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Source Description
This depiction of a beautiful woman as a hunter (indicated by her footwear) from outside of Europe (signaled by her exotically decorated drapery) is puzzling. Iron was rarely used for art, because it was hard to work, especially to create fine detail. To introduce the detail, sculptors turned to gold. Similar plaques decorated a splendid casket commissioned by Emperor Maximilian II. This use of iron may take advantage of the metal's color to depict a black African, possibly as a personification of the continent Africa, one of the four continents (along with Europe, Asia, and America) then known to Europeans.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
24252
label
Plaque with the Personification of Africa (?)
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
3
Source metadata
id
24252
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Plaque with the Personification of Africa (?)
description
This depiction of a beautiful woman as a hunter (indicated by her footwear) from outside of Europe (signaled by her exotically decorated drapery) is puzzling. Iron was rarely used for art, because it was hard to work, especially to create fine detail. To introduce the detail, sculptors turned to gold. Similar plaques decorated a splendid casket commissioned by Emperor Maximilian II. This use of iron may take advantage of the metal's color to depict a black African, possibly as a personification of the continent Africa, one of the four continents (along with Europe, Asia, and America) then known to Europeans.
provenance
Frédéric Spitzer, Paris, by purchase; Sale, Paul Chevallier and Charles Mannheim, April 17, 1893, no. ???; Joseph Brummer, New York, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1929, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
ca. 1550-1575 (Early Modern)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Metal
plaques
imageCount
3
pageCount
3
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
14.2
height
7.2
dimensionsRaw
5 9/16 x 2 13/16 in. (14.2 x 7.2 cm)
Source extras
cul
Italian
med
stamped gilded iron
creator_ids
33562
collection_ids
REN
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
dcde47cbd102ac04
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
2b5c24a478386431
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
cca70331458f1a12
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no