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Mirror case - The Martelli Mirror; The Martelli Mirror
  • The Martelli Mirror
    Caradosso, born 1447 - died 1527
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The Martelli Mirror; The Martelli Mirror

  • Object:

    Mirror case

  • Place of origin:

    Mantua, Italy (probably, made)

  • Date:

    ca. 1495-1500 (made)
    ca. 1475-1500 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Caradosso, born 1447 - died 1527 (possibly, maker)
    unknown (maker)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Bronze, inlaid with gold and silver

  • Museum number:

    8717:1, 2-1863

  • Gallery location:

    Medieval and Renaissance, room 64, case 2

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Profile figures of a satyr and bacchante face each other beneath a term representing the ancient fertility god, Priapus. A Latin inscription reads: NATVRA FOVET QUAE NECESSITAS VRGET ('Nature encourages what necessity demands'). Both the wording and the figures suggest that the relief is an allegory of reproduction.

It was once thought that the great Florentine sculptor Donatello (1386-1466) made the mirror. The Museum purchased it in 1863 from the Martelli family, with whom Donatello was associated. But the style of the piece differs from Donatello's other bronze reliefs. The exquisite detailing suggests that an accomplished goldsmith made it. A circular cutting from a document was discovered inside the mirror in the late 1950s. It was written largely in cipher. The contents of the text, together with a watermark, indicate that it came from the secret diplomatic archive in Milan. This suggests that the mirror was manufactured in Milan in the late 1400s. It also supports the view that Caradosso, a goldsmith and maker of plaquettes, made it. He was active in the city between 1475 and 1505.

Physical description

On the back, in relief, is an allegorical representation of fruitfulness, in which are half length figures of a nymph and satyr.
[Mirror case] Circular and double sided mirror, with a figurated bronze relief on the front and a steel plate for the mirror at the back. Both are enclosed in a moulded gilt bronze frame, with a bronze lobe at the bottom and at the top, beneath the handle, a double-sided Medusa head surmounted by wings parcel gilt.
Front: shows two figures behind a parapet or wall, which cuts off a segment at the base of the scene. That on the right represents a Bacchante in left profile, with a wreath of ivy leaves on her head and a tyrsus behind her. Her goat-skin cloak and her robe are thrown back from her left shoulder, leaving her left breast exposed, and from this with her left hand she presses milk into a rhyton. The figure on the left represents a bearded Satyr in profile to the right. He wears a wreath of ivy leaves and a goat-skin which is cast back. leaving the upper half of the body bare. He holds a goblet in his right hand; his left hand is raised, with the index and small fingers extended. Behind him is a thyrsus.
In the centre foreground is the mask of an old woman above a label with the inscription:
NATVRA FOVET / QVAE / NECESSITAS VRGET

Place of Origin

Mantua, Italy (probably, made)

Date

ca. 1495-1500 (made)
ca. 1475-1500 (made)

Artist/maker

Caradosso, born 1447 - died 1527 (possibly, maker)
unknown (maker)

Materials and Techniques

Bronze, inlaid with gold and silver

Marks and inscriptions

[Mirror case] NATVRA FOVET / QVAE / NECESSITAS VRGET Nature encourages what necessity demands.

Dimensions

Diameter: 17.3 cm of relief, Diameter: 2.1 cm overall
[Mirror case] Height: 29.7 cm, Width: 19.5 cm, Depth: 2.8 cm, Weight: 2.56 kg

Object history note

The mirror is mentioned as in the Palazzo Martelli in 1824. See Pope-Hennessy p.326.
Purchased in Florence (Marchese Martelli, through W.B. Spence, £650.

Historical context note

[Mirror case] The scene on the Mirror is a sythesis of five classical motifs, one of which certainly, and two possibly, stem from originals at one time in the Medici collection.

The bacchante corresponds with a 1731 engraving of gem described at that as being in the Medici collection. The same gem is listed in 1492 in the collection of Lorenzo de' Medici . The satyr corresponds to another 1731 engraving of gem described as at that time being in the collection of Conti Gherardesca.( See Pope-Hennessy)

Descriptive line

Mirror case, bronze with gold and silver, known as the Martelli Mirror, Italy, ca. 1475-1500

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Williamson, Paul, ed. European Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996. 191p., ill. ISBN 1851771883.
Pope-Hennessy, John Catalogue of Italian sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum London, H.M.S.O. , 1964 no.359, pp 325-329
This catalogue entry discusses the history of this object's acquisition, its attributional history, sources, other versions and related plaquettes.
Brown, Clifford M. and Hickson, Sally "Caradosso Foppa (ca. 1452-1526/27)" in Arte Lombarda vol 119 1997/1 p. 14
The entire article (pp. 9-39) consists of an overview of the archival documents and the contemporary and post mortem literature; a brief account of the surviving oeuvre; documentation of the artist's Milanese and Roman years and the post-mortem literature, and a comprehensive bibliography. The reference to the object consists of "While the attribution of .... "the Martelli mirror" remains problematic ..."
Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1863 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. 40
Pope-Hennessy, John. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Volume I: Text. Eighth to Fifteenth Century. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1964, pp. 325-329
Raggio, Olga. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Art Bulletin. Vol. L, 1968, p. 101
Penny, Nicholas. Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, II, Oxford, 1992, p. 32
Williamson, Paul (ed), European Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1996, p. 90
Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1863. 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. 40
Pope-Hennessy, John. "The Study of Italian Plaquettes", Italian Plaquettes, Studies in the History of Art, XXII, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1989, frontispiece and p. 27

Exhibition History

Natur und Antike in der Renaissance (Liebighaus, Frankfurt 05/01/1985-02/03/1986)
A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 01/01/1999-30/09/2000)
A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 18/10/1998-10/01/1999)
A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Royal Ontario Museum 20/06/1998-13/09/1998)
A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 25/02/1998-17/05/1998)
A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum (The Baltimore Museum of Modern Art 12/10/1997-18/01/1998)
Italian Bronze Statuettes (Victoria and Albert Museum 01/01/1961-31/12/1961)
A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum 14/10/1999-16/01/2000)
Bronzetti Italiani del Rinascimento (Palazzo Strozzi 01/01/1962-31/12/1962)
Italiaanse Bronzen der Renaissance (Rijksmuseum 01/01/1961-31/12/1962)
Decorative Arts of the Italian Renaissance 1400-1600 (Detroit Institute of Arts 01/01/1909-31/12/1958)

Labels and date

MIRROR, known as The Martelli Mirror
About 1475-1500

This mirror was probably a marriage gift, and its intricate decoratin suggests that it may have been made by a master goldsmith. The satyr holding a cup (left) and the bacchante pressing milk from her breast (right) represent an allegory of reproduction. The mirror itself takes the form of a polished steel plate on the back.

Italy, probably Mantua

Bronze, gold and silver

Inscribed in Latin, 'Nature encourages what necessity demands'

Museum no. 8717-1863 [2008]

Materials

Silver; Gold; Bronze

Techniques

Inlay

Subjects depicted

Satyr; Masks (costume); Medusa; Cup; Bacchante; Antique; Thyrsus; Perseus; Panpipes; Fertility; Rhyton; Fare le Corna; Auloi

Categories

Sculpture; Accessories

Collection code

SCP

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Qr_O70279
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