{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O104262"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O104262/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BV3242/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BV3242/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BV3242","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BF8241","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA3964","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O104262/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O104262","accessionNumber":"M.248-1924","objectType":"Mazer","titles":[{"title":"Serpentine Mazer","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"Mazers are wide, shallow drinking bowls made from the  burrs of a maple tree, mounted with a rim of gold or silver. They were costly versions of the universally used  plain wooden drinking bowl.Wooden bowls were widely used and cheap in the medieval and Renaissance periods. This bowl, however, is made of precious serpentine marble, although it otherwise has the traditional size and shape of a late medieval mazer, made of maplewoood. Goldsmiths often incorporated in their work precious or semi- precious stones or rarities from distant lands, like coconut shells. These materials added a touch of exoticism to their objects and increased their value. It is likely that this mazer was owned by a wealthy person, and that it was designed to be displayed and admired, as well as used. \r\n\r\nMazers are the most numerous form of surviving drinking vessel from England, and were widely used in the medieval period. The word mazer is derived from the Old High German <i>masa</i> meaning 'spot', because certain sorts of maples were mottled in colour.Maplewood has a fine grain, and withstands continual wetting and drying without warping. Wooden bowls of this design probably influenced the shape of the plain drinking bowls of precious metal which no longer survive from England, but which are known from Germany,  Scandinavia and France, such as those in the Rouen treasure     ( V&A 106-9-1865).","physicalDescription":"Mazer with a turned serpentine bowl and silver-gilt mounts. Silver-gilt foot embossed with eighteen lobes. Rim clapsed by notched chased triangles with subsidiary triangles between them.\r\n\r\nThe gilding has been renewed. The underside of the bowl support is ungilt.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"serpentine","id":"AAT11627"},{"text":"silver-gilt","id":"x37998"}],"techniques":[{"text":"gilded","id":"AAT53789"},{"text":"turned","id":"AAT53158"},{"text":"chased","id":"AAT54016"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silver-gilt mounts, serpentine marble","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Eating","id":"THES48963"},{"text":"Drinking","id":"THES48965"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2008BV3242","2006BF8241","2017KA3964"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"10A (VA)","id":"THES49098"},"free":"","case":"3","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Bowl","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x39722"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1500","earliest":"1495-01-01","latest":"1504-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"10","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"16.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"0.62","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Per Crichton at the Swaythling Sale\n\nHistorical significance: Wooden bowls were common and cheap in the medieval and Renaissance periods. This bowl however is made of precious serpentine marble, although it otherwise has the traditional size and shape of a late medieval mazer, made of maplewoood. Goldsmiths often incorporated in their work precious or semi- precious stones or rarities from distant lands, like coconut shells. These materials added a touch of exoticism to their objects and increased their value. It is likely that this mazer was owned by a wealthy person, and that it was designed to be displayed and admired as well as used. \r\n\r\nAnother serpentine bowl in the collection (650-1865), displaying the arms of the Order of St John, was probably used as an ornament rather than as a functional object.","historicalContext":"Mazers are wide, shallow drinking bowls made from the  burrs of a maple tree, mounted with a rim of gold or silver. They were costly versions of the universally used  plain wooden drinking bowl. They are the most numerous form of surviving drinking vessel from England, and were widely used in the medieval period. The word mazer is derived from the Old High German <i>masa</i> meaning 'spot', because certain sorts of maples were mottled in colour.Maplewood has a fine grain, and withstands continual wetting and drying without warping. \r\n\r\nWooden bowls of this design probably influenced the shape of the plain drinking bowls of precious metal which no longer survive from England, but which are known from Germany,  Scandinavia and France, such as those in the Rouen treasure ( V&A 106-9-1865).","briefDescription":"Serpentine mazer, the mounts of silver gilt, England, ca.1500","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Philippa Glanville, <u>Silver in Tudor and Early Stuart England</u>, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1990, fig 120, no.3"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Marian Campbell, 'Gold, silver and precious stones', in <u>English Medieval Industries</u>, ed. John Blair and Nigel Ramsay, London 1991, pp. 156-7"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"BOWL\r\nSerpentine marble mounted in silver-gilt\r\nEnglish; first quarter of the 16th century","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["M.248-1924"],"accessionNumberNum":"248","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1924,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LP7724","2019LU9764","2019LV0972"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-15","recordCreationDate":"2004-09-10","availableToBook":false}}