A miniature drinking cup in the form of a standing cow
Netherlandish School
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1600 - 1700
Materials
Silver sculpture.
Measurements
65 x 92 x 35 mm
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 517638
Summary
Sculpture, silver; drinking flask in the form of a standing figure of a cow; probably Netherlands; c. 1600-1700. A miniatrure drinking flask with a detachable head.
Full description
A standing figure of a cow with large horns. The head is detachable. The cow has a corded halter around its neck at the point of join with the detachable head. The surface of the body is worked to give some indication of the fur. Weight marks on the bottom of the rear hooves. This spirited little statuette of a cow has a detachable head, so was probably conceived as some form of miniature drinking cup. It is unmarked, but bears weight marks on the underside of the rear hooves. The animal is depicted with udders so must be a cow, but it is close in style to large bronze figures of bulls that are generally thought to have been made in the Southern Netherlands (Flanders) in the seventeenth century, in part because they relate closely to animals in the paintings of artists such as Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). A good example is the bronze bellowing bull attributed to Artus Quellinus (1609-68) in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Scholten 2005, pp. 136-37, no. 43). The figure is unmarked. Although miniature animal figures such as this are generally considered more likely to date from the nineteenth or the twentieth centuries, the weight marks appear old, and the little bull is well modelled. So it may be that it does indeed date from the seventeenth century and from around the time that the Flemish bronze bulls were being made. Jeremy Warren November 2022
Provenance
Urban Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966); bequeathed in 1966.
Marks and inscriptions
Underside of rear hooves:: Weight marks: 3 - / 50
Makers and roles
Netherlandish School, silversmith Unknown, sculptor
References
Scholten 2005: Frits Scholten, From Vulcan’s Forge. Bronzes from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 1450-1800, exh. cat., Daniel Katz Gallery, London 2005