Table ornament

Wenzel Jamnitzer, 1549

This table ornament is an ode to the Earth and all that it brings forth, as well as an unsurpassed display of artistic and technical skill. The stem of the dish represents Mother Earth. She is surrounded by flowers, herbs and small animals – all cast from specimens collected in the wild. The lives of actual animals were sacrificed to model the young grass snakes and lizards.

  • Artwork typetable piece
  • Object numberBK-17040-A
  • Dimensionsheight 99.8 cm x diameter 46 cm

Stories

Uniting art and nature

Crawly creatures in the Kunstkammer (‘art chamber’)

Table ornament

Discover more

more by Wenzel Jamnitzer

Plaquette van de Merkelsche Tafelaufsatz

Wenzel Jamnitzer, 1549

Plaquette van de Merkelsche Tafelaufsatz

Balance standard with a counterweight

attributed to workshop of Wenzel Jamnitzer, c. 1560 - c. 1570

Balance standard with a counterweight

Balance standard with a counterweight

attributed to workshop of Wenzel Jamnitzer, c. 1560 - c. 1570

Balance standard with a counterweight

Identification

  • Title(s)

    Table ornament

  • Object type

  • Object number

    BK-17040-A

  • Description

    Tafelstuk van grotendeels verguld en geëmailleerd zilver. Op een drielobbig voetstuk, waarop drie schildpadden zijn bevestigd, is een begroeiing van naar de natuur afgegoten gewassen aangebracht. Daaruit rijst, op een platvorm een staande vrouwenfiguur (Moeder Aarde), die met hooggeheven handen de basis van een breed uitstaand bekken ondersteunt, waarvan de buiten- en binnenkant bewerkt zijn met geschilderd renaissanceornament, terwijl om de rand allerlei naturalistisch bladwerk en kronkelende hagedissen om rolwerkbanderolles zijn geslingerd. In het midden van de schaal dragen drie ruggelings geplaatste sirenen een geëmailleerde vaas met bloemtakken.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    • town mark: ‘N’
    • maker's mark

Creation

  • Creation

    maker: Wenzel Jamnitzer, Neurenberg

  • Dating

    1549

  • Search further with

Material and technique

  • Dimensions

    height 99.8 cm x diameter 46 cm

This work is about

  • Subject

Exhibitions

Acquisition and rights

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    …; from the Duke of Hamilton, possibly for 800,000 RM, to Mayer Carl von Rothschild (1820-1886), Frankfurt, 1880;{Note RMA; Glanville 2003-2004, p. 37.} his daughter, Thèrese, Baroness James de Rothschild (1847-1931), Frankfurt and Paris, 1912, 1928;{Jones 1912, Pl. I , Introduction; Jones, 1928, p.180, Pl. L, no. 1.} her son Henri de Rothschild;{Weltkunst 1937, p. 42.} from whom to a consortium of dealers for Fritz Mannheimer(1890-1939), Amsterdam and Paris;{Weltkunst 1937, p. 42.} from whose estate purchased, en bloc, by the Dienststelle Mühlmann, The Hague, for Adolf Hitler's Führermuseum, Linz, 1940;{Korthals Altes 1974, pp. 21-22.} war recuperation, SNK, 1945;{HNA, SNK Archive, 2.08.42, inv. no. 548.} on loan, with xx other objects, from the DRVK to the museum, 1952;{Note RMA.} transferred to the museum, 1960

  • Remarks

    Please note that this provenance was formulated with a special focus on provenance research for the years 1933-45 and could therefore be incomplete. There may be more (mostly earlier) provenance information known in the museum. In case this item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45, the Rijksmuseum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.

Documentation

    • Hermann Schadt, Goldschmiedekusnt. 5000 Jahre Schmuck und Gerät, Stuttgart 1996, p. 112.
    • Klaus Pechstein, 'Zur Nürnberger Goldschmiedekunst der Renaissance', in: cat. tent. Nürnberg 1985, p. 25-36.
    • Dora Thornton, 'From Waddesdon to the British Museum. Baron Ferdinand Rothschild and his cabinet collection' in: Journal of the History of Collections, Bd. 13, dl. 2, 2001, p. 191-213.
    • Ernst Kris, '"Der Stil ‘Rustique"’. Die Verwendung des Naturabgusses bei Wenzel Jamnitzer und Bernard Palissy', Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, Neue Folge, I (1926), p. 137-208.
    • Fieke Tissink, 'Uitgelijnd : Tafelstuk', Rijksmuseum Kunstkrant 27 (2001) nr. 4, p. 10-11.
    • J. van Bennekom, Q. Lemasson, L. Pichon, B. Moignard and A. Pappot, ‘The Merkel centrepiece by Wenzel Jamnitzer: proving the existence of a previously unknown inscription using the Aglae pixe mapping system’ in Art Matters, International Journal for Technical Art History 6 (2014), 1-10. http://artmattersjournal.org/images/past_issues/volume_6/01-AM-Bennekom-v2.pdf , 8 maart 2016.
    • Ernst Kris, Le Style rustique. Le moulage d’après nature chez Wenzel Jamnitzer et Bernard Palissy, Patricia Falguières éd., Paris, 2005.

Related objects

  • Parts

  • Related

Persistent URL

Questions?

Do you spot a mistake? Or do you have information about the object? Let us know!