© Ashmolean Museum
Perfume burner
Artist: attributed to Desiderio da Firenze (active 1532 - 1545)
Location: Ashmolean Museum
Date: circa 1530- 1540
Materials: bronze & traces of gilding
Dimensions: height: 51.2cm
Grant:
Amount Paid: £150,000 (Total: £980,000)
Vendor: Daniel Katz Ltd
Review number: 5185 (2003)
Export Stopped
Provenance:
Sir Julius Werner; Sir Harold Werner; Christie's 2000; Daniel Katz Ltd.
Description:
Three linked sections ambitiously decorated with figures (including three which may represent the gods Jupiter, Neptune and Vulcan), grotesque/satyr/medusa masks, winged putti and numerous swags, shells and garlands. Crowning the burner is a satyr, perhaps Pan, seated on a large upturned shell and holding a set of pipes. Burning charcoal would have been placed in the base, heating scented pastilles on the platform above to produce perfumed smoke which swirled out of the carefully positioned holes.
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