The Wallace Collection

The Wallace Collection, A Family Collection, A National Museum, An International Treasure House

Results:  1

Plaque
  • Plaque
  • Unknown Artist / Maker
  • Milan, Italy
  • c. 1545 - c. 1550
  • Steel, gold, silver and ebony, embossed, chased and overlaid.
  • Height: 30.6 cm
    Width: 25.6 cm
    Weight: 0.585 kg
  • A1342
  • European Armoury III
Commentary
Images & Media
Further Reading
  • Steel plaque, probably a furniture mount. Made of steel, embossed, chased, overlaid with gold and silver; in the centre an oval panel with Vulcan and an assistant working at his forge, surrounded by an elaborate composition, taking the form of a scrolled cartouche surrounded with figures and grotesques: at the top a two-tailed mermaid with wings, on either side nude boys bearing bearded heads on poles, and at the bottom two seated chimaeras among trophies of arms, festoons of drapery, etc.; the edges pierced with small holes for attachment. In a modern, ebonized frame.

    North Italian (Milan), about 1545-50.

    The style of the decoration is close to that attributed to Lucio Piccinino of Milan (see A51). A companion to this plaque showing another incident in the life of Vulcan - Venus and Vulcan surprised by Mars - is in the Armeria Reale, Turin (no. F82). It has been made up into a square target at some time. A1342 was lot 659 in the sale of the ‘Vienna Museum’ , the property of ‘Messrs. Lowenstein, Brothers, of Frankfort-on-the-Maine’ Christie's, 12 March 1860, illustration no. 26. Also in this sale were four other plaques possibly from the same piece of furniture, lots 660 - 3.