Charity

Artist: Peter Flötner (German, Thurgau 1485–1546 Nuremberg)

Date: ca. 1540

Culture: German, Nuremberg

Medium: Bronze

Dimensions: 3 x 2 in. (7.6 x 5.1 cm)

Classification: Medals and Plaquettes

Credit Line: Gift of Ogden Mills, 1926

Accession Number: 26.14.13

Description

This plaquette comes from a series of the Seven Virtues. Charity holds a child while another reaches up to offer an apple. The woman is partially covered by her luminous drapery, which falls in curvilinear folds. Occasionally, this type of plaquette was duplicated in gold and in brass; they were often used to decorate vessels and furnishings.

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