Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
Clever displays of inventiveness with no other purpose than to amuse were valued interludes at the long, lavish, and sometimes tedious banquets that were part of court life. This automaton is a motorized wine decanter. Remove the head of the stag, fill the body with wine, wind up the motor (the key hole is in the base) and send lovely Diana down the table to your guests.This type of table toy was a specialty of goldsmiths in Augsburg, and the Walters' piece is close to a version (now in New York) marked by the Augsburg goldsmith Joachim Fries. However, details are not as subtle as they should be. More research is needed; if not from the early 1600s, this automaton is from the early 1800s, shortly before its collection history can be established.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
28302
label
Automaton with Diana on a Stag
core
obj
dtoType
sculpture
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
28302
sourceUrl
contentType
sculpture
stage
normalized
title
Automaton with Diana on a Stag
description
Clever displays of inventiveness with no other purpose than to amuse were valued interludes at the long, lavish, and sometimes tedious banquets that were part of court life. This automaton is a motorized wine decanter. Remove the head of the stag, fill the body with wine, wind up the motor (the key hole is in the base) and send lovely Diana down the table to your guests.This type of table toy was a specialty of goldsmiths in Augsburg, and the Walters' piece is close to a version (now in New York) marked by the Augsburg goldsmith Joachim Fries. However, details are not as subtle as they should be. More research is needed; if not from the early 1600s, this automaton is from the early 1800s, shortly before its collection history can be established.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1910 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
ca. 1620-1635 (?); early 19th century (?)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Gold, Silver & Jewelry
statuary groups
sculptures
automata
toys
decanters
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
14 5/8 in. (37.1 cm)
Source extras
med
gilt on silver
creator_ids
6197
15512
collection_ids
BAR
EAN
exhibition_ids
1994
2193
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
08c4e720578f169e