Object details
Accession number
M21w7
Primary Creator
German
Full title
Ostrich
Creation Date
17th century
Provenance
Entered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection at an unknown date. (as English)
Marks
Inscribed (edge of the base): two indistinct marks, a hand and D L (?)
Inscribed (left leg): an unidentified coat of arms
Dimensions
45.5 cm (17 15/16 in.)
Display Media
Ostrich egg with silver mount
Web Commentary
This silver ostrich cleverly uses an ostrich egg--considered exotic materials by its German maker--as its body. One theory speculates that these types of vessels, who's heads are detachable, were used in a drinking game. Not only would the consumer have trouble ingesting liquid from the narrow neck, but the ostrich's wings would flap their face. Isabella displayed two more ostrich eggs in the museum's galleries, although this is the only one with such remarkable craftsmanship and perhaps a history of practical jokes.
Permanent Gallery Location
Dutch Room
Bibliography
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 181. (as probably German, 17th century or later)
Rights and reproductions
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