Goblet
Designer: William LeBrantz (American)
Manufacturer: T. G. Hawkes and Company (American, 1880-1964)
Date: about 1920-1925
Dimensions:
H: 7 in. (17.8 cm); Rim Diam: 3 in. (7.6 cm); Base Diam: 3 in. (7.6 cm)
Medium: Colorless lead glass; engraved.
Classification: Glass
Credit Line: Gift of Frederick C. Hovey
Object number: 2004.57
Label Text:This exquisite tortoiseshell box is decorated with the image of a Diana monkey made by the mosaicist Giacomo Raffaelli. Raffaelli is credited with the invention of so-called micromosaics, in which a picture is painstakingly assembled from tiny pieces of glass called tesserae that are set into a resin-like layer on a copper support. Some of the thousands of pieces in this mosaic are as small as .05 inch across.
The prints, drawings, and paintings used as sources by 18th- and 19th-century Roman micromosaicists have rarely been identified. This monkey, however, appears to be carefully rendered after the nearby painting by Melchior d’Hondecoeter (notice how closely the pose and coloring correspond). How Raffaelli knew what was then the century-old painting is left to further research.
A chained monkey was a popular symbol of humankind voluntarily shackled by sin. Unlike in the painting, this monkey holds a cherry, possibly an allusion to the Arab fable of the monkey who is captured by a hunter when he refuses to relinquish the fruit. It is thus a subtle reminder to use the tempting content of the box (tobacco or sweets) in moderation.
The prints, drawings, and paintings used as sources by 18th- and 19th-century Roman micromosaicists have rarely been identified. This monkey, however, appears to be carefully rendered after the nearby painting by Melchior d’Hondecoeter (notice how closely the pose and coloring correspond). How Raffaelli knew what was then the century-old painting is left to further research.
A chained monkey was a popular symbol of humankind voluntarily shackled by sin. Unlike in the painting, this monkey holds a cherry, possibly an allusion to the Arab fable of the monkey who is captured by a hunter when he refuses to relinquish the fruit. It is thus a subtle reminder to use the tempting content of the box (tobacco or sweets) in moderation.
DescriptionGlass with a bucket-shaped bowl that is applied to a solid, faceted baluster stem with an ovoid knop and a foot with eight petal-shaped lobes. The base of the bowl is notched with deep vertical rays. Two oval medallions, surrounded by a circle of printies, serve as the central motif on either side of the bowl. They are framed by symmetric floral sprays that cover the entire remaining surface. Four alternating lobes of the foot are also engraved with stylized flowers.
Not on view
In Collection(s)