Minneapolis Institute of Art

Feast of the Gods charger

Silversmith: William Pitts; Manufacturer: Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, manufacturer and retailer, London (1788-1843)

Date

1808

Medium

Gilt silver

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The London firm of Rundell, Bridge & Rundell was the undisputed tastemaker in Regency silver design. The first of eight versions made by Rundells over several years, this charger was probably made to entice orders from their prominent clients, numbering, among others, the Prince of Wales. The central image is ultimately based on a 16th century Venetian bronze relief, representing the apotheosis of Doge Sebastiano Venier, who helped to secure the Holy League's victory in the Battle of Lepanto. In 1719, Bernard de Montfaucon published an engraving of the image in L'Antiquité Expliquée , titling it The Wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Rundell, Bridge & Rundell used Montfaucon's engraving as a model, certainly believing it to depict an episode of ancient mythology, as the present title indicates. However, the two figures in Renaissance Ottoman dress in the background have no place in such iconography, pointing back to the Venetian bronze relief as the original source. England, Europe

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