Engraved Plate with the Arms of Pope Pius IV

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Engraved Plate with the Arms of Pope Pius IV

Place of OriginItaly (Venice)

Date1560-1565

DimensionsDiam: 10 13/16 in. (27.5 cm)

MediumColorless and opaque white glass; blown, applied, gilded, engraved

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott

Object number

1982.98

On View

Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion (2444 Monroe Street), Glass Pavilion Gallery, 4

DescriptionDecorated with the arms of Pope Pius IV

Label TextGiovanni Angelo de’ Medici (1499–1565) was a lawyer from Milan who had made a successful career in the service of Pope Paul IV at the Vatican. He was a vivacious, convivial, and affable man who himself became pope, reigning as Pius IV from 1559–65. He commissioned elegant tableware decorated with his new coat of arms, which includes the papal seal with crossed keys and dome-like papal crown as well as the Medici family shield with five gold balls. The intricate pattern was engraved into the glass with a diamond-tipped stylus. Diamonds from India had reached Venice through eastern trade in the early 16th century, and their hard points proved suitable for embellishing the brittle and thinly blown Venetian soda glass vessels.Published ReferencesPage, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 88, repr. (col.) p. 89.