Vase thumbnail 1
Vase thumbnail 2
Not on display

Vase

ca. 1520 - ca. 1560 (made), 19th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is a bronze vase with anthemion and palmette decoration. This high-quality cast shares decorative elements with objects associated with the Alberghetti workshop in Venice but production by another foundry cannot be ruled out. The Alberghetti were a family of bronzecasters from Ferrara and were active primarily at Ferrara, Florence and Venice. In Venice they were located in the Arsenal (from the late 15th until the 19th century.

The rarity of its form and lack of comparable dated pieces make the dating of this vase difficult. A design for a vase of about 1515, possibly by Giovanni Antonio da Brescia, is similar in form, and a larger maiolica vase in the collection is also related. The position of the handles, however, differs from the maiolica piece. The facture also bears some comparison with the Museum's vase from the Cavadini foundry, which is datable to the 1820s or 1830s, and it is, therefore, also possible that this vase is a nineteenth-century cast.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Bronze
Brief description
Vase, bronze, with anthemion and palmette decoration, possibly by the Alberghetti foundry, North Italy, possibly Venetian, ca. 1520-1560 or possibly nineteenth-century
Physical description
Bronze vase with handles in the form of acanthus, decorated on the neck with acanthus on a cyma recta moulding; palmette with foliage and flowers; cornucopiae and alternating suspended bucrania and flowers. On the body, anthemion and palmette with interwoven foliage and flowers. Gadrooned bowl. Plain moulded foot.
Dimensions
  • Height: 31.6cm
  • Width: 23.3cm
  • Body diameter: 18.2cm
  • Rim diameter: 11.2cm
  • Foot diameter: 11.5cm
Object history
Collection of Eugène Piot, Paris, until 1864 (sale Hotel Drouot (Piot) 1864, lot 41); bought from John Webb, London, in 1865 for £206.
Production
Possibly Alberghetti foundry ca. 1520-1560 or nineteenth century.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is a bronze vase with anthemion and palmette decoration. This high-quality cast shares decorative elements with objects associated with the Alberghetti workshop in Venice but production by another foundry cannot be ruled out. The Alberghetti were a family of bronzecasters from Ferrara and were active primarily at Ferrara, Florence and Venice. In Venice they were located in the Arsenal (from the late 15th until the 19th century.

The rarity of its form and lack of comparable dated pieces make the dating of this vase difficult. A design for a vase of about 1515, possibly by Giovanni Antonio da Brescia, is similar in form, and a larger maiolica vase in the collection is also related. The position of the handles, however, differs from the maiolica piece. The facture also bears some comparison with the Museum's vase from the Cavadini foundry, which is datable to the 1820s or 1830s, and it is, therefore, also possible that this vase is a nineteenth-century cast.
Associated object
REPRO.1875-37 (Reproduction)
Bibliographic references
  • Motture, Peta. Bells&Mortars and Related Utensils: Catalogue of Italian Bronzes in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: V&A Publications, 2001, pp. 120-121
  • Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1865. Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1. London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 65
Collection
Accession number
35-1865

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Record createdApril 1, 2008
Record URL
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