The 'Temperantia' Basin is one of the highlights of the V&A's pewter collection. It is a fine example of Edelzinn, literally ‘precious pewter’, which was produced in France and Germany during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
The dish was probably made to decorate the buffet of a prince or of a civic body such as a town guild. Contemporary illustrations show these buffets could be enormous, multi-tiered structures supporting rich displays of gold, silver, mounted exotic shells and colourful stones, and other items from their owners' treasuries.
By the late 16th century, most fashionable patrons favoured fantastical Mannerist pieces for their displays. Mannerism was a courtly style based around the idea of difficultà: complex design, virtuoso craftsmanship and decoration infused with intellectual references. The surface of this dish is decorated with cast designs in relief with its central plaque depicting a figure of Temperance holding a wine-cup and ewer. Around the central boss a broad band of ornament contains four plaques with figures representing AER (air), AQUA (water), TERRA (earth), and IGNIS (fire). On the rim there are oval panels depicting the Seven Liberal Arts and their patron Minerva: GRAMMATIC (Grammar), DIALECTICA, RHETORICA (rhetoric), MUSICA (music), ARITHMETIQUA (Arithmetic), GEOMETRIA (Geometry) and ASTROLOGIA (Astrology). Between the plaques the dish is covered with finely cast strapwork, birds, masks, serpents, fruit, flowers and winged horses. As Edelzinn was designed for display it tends to survive in excellent condition.
The dish is signed ‘FB’ on the central boss for Francois Briot, the most celebrated member of a French family of medallists and die-cutters. Briot was a model carver, medallist and pattern-maker rather than a pewterer, creating copper moulds in which pewter was cast. The Temperantia dish, is his only known signed work. It would have been extremely costly to produce. The intricate modelling was highly skilled work. Briot's most likely patron was Friedrich I, Duke of Württemberg (1557-1608), Count of Montbéliard (1581-93). Briot moved to Montbeliard in 1579 and by 1585 was appointed seal-engraver to the count and is known to have made medals for Friedrich.
Briot's 'Temperantia' and similar 'Mars' basins have had a widespread influence. The V&A owns an almost identical dish by the early 17th-century Nuremberg modeller, Caspar Enderlein (Mus. No. 5477-1859). The Enderlein versions were not cast from an original but were made from moulds cut as line-for-line copies of the Briot dish. The model was further disseminated by polychrome pottery versions in Palissyware, of which the V&A has an example (Mus. No. C.2316-1910), and this in turn was copied in the 19th century (Mus. No. 1080-1871). Every year the winner of the women’s singles at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships holds a 19th-century Elkington and Company electrotype copy of Briot's very 'Mars' dish in The Louvre.
Physical description
'Temperantia' dish, pewter, circular with a deeply sunk well and raised centre, its central boss with a plaque depicting a figure of Temperance holding a wine-cup and ewer. The central boss is signed in the mould: FB for Francis Briot. Around the central boss a broad band of ornament contains four plaques with figures representing AER (air), AQUA (water), TERRA (earth), and IGNIS (fire). The boss and the outer rim are surrounded by a cast band of ovals on a ground of fine diaper. Within this outer rim is a broad flat band divided into eight oval cartouches containing relief compositions of the Seven Liberal Arts and their patron Minerva: GRAMMATIC (Grammar), DIALECTICA, RHETORICA (rhetoric), MUSICA (music), ARITHMETIQUA (Arithmetic), GEOMETRIA (Geometry) and ASTROLOGIA (Astrology). Between the plaques the dish is covered with finely cast strapwork, birds, masks, serpents, fruit, flowers and winged horses.
The reverse of the dish is plain but shows clear concentric rings where the dish was turned on a lathe after casting to remove excess pewter. Inside the hollow created by the central boss is a medallion depicting the modeller, Franci Briot with the inscription: SCVLPEBAT FRANSISCVS BRIOT.
Place of Origin
France (made)
Date
ca. 1585 (made)
Artist/maker
Briot, François, born 1545 - died 1620 (designer)
Materials and Techniques
Pewter with cast reliefs
Marks and inscriptions
Cast into the dish: AER, AQUA, TERRA and IGNIS (inner rim); GRAMMATIC, DIALECTICA, RHETORICA, MUSICA, ARITHMETIQUA, GEOMETRIA and ASTROLOGIA (outer rim).
