The Silver Caesars : a Renaissance mystery / edited by Julia Siemon.

Format:

Book

Conference/Event

Contributor:

Siemon, Julia, editor.

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), issuing body, host institution.

Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, host institution.

Conference Name:

Colloquium on the Aldobrandini Tazze (2014 : New York, N.Y.)

Series:

Metropolitan Museum of Art symposia

The Metropolitan Museum of Art symposia

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Clement VIII, Pope, 1536-1605--Art collections--Exhibitions.

Clement.

Clement VIII, Pope, 1536-1605--Art collections--Congresses.

Clement VIII, Pope, 1536-1605.

Silverwork--Italy--History--16th century--Exhibitions.

Silverwork.

Silverwork--Italy--History--16th century--Congresses.

Aldobrandini tazze--Exhibitions.

Aldobrandini tazze.

Aldobrandini tazze--Congresses.

Emperors--Rome--Portraits--Exhibitions.

Emperors.

Emperors--Rome--Portraits--Congresses.

Art--Private collections.

History.

Art museums.

Italy.

Rome (Empire).

Genre:

Conference papers and proceedings.

Exhibition catalogs.

History.

Portraits.

Physical Description:

xv, 218 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm.

Distribution:

New Haven ; London : Distributed by Yale University Press.

Place of Publication:

New York : The Metropolitan Museum of Art, [2017]

Summary:

The twelve silver-gilt cups known as the Aldobrandini Tazze - magnificent examples of 16th-century European goldsmithing in size, design, and quality of execution - feature figures and scenes from Roman historian Suetonius's classic work The Twelve Caesars, all rendered in minute, intricate relief. Dispersed in the 1860s, the tazze were reunited in 2014 for the first time since the 19th century, each piece newly photographed to highlight the dazzling detail and show the works as they were originally made. The accompanying essays, written by a team of scholars from around the world, explore the persistent questions that swirl around these unique silver dishes, including where, when, and for whom they were originally made, what they were used for, and why the set was separated and scattered.

"The twelve monumental silver-gilt standing cups known as the Aldobrandini Tazze constitute perhaps the most enigmatic masterpiece of Renaissance European metalwork. Topped with statuettes of the Twelve Caesars, the tazze are decorated with marvelously detailed scenes illustrating the lives of those ancient Roman rulers. The work's origin is unknown, and the ensemble was divided in the nineteenth century and widely dispersed, greatly hampering study. This volume, based on a groundbreaking symposium at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, examines topics ranging from the tazze's representation of the ancient world to their fate in the hands of nineteenth-century collectors, and presents newly discovered archival material and advanced scientific findings. The distinguished essayists propose answers to critical questions that have long surrounded the set and shed light on the stature of Renaissance goldsmiths' work as an art form, making this a major contribution to the study of Renaissance silver." -- Publisher's description

Contents:

Plates, with excerpts from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, by C. Suetonius Tranquillus / translated by Mary Beard

Suetonius, the Silver Caesars, and mistaken identities / Mary Beard

Renaissance intellectual culture, antiquarianism, and visual sources / Julia Siemon

Tracing the origin of the Aldobrandini Tazze / Julia Siemon

Goldsmithing and commemorative gifts north of the Alps / Wolfram Koeppe

Tazze: questions of their use and display / Michèle Bimbenet-Privat

The Aldobrandini Tazze in context: collecting silver in Rome around 1600 / Stefanie Walker

The Dodici Tazzoni Grandi in the Aldobrandini Collection / Xavier F. Salomon

The nineteenth- and twentieth-century history of the Tazze / Ellenor Alcorn and Timothy Schroder

Technical analysis of the Aldobrandini Tazze / Linda Borsch, Federico Carò, and Mark T. Wypyski

Appendix A: Archival letters, transcribed and with an introduction by Antonella Fabriani Rojas

Appendix B: Provenances of the Aldobrandini Tazze , researched and compiled by Julia Siemon

Appendix C: Silver in the Aldobrandini inventory of 1603, transcribed and with an introduction by Stefanie Walker

Notes to the essays.

Notes:

The essays in this volume grew out of a symposium held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, on June 18 and 19, 2014. An exhibition of the same title was held at the Metropolitan Museum from December 12, 2017 through March 11, 2018, and at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, from April 18 through July 21, 2018.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 208-217).

ISBN:

9781588396396

1588396398

OCLC:

1017775455