On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Ewer

Ewer
1300-1350 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Paris (made)

Rock crystal is a transparent, colourless quartz. The art of carving rock crystal was known in Roman times and in Egypt under the Fatimid dynasty (909-1171). In Europe it was practised mainly in the north, but also in Italy. The Miseroni family, working in Milan then Prague from the 1550s, supplied the courts of Europe with rock crystal.

Object details

Category
Sculpture
Object type
Ewer
TitleEwer
Materials and techniques
Rock crystal, mounted in gold
Rock Crystal
Brief description
Ewer, rock crystal, France (Paris), ca. 1300-50
Credit line
Bequeathed by John Jones
Summary
Rock crystal is a transparent, colourless quartz. The art of carving rock crystal was known in Roman times and in Egypt under the Fatimid dynasty (909-1171). In Europe it was practised mainly in the north, but also in Italy. The Miseroni family, working in Milan then Prague from the 1550s, supplied the courts of Europe with rock crystal.
Bibliographic references
  • List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington Museum acquired during the Year 1882. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1883. pp. 77
  • Longhurst, M.H. 'Some crystals of the Fatimid period'. Burlington Magazine. 1928. pp.149-50
  • Halinlosev, H.R and Brugger, S. 'Corpus der Hartsteinschliffe des 12-15 Jahrhunderts.' Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege. Berlin, 1988. 42. p. 203-205 No. 487.
  • Alcouffe, Daniel. Les Gemmes de la Couvonne. Paris, 2001. pp. 232
  • Catalogue of the Jones Bequest. 1924
  • Trusted, Marjorie, ed. The Making of Sculpture. The Materials and Techniques of European sculpture. London, 2007. pp.136, pl. 252
Collection
Sculpture Collection
Accession number
857-1882

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Record createdMarch 8, 2005
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O110018/ewer-ewer-unknown/
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