This 19th Century, Italian table decoration is made of shinny, off-white creamware. It features a tree-like structure with three principal branches of various heights, upon which three young boys perch. All three boys are similarly appearing with vurly hair and wear short tunics open at the neck with a flared collar and puffy elbow-length sleeves; and knee-length britches flared at their knees. The tree branches merge out of a three-lobed bulbous form at the bottom. The branch on our left holds a standing boy whose front foot rests on a fork formed by branches. He looks downward, rest his right hand on the top of a branch, and holds a drinking vessel in his left hand. In the center the middle and lowest boy seems to be sitting on a stump which gives rise to a tall, straight branch that terminates in a multi-petalled bloom. The middle boy has raised one leg to rest on the knee of the other leg upon which he rests his right arm, raises his left arm with a drinking vessel, and looks toward our left. On the right-most, slightly highest branch the third boy sits in the fork of the tree and rests his bent legs and feet on lower branches. He looks upward, raises his right hand and holds a pitcher in his left. The stand is comprised of a circle of the heads of four bearded, long-haired men linked together by c-scrolls between each face. Each face has prominent holes marking the nostrils and eyes. The bottom of each beard provides the contact with the table surface. Graceful leaves undulate above these heads to form the bottom of the base upon which the figure with the three boys rests.
Italian
Three Boys Figure-Group and Stand,
19th century
Creamware (glazed earthenware)
,
33 cm (13 in.)
Object details
Accession number
C18s15.a-b
Primary Creator
Italian
Full title
Three Boys 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.