Medallion on reverse: SCVLPEBAT FRANSISCVS BRIOT. Modelled by Francois Briot
Dimensions
Diameter: 45.0 cm, Width: 6.5 cm of rim, Depth: 4.5 cm
Object history note
The 'Temperantia' Basin was one of the Museum's early purchases. Its provenance until the 19th century is not known. It was bought by the Museum from the Bernal Collection in 1855. This was an enormous collection of metalwork, glass, ceramics and miniatures belonging to Ralph Bernal, a lawyer and MP. The sale by Christie, Manson and Woods took 32 days during which 4294 lots fetched nearly £71,000. The Museum bought 730 lots including this basin for which it paid £19.
This basin be seen as one of those objects which heralded a change in direction in the Museum's collecting activities after the appointment of John Charles Robinson as Curator in 1853. Robinson was a prolific collector and persuaded the Museum's first director, Henry Cole, that historic works of art were as instructive to students as 'modern manufactures'. Under Robinson's guidance, some of the earliest purchases by the Museum included outstanding examples of European pewter.
Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition RF.2006/806
Historical significance: The 'Temperantia' Basin is one of the highlights of the V&A's pewter collection. It is a fine example of Edelzinn, literally ‘precious pewter’, which was produced in France and Germany during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Made for display, Edelzinn incorporates intricate relief panels partly designed to emulate embossed silver. An important difference between silver and pewter, however, is that pewter is cast and as such depends on the production of expensive moulds, which in turn means that it was generally produced in multiples rather than as unique pieces. As a result, a number of ‘Temperantia’ dishes survive and the model, together with the similar 'Mars' dish has long been recognised as one of the great masterpieces of mannerist metalwork. As edelzinn was designed for display it tends to survive in excellent condition.
The dish is signed ‘FB’ on the central boss for Francois Briot, the most celebrated member of a French family of medallists and die-cutters. Briot was court engraver to John Frederick of Würtemberg from 1586. He has subsequently been described as "the Raphael or Cellini of pewterers". He was in fact a model carver, medallist and pattern-maker rather than a pewterer, creating copper moulds in which pewter was cast. It is for these dishes and for similar ewers, of which there is also one in the V&A’s collection (Mus. No. 4289-1857), that Briot is best known.
Born in Damblain in Lorraine, Briot was well known during his lifetime as a modeller although the Temperantia dish, is his only known signed work. It would have been extremely costly to produce as the intricate modelling was highly skilled work. Briot's most likely patron is Friedrich I, Duke of Württemberg (1557-1608), Count of Montbéliard (1581-93). Briot moved to Montbeliard in 1579 and by 1580 become a member of the smiths’ guild. In 1585 he was appointed seal-engraver to the count and is known to have made medals for Friedrich.
Briot's Mars and Temperantia dishes are usually dated to around 1585, although it is possible that they were made after Friedrich had moved to Stuttgart in 1593. They certainly date before 1601 when Briot’s moulds for a dish, ewer, vases and a salt were seized for unpaid debts. The duke himself was named in the case as one of Briot’s creditors.
The source of Briot’s ornament has not been found and it has been suggested that the dish is an amalgamation of designs circulating around Europe from the middle of the 16th century. Designs by Etienne Delaune and Dirk Barendsz have been identified as sources for the Mars dish.
Briot was apparently active as an alchemist at Friedrich’s court in Stuttgart. The subjects of the Temperantia dish, especially the four elements, were central to alchemical speculations
Briot's Temperantia and Mars basins have had a widespread influence. The V&A owns an almost identical dish by the early 17th-century Nuremberg modeller, Caspar Enderlein (Mus. No. 5477-1859). The Enderlein versions were not cast from an original but were made from moulds cut as line-for-line copies of the Briot dish. The model was further disseminated by polychrome pottery versions in Palissyware, of which the V&A has an example (Mus. No. C.2316-1910), and this in turn was copied in the 19th century (Mus. No. 1080-1871). Every year the winner of the women’s singles at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships holds a 19th-century Elkington and Company electrotype copy of Briot's 'Temperantia' dish in The Louvre.
