Pendant model with the Labors of Hercules

third quarter 16th century

Not on view

This meticulously crafted wooden jewel pendant was probably intended as a display piece for a Kunstkammer, or collector's cabinet (see 25.135.112), demonstrating the technical skill of its maker (see 17.190.643). The 1586 inventory of the famous "Amerbach cabinet," a bourgeois Kunstkammer in Basel that evolved from the collection of the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam (ca. 1466–1536), mentions no less than 770 different goldsmith's models in various media. This example depicts scenes from the life of a mythological hero: Hercules, with Antaeus (in bas-relief), and on the reverse, Hercules bearing the two pillars of Gibralter (in marquetry).

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Title: Pendant model with the Labors of Hercules
Date: third quarter 16th century
Culture: Flemish or German, Rhineland
Medium: Boxwood and various woods, some stained (marquetry)
Dimensions: Height: 1 3/16 in. (3 cm)
Classification: Sculpture-Miniature
Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number: 17.190.310
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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