s and over a period of 40 years formed one of the world’s great private collections of decorative arts. The collection consists of over 800 objects from the fields of European gold and silver, Italian mosaics and hardstone, portrait enamels and gold boxes. Sir Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996 to be housed at Somerset House, London, having previously been displayed at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). In 2008 the collection was moved to dedicated galleries in the V&A, where a selection has been on permanent display ever since.
Sir Arthur and Rosalinde Gilbert began collecting in the 1960s and over a period of 40 years formed one of the world’s great private collections of decorative arts. The collection consists of over 800 objects from the fields of European gold and silver, Italian mosaics and hardstone, portrait enamels and gold boxes. Sir Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996 to be housed at Somerset House, London, having previously been displayed at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). In 2008 the collection was moved to dedicated galleries in the V&A, where a selection has been on permanent display ever since.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Turned maple wood and silver-gilt, raised, moulded, engraved, hatched and stamped |
| Brief description | Turned wood, silver-gilt mounts, England, ca.1480 |
| Physical description | Plain, turned maple wood mazer bowl with a shallow rim foot and a broad, spreading silver-gilt lip. The lip is engraved around the lower border with a band of hatched chevrons; above this are stamped pellets arranged in crosses. The upper lip is stamped with another band of crosses, and there are traces of pricked initials, apparently CF. The print in the centre of the bowl has a molded surround and a sunken centre engraved with a quatrefoil containing the sacred monogram IHS surrounded by flowers. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | CF Note Other mark; traces of the initials CF on the upper lip.; pricked |
| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
| Historical context | Shallow turned wooden drinking vessels known as mazers, frequently enriched with silver mounts, were a common form in England until the early sixteenth century, although only about eighty survive today (Clayton, 1985, p. 243). Monastic inventories, for example, record 182 at Canterbury in 1328 and forty-nine at Durham in 1446 (Pinto 1949, p. 17). |
| Production | Dating this Mazer with any precision is particularly difficult since none of the comparable examples is marked. One with similar stamped pellets is in the Franks Bequest in the British Museum and is dated about 1490. |
| Summary | Mazer bowls were popular drinking vessels until the 16th century. Favoured for their inexpensive materials and versatility of use, they were typically plain in their design. This example is engraved with the sacred IHS monogram, which suggests that it belonged to a religious community. Sir Arthur and Rosalinde Gilbert began collecting in the 1960s and over a period of 40 years formed one of the world’s great private collections of decorative arts. The collection consists of over 800 objects from the fields of European gold and silver, Italian mosaics and hardstone, portrait enamels and gold boxes. Sir Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996 to be housed at Somerset House, London, having previously been displayed at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). In 2008 the collection was moved to dedicated galleries in the V&A, where a selection has been on permanent display ever since. |
| Bibliographic reference | Schroder, Timothy. The Gilbert collection of gold and silver. Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 1988, cat. no.1, pp. 32-34. ISBN.0875871445 |
| Other numbers |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | LOAN:GILBERT.576-2008 |
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| Record created | June 19, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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