This intricate ceramic sculpture has a shiny white glaze and a tall, narrow, circular shape. It is divided into two separate parts: a small, pierced, round stand and a connecting column of twisting forms. The lower stand is formed from a circle of white ceramic leaves that interconnect. Interspaced regurarly between the leaves are four heads. The faces are men with lion like features. They with flowing beards, long hair resembling a mane, prominent nostrils and piercing eyes. The stand is pierced with irregular open holes. The stand supports an elaborate ceramic sculpture that portrays a harvest scene with a woman and three putti. The woman is wearing a wreath of grapes and flowers. She is dressed casually in voluminous, flowing garb that folds and drapes around her back and sides but leaves her lower leg and bare feet exposed. Her arms are rounded as she embraces a basket filled with flowers and grapes. Two cheerful, winged cherubs sit or stand upon a cross section view of the ground where a grapevine’s deep roots are visible. Flowers sprout from the earth’s flat surface where a rectangular planter rests and a third cherub perches. Twisting vines reach through the surface and reach up as they branch and twine to produce a tangle of stems, leaves, flowers, and fruit. The putti stretch out their arms and twist their bodies to offer the woman grapes, flowers and other fruit.
Italian
Harvest with Three Putti Figure-Group and Stand,
19th century
Creamware (glazed earthenware)
,
33 cm (13 in.)
Object details
Accession number
C18s10.a-b
Primary Creator
Italian
Full title
Harvest with Three Putti Figure-Group and Stand
Creation Date
19th century
Provenance
Entered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection at an unknown date.
Dimensions
33 cm (13 in.)
Display Media
Creamware (glazed earthenware)
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Permanent Gallery Location
Little Salon
Bibliography
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 147. (as probably French, dated 18th century)
Rollin van N. Hadley. “Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 8, no. 29 (21 Mar. 1965), p. 2.
Rights and reproductions
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Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.