Not on display

Perfume Burner

ca. 1700 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Netherlands (made)

Bulbous body on three scroll feet, with detachable neck fitted with two scroll handles; lid with acorn shaped finial; decoration of conventional pierced floral designs and dots; brass knob, handles and feet.

Object details

Categories
Metalwork
Household Objects
Object type
Perfume burner
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Perfume Burner
  • Lid
Materials and techniques
Copper, pierced; with brass mounts
Copper
Brass
Pierced
Brief description
Copper perfume burner, with brass handles, feet and acorn-shaped knob, and decorated with a pierced floral design, The Netherlands, around 1700
Physical description
Bulbous body on three scroll feet, with detachable neck fitted with two scroll handles; lid with acorn shaped finial; decoration of conventional pierced floral designs and dots; brass knob, handles and feet.
Dimensions
  • Height: 26.7cm
  • Diameter: 14.00cm
Credit line
Given by Mrs L. Albert
Production
This object was previously recorded as Italian, presumably because the reddish brown copper body resembles Italian burners and wine coolers. Most Italian items of this period are boldly embossed but this is plain apart from its piercings. Its shape and embellishments (such as the acorn finial and serpentine handles) resemble Dutch coffee and hot water urns of around 1700.
Subjects depicted
Acorn
Floral Patterns
Dots
Bibliographic references
  • Reinders, Pim and Thera Wijsenbeek, eds. Koffie in Nederland: Vier Eeuwen Cultuurgeschiedenis. Zutphen: Walburg Pers; Delft: Gemeente Musea Delft, 1994. ISBN: 9060118774. A collection of essays published to accompany the exhibition held in Delft between 26 March and 19 June at the Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, the Volkenkundig Museum Nusantara and the Museum Lambert van Meerten.
  • Dicks, Sophia . 'Perfume for a lady's chamber': A seventeenth-century perfume burner, Silver Studies: the Journal of the Silver Society, 23 (2008), pp. 141-145
Collection
Metalwork Collection
Accession number
M.56-1939

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Record createdFebruary 9, 2004
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O91887/perfume-burner-unknown/
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