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The Destruction of the Children of Niobe

Scent Bottle
ca.1680 - ca. 1720 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Germany (made)

This ivory scent bottle is made in Germany in ca. 1680-1720. It has a screw top and is carved with crowded scenes of the destruction of the children of Niobe. According to Ovid's Metamorphoses Niobe, the mother of fourteen children, boasted of her superiorit. Apollo and Diana punished her by killing all her children. The style of carving and the shape of the bottle imply it is German, and dates from the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century.


Object details

Categories
Containers
Sculpture
Object type
Scent bottle
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Smelling Bottle
  • Stopper
TitleThe Destruction of the Children of Niobe (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Ivory carved
Ivory
Brief description
Scent bottle, ivory, carved with the Destruction of the Children of Niobe, German, ca. 1680-1720
Physical description
This scent bottle with a screw-top is carved with crowded scenes of the destruction of the children of Niobe. Floral designs are to be seen on the underside.
Dimensions
  • Height: 9.1cm
Object history
Acquired from the Museum of the Collegio Romano, Rome, in 1859.
The style of carving and the shape of the bottle imply it is German, and dates from the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. Longhurst noted a comparable piece of almost the same size (h. 9.3 cm) in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich (Berliner 1926, cat. no. 245).
Subject depicted
Destruction of the Children of Niobe
Summary
This ivory scent bottle is made in Germany in ca. 1680-1720. It has a screw top and is carved with crowded scenes of the destruction of the children of Niobe. According to Ovid's Metamorphoses Niobe, the mother of fourteen children, boasted of her superiorit. Apollo and Diana punished her by killing all her children. The style of carving and the shape of the bottle imply it is German, and dates from the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century.
Bibliographic references
  • Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1859. 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. 33
  • Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929, p. 98
  • Trusted, Marjorie, Baroque & Later Ivories, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2013, cat. no. 48
Collection
Sculpture Collection
Accession number
4716-1859

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O349438/the-destruction-of-the-children-scent-bottle-unknown/
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