A circular silver dish is decorated with scenes in the center and around the edges.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A circular silver dish is decorated with raised scenes in the center and around the rim. In the center a man engages a scantily clad woman in a wooded area. Sitting next to them is a putto (cherub) with a bent arrow. Several dogs are at the man’s feet, and swans appear in the sky above the woman. The rim of the dish is decorated with four small circular scenes, each including cherubs holding different implements; between each of these are bunches of fruits and vegetables.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2004.134
People
Maker's Mark Cipher, apparently IB or SB, British, English
Title
Tazza
Other Titles
Former Title: Salver
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
dated 1683
Places
Creation Place: Europe, United Kingdom, England, London
Period
Charles II (1660-1685)
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/5364

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2340, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, The Silver Cabinet: Art and Ritual, 1600–1850
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Silver
Technique
Repoussé
Dimensions
33.5 × 8.3 cm (13 3/16 × 3 1/4 in.)
958 g
Inscriptions and Marks
  • hallmark: struck on rim: lion passant, leopard's head, date letter
  • inscription: on underside edge of foot, engraved: Paul Beuren Aõ 1683
  • maker's mark: struck on rim: "Cipher, apparently IB or SB"
  • hallmark: side of foot, almost entirely eradiacted by chasing: lion passant, leopard's head, date letter
  • inscription: engraved, underside of foot, scratch weight: 33 - 15

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Anonymous sale, Christie's, May 28, 1902, lot 89]. J. P. Morgan, New York, by 1937,[1] sold [through Christie's, New York, October 26, 1982, lot 52. His Excellency Mohamed Mahdi Altajir, sold [through his sale, Christie's, New York, Ocotber 19, 2004, lot 1086]; to Harvard Art Museums, 2004.

[1] 1937 inventory by Crichton Brothers

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Trustees of the estate of Mrs. Harry Paine Whitney, by exchange
Accession Year
2004
Object Number
2004.134
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Circular tazza on a detachable raised foot chased in high relief with a central medallion inside a husk border depicting Venus and Adonis in a landscape flanked by a putto and three hounds in repoussé; the border chased with four roundels containing putti representing the Four Elements interspersed with a variety of fruits and vegetables also in high relief against a matted ground; the detachable raised foot chased with two scenes of musical figures in landscapes interspersed with similar fruits and vegetables; wrigglework border.

Publication History

  • Michael Clayton, Christie's Pictorial History of English and American Silver, Phaidon / Christie's (Oxford, U.K., 1985), nos 4, 4A, p. 75, repr. in b/w with detail
  • The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, Christie's, London (London, 1989), p. 58, repr. in b/w as fig. 38
  • Christopher Hartop, British and Irish Silver in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums/Yale University Press (Cambridge, Mass. and New Haven, 2007), pp. 70-73, cat. no. 35, repr. p. 71, details repr. pp. 71-72; repr. in b/w on jacket back cover.

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2340 Cabinet Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 09/24/2019; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/25/2019 - 06/02/2025

Subjects and Contexts

  • Collection Highlights
  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu