- Museum number
- WB.33
- Description
-
Painted Limoges enamel dish; copper, oval; obverse: The Destruction of Pharaoh's army; Pharaoh crowned seated in a chariot drawn by horses, surrounded by men and horses all being enveloped by Red Sea rising at Moses command; behind him are the Israelites; on border: bust of a woman, Diana?; bust of a bearded man; reverse: terns of Diana and Neptune?; signed; painted in grisaille with salmon-pink flesh tones, semi-opaque dull enamels on a white preparation and translucent enamels over coloured foils all on a black ground with gilding and details produced by enlevage; inscribed.
- Production date
- 1560-1580 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 44 centimetres (inside rim)
-
Length: 53.50 centimetres
-
Weight: 1945 grammes
-
Width: 31.30 centimetres (inside rim)
-
Width: 40.50 centimetres
-
Depth: 7 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Provenance: None is recorded. The dish of the same subject recorded in the 1866 catalogue of Baron Anselm Rothschild, Vienna (cat. no. 3), is stated in the Lehman catalogue by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (see bibliography) to be the one in their collection and that it passed to Baron Nathaniel von Rothschild after Baron Anselm's death, but this may require further investigation.
Commentary: For a detailed discussion of the group of six dishes depicting the Destruction of the Hosts of Pharaoh to which this dish belongs, see Wolfram Koeppe, Clare Le Corbeiller, William Rieder [et al.], 'The Robert Lehman collection. XV, Decorative arts', Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2012, pp.16-16. The closest comparison from this group is the example in the Metropolitan Museum (inv. no. 1975.1.1232), which has an identical border and reverse.
Bibliography: Charles Hercules Read, 'The Waddesdon Bequest: Catalogue of the Works of Art bequeathed to the British Museum by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, M.P., 1898', London, 1902, no. 33, pl. X; O.M. Dalton, 'The Waddesdon Bequest', 2nd edn (rev), British Museum, London, 1927, no.33, Wolfram Koeppe, Clare Le Corbeiller, William Rieder [et al.], 'The Robert Lehman collection. XV, Decorative arts', Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2012, p. 22.
- Location
- On display (G2a/dc3)
- Condition
- Obverse: cold repairs; reverse: good
- Associated events
-
Associated Event: Destruction of Pharaoh's Host
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Associated Event: Parting of the Red Sea
- Acquisition date
- 1898
- Acquisition notes
- This collection is known as the Waddesdon Bequest under the terms of Baron Ferdinand Rothschild’s will.
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- WB.33
