brooch

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Object Type
Museum number: AF.2767
Description: Brooch; gold; in the form of a pelican in her piety standing on a scroll; her breast set with a ruby; on the scroll a small bird, five attachments for gems, and set with a diamond; inscribed with the letters 'YMTH'.
Cultures/periods
Production date: 15thC
Production place: Made in: France (?); Made in: Belgium (?)
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: Meuse, River (Belgium/France) (reputedly)
Materials: gold; ruby; diamond
Dimensions: Height: 29.50 millimetres; Width: 35.80 millimetres; Depth: 13.30 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: Court fashion for animal jewels in late 15th Century : in 1447 Duke Amadeo VIII of Savoy commissioned thirteen pelican brooches as New Year gifts for his family, each one made of gold set with a ruby. See Robinson 2008, p. 72 for reference.
Bibliographic references: Tait 1976 / Jewellery Through 7000 Years (no267); Tait 1986a / Seven Thousand Years of Jewellery (no325); Robinson 2008 / Masterpieces of Medieval Art (p. 72); Clunas et al 2016 / Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400-1450 (p.241, pl.27.6); Wise & Havili 2020 / Amber, Blood, and the Holy Face of Jesus: the Materiality of Devotion in Late Medieval Bruges (Discussed pp. 329-330, reproduced as Fig. 12.5) (The authors use this object to illustrate an argument that 'Medieval and Renaissance artisans have a long history of using red jewels to signify the Redeemer's precious blood.')
Location: On display (G40/dc14/sA)
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2019, 14 May-18 Aug, USA, Los Angeles, J Paul Getty Museum, Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World 2010 22 Jun-10 Oct, Spain, Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Domenico Ghirlandaio: Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni 1977 London, BM, Animals in Art
Subjects: myth/legend; bird
Associated names
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1897
Department: Britain, Europe and Prehistory
Registration number: AF.2767
Conservation: Treatment: 16 Jan 2009; Treatment: 16 Jan 2009; Treatment: 16 Jan 2009

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