Cauldron
Peter Waghuens
Category
Metalwork
Date
1500
Materials
Measurements
940 x 1010 mm; 770 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Malines (Mechelen)
Order this imageCollection
Lacock, Wiltshire
NT 995957
Summary
Cauldron, bell metal, made in 1500 in Mechelen, Belgium and inscribed with the maker's name, Peter Waghuens. The Cauldron sits on a stone pedestal.The cauldron is believed to have originally been used as a cooking vessel by the nuns in the Abbey. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII, the abbey buildings of Lacock were transformed from a convent to a country house by William Sharrington (c. 1495–1553). It is likely that the cauldron continued to be used for cooking for some time, before eventually falling out of use. In 1747, the cauldron and its pedestal were moved outside to the end of the Abbey pond by John Ivory Talbot (1691?–1772), where it remained a garden ornament for approximately the next 150 years. A photograph in the collection of the Fox Talbot Museum shows the cauldron in its exterior location (see NT 97750). By the end of the 19th century it was brought back inside and placed in the Warming House of the Abbey Cloister complex. A Latin inscription around the exterior of the cauldron reads: A PETRO WAGHEVENS IN MECHLINIA EFFVSVS FACTVS VE EVERAM ANNO DOMINI M ILLESIVO OVINGENTESIMO DEO LAVS ET GLORIA CRISTO ('I was moulten [or made] by Peter Waghuens of Mechlin in the year 1500. Praise be to God and Glory to Christ').
Provenance
Purchased with the family collection of Abbey contents in situ from Mrs Petronella Burnett-Brown December 2009.
Makers and roles
Peter Waghuens, metal worker