Mortar (c. 1550–1560): Art, History and Details

Mortar (c. 1550–1560) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Wenzel Jamnitzer I (German, 1508/09–1585); Peter Flötner (German, 1485–1546).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Three reliefs curiously combine faith, hope, and vanity. They were made after works by Peter Flötner (more refined plaquettes by the artist are also in the museum's collection), then incorporated into the vessel. The plants and small reptiles were cast from life, an example of the strong interest in natural history in Renaissance Nuremberg. This tradition relates closely to the French ceramics by Palissy, also in the collection, which likewise incorporate natural specimens.

Object facts

• Title: Mortar
• Date: c. 1550–1560
• Creator attribution: Wenzel Jamnitzer I (German, 1508/09–1585); Peter Flötner (German, 1485–1546)
• Culture: Germany
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 12.4 x 14.6 cm (4 7/8 x 5 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Sculpture
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1951.444

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Foote, Helen. "Goldsmith's Scales in Gilt-Bronze." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 41, no. 2 (February 1954): 26-28.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.