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Dish

Dish

  • Place of origin:

    Portugal (made)

  • Date:

    ca.1540 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Unknown (production)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Silver, parcel-gilt, embossed and chased.

  • Credit Line:

    Dr W.L. Hildburgh Bequest

  • Museum number:

    M.216-1956

  • Gallery location:

    Medieval and Renaissance, room 62, case 12

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A banquet proclaimed a host’s wealth. Across Europe, this was partly achieved by displaying valuable glass, ceramics and silver, like this dish, on a makeshift, stepped structure. In Italy, this was called a ‘credenza’ (meaning ‘trust’, a reference to the practice of testing food for poison), while in France and England it was a ‘buffet’. Sometimes food and functional objects were included on the bottom tier. Once dinner was over, the shelves were dismantled and the valuables locked away.

Physical description

Silver dish (one of a pair) depicting the labours of Hercules. Circular with narrow, upturned flange along the rim. The centre recessed to form the low foot. The centre section is embossed and chased with running foliage involving animals. The remainder is embossed and chased with foliage framing profile heads and scenes from the life of Herculaes. These last are as follows: The two serpents, the boar of Erymanthus, the bird of Ceryneia, the centaur, Nessus, the apples of the Hesperides and Cerberus.

Place of Origin

Portugal (made)

Date

ca.1540 (made)

Artist/maker

Unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

Silver, parcel-gilt, embossed and chased.

Marks and inscriptions

Mark: CB

Dimensions

Diameter: 30.9 cm, Weight: 0.58 kg

Object history note

Originally catalogued as Venetian, it was the opinion of Dr. Reynolds dos Santos that these pair of dishes were Portuguese work of ca.1540. He could make no suggestion with regard to the maker, CB. (Note by Charles Oman in the Register, dated 18/10/1961).

Descriptive line

Silver, parcel-gilt, Portugal, ca.1540.

Materials

Silver; Gold

Techniques

Chasing; Embossing; Raising; Amalgam gilding

Subjects depicted

Foliage; Bird; Animals; Hercules; Apples; Boar; Serpents; Centaur; Cerberus

Categories

Metalwork

Collection code

MET

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Qr_O232977
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