Oil lamp in the form of a grotesque animal

Oil lamp in the form of a grotesque animal

Andrea Briosco, called Riccio

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bernard de Montfaucon illustrated an example of such an oil lamp as antique.[1] Many of the type exist but have not been studied, probably because they are not Italian. The sinuous creature somewhat calls to mind the salamander-like shapes that were a staple of French bronziers, but there is none resembling it by Barthélemy Prieur, who might otherwise be a candidate.[2] The creature is also formally reminiscent of the fantastic hybrid grotesques by the Amsterdam bronze master Arent van Bolten (fig. 187a).[3] -JDD Footnotes (For key to shortened references see bibliography in Allen, Italian Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022.) 1. Montfaucon 1719–22, vol. 5, pl. 144, no. 2. 2. Regina Seelig-Teuwen in Bresc-Bautier et al. 2008, pp. 102–47. 3. See Scholten and Verber 2005, pp. 130–33, cats. 40, 41.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Oil lamp in the form of a grotesque animalOil lamp in the form of a grotesque animalOil lamp in the form of a grotesque animalOil lamp in the form of a grotesque animalOil lamp in the form of a grotesque animal

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.