Detail View: The AMICA Library: Platter

AMICA ID: 
MMA_.53.225.52
AMICA Library Year: 
2000
Object Type: 
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Creator Name: 
Palissy, Bernard
Creator Dates/Places: 
1510-1589
Creator Name-CRT: 
School of Bernard Palissy
Title: 
Platter
Title Type: 
Object name
View: 
Full View
Creation Date: 
Last quarter of the 16th century
Creation Start Date: 
1500
Creation End Date: 
1525
Materials and Techniques: 
Lead-glazed earthenware
Classification Term: 
Ceramics-Pottery
Dimensions: 
H. 20 1/2 in. (52.1 cm), W. 15 1/2 in. (39.4 cm), D. 2 13/16 in. (7.1 cm)
AMICA Contributor: 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location: 
New York, New York, USA
ID Number: 
53.225.52
Credit Line: 
Gift of Julia A. Berwind, 1953
Rights: 
Context: 

The sixteenth century was marked by a scientific interest in natural phenomena. New worlds had been discovered, occupied by animals and human beings never before seen in Europe. Museums of curiosities abounded, and self-styled naturalists, such as Cosimo de' Medici, gilded armadillos from the Americas and placed them on pillars in their palaces. Native Indians of the Americas toured the courts of Europe, and the taste for the exotic flourished. It was in this atmosphere that the talented French potter Bernard Palissy began practicing his trade. An enthusiastic natural scientist, Palissy used local fish, plants and reptiles-he made casts of actual specimens for use in his modeling-fashioned in a range of colored glazes, to develop what he called 'pastoral pottery.' Although he is recorded as having produced his rustic ware in abundance, the only documented work by his hand was the grotto (now destroyed) in the garden of the Tuileries. This oval dish, in the manner of Palissy, is in the shape of a pond surrounded by plant life. Perched on the plate are fish, frogs, a twisting snake, a lizard, a water beetle, crayfish, and a variety of occupied shells.

Related Image Identifier Link: 
MMA_.es53.225.52.R.tif