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Holy-water stoup with relief of Mary of Egypt

Relief after a composition by Benedetto Luti Italian
ca. 1702
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 550
The goldsmith and designer Giovanni Giardini made this object for Pope Clement XI (r. 1700–1712), who presented it to Giovanni Battista Borghese, King Philip V of Spain's ambassador to the Holy See. Later, it was part of the collection of the Princes of Thurn and Taxis in Sankt Emmeram Castle in Regensburg, Germany. Giardini's prized devotional objects were intended for private use or for small, intimate chapels. Their technical perfection is such that they outshine many fine works made in Rome during the same period. The combination of the light catching gilded metal and the lapis lazuli with its myriad flecks of sparkling golden pyrites has a mesmerizing effect. Lapis lazuli symbolizes the choir of saints in heaven, and the attention of the person using this stoup would be directed toward heaven, a treasury of everlasting joy. Set around the silver relief of Mary of Egypt in ecstacy, the lapis plaques also suggest that the saint is part of the company of heaven. A related object is preserved in the Schatzkammer, or Treasury, of the Residenz in Munich.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Holy-water stoup with relief of Mary of Egypt
  • Maker: Giovanni Giardini (Italian, Forlì 1646–1722 Rome)
  • Artist: Relief after a composition by Benedetto Luti (Italian, Florence 1666–1724 Rome)
  • Date: ca. 1702
  • Culture: Italian, Rome
  • Medium: Lapis lazuli, silver, and gilded bronze
  • Dimensions: Overall: 23 3/4 × 14 3/8 × 4 1/2 in. (60.3 × 36.5 × 11.4 cm)
  • Classification: Metalwork-Silver In Combination
  • Credit Line: Wrightsman Fund, 1995
  • Object Number: 1995.110
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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Design (Full-Scale Working Drawing) for a Large Oval Silver Dish with Silver Gilt Border Showing Vulcan's Forge, Giovanni Giardini Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, yellow and blue watercolor over black chalk; framing lines in pen and brown ink; on two glued sheets
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