Flagon
about 1560–70
Object PlaceEngland or Germany
Medium/TechniqueMarble with silver-gilt mounts
DimensionsH. 24.5 cm (9 5/8 in.); W. 14.9 cm (5 7/8 in.) Diameter (of foot) 12.1 cm (4 3/4 in.)
Credit LineTheodora Wilbour Fund in memory of Charlotte Beebe Wilbour
Accession number49.476
On View
On viewClassificationsSilver
Collections
The colorful aggregate stone that forms the body of this flagon may be an ancient fragment of “Africano” marble associated with the quarries at Teos in Turkey. During the first and second centuries, it was exported to Rome and used as an ornamental stone. During the Renaissance, fragments were excavated, recut, repurposed, and embellished with silver and gold mounts.
ProvenanceUntil about 1852 or later, Torkington collection, Great Stukeley Hall, Huntingdon, England [see note 1]. June 13, 1907, anonymous sale ("property of a gentleman"), Christie's, London, lot 66, to Foster for £480. Between 1907 and 1911, acquired by Montagu Samuel, 1st Baron Swaythling (b. 1832 - d. 1911), London; May 6, 1924, posthumous Swaythling sale, Christie's, London, lot 124, to Crichton Brothers, London; May 30, 1924, sold by Crichton to William Randolph Hearst (b. 1863 - d. 1951), New York; July 28, 1944, sold by Hearst to the Brummer Gallery, New York (stock no. N6020); April 22, 1949, Brummer sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, lot 453, to the MFA for $1,700. (Accession Date: May 12, 1949)NOTES:
[1] An undated note in the curatorial file from Captain Charles Torkington (b. 1847 - d. 1919) states that "it has been in my family for a great number of years. It was removed from Great Stukeley Hall, Huntingdon about the year 1852 by my mother when the house was dismantled." It is not known whether it left the family's possession at that time.
about 1850–80
about 1880