Historical context note
The dish was probably designed to decorate the buffet of a prince or of a civic body such as a town guild. Contemporary illustrations show that buffets could be enormous, multi-tiered structures supporting rich displays of gold, silver, mounted exotic shells and colourful stones, and other items from their treasuries.
By the late 16th century, most fashionable patrons favoured fantastical Mannerist pieces for their displays. Mannerism was a courtly style based around the idea of difficultà: complex design, virtuoso craftsmanship and decoration infused with intellectual references. The surface of this dish is decorated with cast designs in relief with its central plaque depicting a figure of Temperance holding a wine-cup and ewer. Around the central boss a broad band of ornament contains four plaques with figures representing AER (air), AQUA (water), TERRA (earth), and IGNIS (fire). On the rim there are oval panels depicting the Seven Liberal Arts and their patron Minerva: GRAMMATIC (Grammar), DIALECTICA, RHETORICA (rhetoric), MUSICA (music), ARITHMETIQUA (Arithmetic), GEOMETRIA (Geometry) and ASTROLOGIA (Astrology). Between the plaques the dish is covered with finely cast strapwork, birds, masks, serpents, fruit, flowers and winged horses. The style was best suited to objects intended for display rather than for use.
Descriptive line
'Temperantia' dish, France (Montbeliard), around 1585, pewter, cast in relief from a mould by François Briot (working 1550-1616).
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
North, Anthony, Pewter at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, V&A Publications 1999 (Reprinted 2000), pp. 17-20 and cat. 25, p. 61-62 and ill. ISBN 185177 2235
North, Anthony, The Pewter Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museum, in The Journal of the Pewter Society, Vol. 12, No.1, spring 1999, p36
Haedeke, Hanns-Ulrich, Metalwork, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 1970, p. 129
Demiani, H., Francois Briot, Casper Enderlein und das Edelzinn, Leipzig, 1897, p. 12, pl. 1
Hayward, J.F., Virtuoso Goldsmiths and the Triumph of Mannerism 1540-1620, London 1976, p. 328
Schroder, Timothy. British and Continental gold and Silver in the Ashmolean Museum. 3 vols. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2009. ISBN: 978-1-85444-220-8
See vol. III, cat. no. 585 for an early seventeenth century copy of the dish.
Exhibition History
Pewter Gallery (Gallery 81 01/01/1999-31/12/2002)
Art Treasures in Manchester: 150 years on (Manchester Art Gallery 06/10/2007-27/01/2008)
BADA Fair (01/03/2004-31/03/2004)
Labels and date
BADA 2004 Exhibition label:
'TEMPERANTIA' DISH
Pewter, France, around 1585, signed 'FB' for Francois Briot (around 1550-around 1616)
This dish, signed by the celebrated pattern-maker Francois Briot, is one of the highlights of the V&A's metalwork collections. Briot was court engraver to John Frederick of Wurtemberg from 1585 and has been described as "the Raphael or Cellini of pewterers". The surface of the dish is decorated with cast designs in relief. The central plaque depicts a figure of Temperance holding a wine cup and ewer. Four plaques show figures representing Air, Water, Earth and Fire. The dish was probably designed to decorate the buffet of a prince or of a civic institution.
The Museum bought the dish in 1855 for £19 from the collection of Ralph Bernal (d. 1854), a lawyer and MP. A version of this dish was subsequently copied (electrotyped) by Elkingtons of Birmingham to create the women's singles trophy at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
2063-1855 [March 2004]
Pewter Gallery, Gallery 81
'TEMPERANTIA' DISH, France (Montbeliard), around 1580, Cast in relief from a model by François Briot of Lorraine (working 1550-1616). In the centre: the figure of Temperance surrounded by the four elements. Round the rim: Minerva and the Seven Arts, 2063-1855 [1999 - 2002]
Associated names
Briot, Francois
Production Note
François Briot designed the model and made the mould from which this dish was cast. The signature FB on the central boss of the dish was signed in the mould before casting.
The pewterer who cast the dish is not known. The pewterer did not strike a 'touch mark' on the finished dish.
Materials
Pewter
Techniques
Casting; Turning; Stamping
Categories
Household objects; Metalwork; Designs; Coins & Medals; Food vessels and Tableware
Collection code
MET
