Italian
Pair of Cupids with Holy Water Stoups (Bénitiers), 1824-1872
Die-pressed cupids with hand-chased stoups, 17.8 x 10.5 x 4.4 cm (7 x 4 1/8 x 1 3/4 in.)
Here we have a pair of silver-colored metal, flying Cupids, each carrying a stoup meant to hold holy water. The mirror image, naked Cupids fly toward each other, almost horizontally, their legs spread behind them and their thickly scored wings unfurled above them. The outer hand of each Cupid holds one side of a wreath-like ring from which a chained stoup dangles, their inner hand holds a mitre-like pole also attached to the thick ring. The stoups each hang by three oval-linked chains attached at the top to the wreath-like rings held by each Cupid, and at the bottom to the lip of the stoup at three equally spaced intervals. Small Cupid faces hold the chains to the stoup. The stoups are cup-shaped, with a plain silver rim at the top. The lateral sides of the two Stoups are etched with slightly different designs, but both bear leaf-like markings encircling the center sides, and petal-like markings curving around the bottom and meeting in the bottom center where a small conically-shaped metal pendant hangs.
Macknight Room
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.