- Ewer
- Enlarge image
Ewer
- Place of origin:
Toledo (possibly, made)
Cuenca (possibly, made) - Date:
ca. 1530 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown
- Materials and Techniques:
Silver
- Credit Line:
Dr W.L. Hildburgh Bequest
- Museum number:
M.471-1956
- Gallery location:
Medieval and Renaissance, room 62, case 15
This Spanish ewer is the epitome of Mannerist design, an exuberant, fantastical style fashionable across Europe in the late 16th century. The embossed and cast ornament is exceptionally inventive. The bands around the foot and the body are composed of masks and medallions between grotesque harpies (female monsters) and heads emerging from scrolls. The handle and spout combine different elements to create an apparently chaotic design. The multi-headed beast of the handle seems to vomit into the ewer while the spout is formed as a fierce monster's head surmounted by a small naked putto (small boy) urinating over his head.

