Antique Ewer with a Handle in the Shape of a Lioness, from "Vases after the Antique"

Antique Ewer with a Handle in the Shape of a Lioness, from "Vases after the Antique"

Enea Vico

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Antique ewer with a handle in the shape of a lioness. The ewer is further covered with various antique motifs including a bovine skull and garlands suspended from lion-shaped masks. From a composite series published by Antonio Lafreri with vase designs after the antique by Enea Vico and Agostino Veneziano. The Vico prints were first published by the artist in 1543, the Lafreri edition is dated circa 1573 based on its presence in Lafreri’s catalogue, but may have been issued earlier.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Antique Ewer with a Handle in the Shape of a Lioness, from "Vases after the Antique"Antique Ewer with a Handle in the Shape of a Lioness, from "Vases after the Antique"Antique Ewer with a Handle in the Shape of a Lioness, from "Vases after the Antique"Antique Ewer with a Handle in the Shape of a Lioness, from "Vases after the Antique"Antique Ewer with a Handle in the Shape of a Lioness, from "Vases after the Antique"

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.