Accession Number

1989.002.0002

Creation Date

circa 1600

Description

21.6 cm. Shallow everted circular form, elaborately decorated around the broad flat rim with various dragons, ribbon-tie plumes and masks and profiles in circular reserves, the center repousse with a raised circular boss chased with a central scrolling crest; severe pitting and multiple absent sections. Extremely fragile. Back has a thick wax coating to prevent further collapsing.

Exhibition Label

Case Caption (2023): N/A
Object Caption (2023): 

Herrera Tazza
Silver gilt, (late 1500s)
Gift of T.S.I Liquidation Trust
1989.002.0002

Despite losing part of its body and all of its gilded surface, this dish remains evocative of the early decades of Spain’s Golden Age. The plain central element is typical of the restrained Herrera style developed during the reign of Philip II in the late 1500s. The wide border is decorated with stylized grotesque animals interspersed by medallions inhabited by heroic Greco-Roman figures in profile.