Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Still Life with a Silver-gilt Tazza surmounted by a Personification of Painting
Not on view
The tazza form was very popular in the Southern Netherlands at the turn of the seventeenth century, but the Silver Caesars, with their statuettes, diverge from the standard shape. This still life testifies to the existence of at least one comparable object. Far from a simple piece of tableware, the tazza is surmounted by a statuette of an allegorical figure representing painting above a Chinese porcelain bowl; exotic fruit, a gold chain, and Spanish coins are scattered nearby. These are tokens of the empire’s reach, suggesting that the painting should be understood as an exploration of art making and Habsburg power.
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