{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O111508"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O111508/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AE3943/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AE3943/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AE3943","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MC8053","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O111508/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O111508","accessionNumber":"A.17-1964","objectType":"Relief","titles":[{"title":"Mercury and Argus","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This ivory relief was perhaps made by T (Theodore?) Xavery in the Netherlands in ca. 1775.\nThe monochrome colouring of material meant that ivories such as this could ape in miniature the ancient marbles much valued by connoisseurs and collectors of the time. In the story from classical mythology, the all-seeing giant Argus was murdered by Mercury at the instruction of Jupiter. He had been sent by Juno to watch over Io, whom Jupiter wished to seduce.\nThe ivory is worked very finely, so that if held up to the light, the figures in high relief stand out against the flat translucent background.\r\nThe composition depends from a plaquette by Paulus van Vianen, much copied in the 17th and 18th centuries. Jeremy Warren discusses the plaquette in his catalogue of the sculpture at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Jorgen Hein's catalogue of the ivories in the Rosenborg collection, Copenhagen, includes another ivory version, I, cat. no. 82, p. 188.","physicalDescription":"Mercury seated under a tree on the left, wearing his winged helmet, is shown playing his pipe, the caduceus lying on the ground beside him, lulling the all-seeing giant Argus to sleep in a wooded landscape his head supported on his left hand; his right hand rests on his staff. From behind a tree on the right emerges Io in the form of a heifer.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Xavery, Theodore","id":"A14454"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"}],"techniques":[{"text":"relief","id":"AAT53622"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Ivory relief framed in a gold rim with ring at top","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Reliefs","id":"THES49035"},{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"},{"text":"Medallions","id":"THES49034"},{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2006AE3943","2019MC8053"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"111","id":"THES49918"},"free":"","case":"DU1","shelf":"DR7","box":"8"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Relief","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Netherlands","id":"x29020"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1775","earliest":"1775-01-01","latest":"1775-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"horizontal, whole","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"7.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"vertical, ivory alone","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bought from Cyril Humphris, Ltd., for £30, in 1964.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Relief, ivory, Mercury and Argus, perhaps by Theodore Xavery, Netherlands, ca. 1775","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Trusted, Marjorie, <u>Baroque & Later Ivories</u>, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2013, cat. no. 112"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Mercury","id":"N167"},{"text":"Argus","id":"N475"},{"text":"Io","id":"N380"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"caduceus","id":"x39136"},{"text":"staff","id":"x43994"},{"text":"tree","id":"x37637"},{"text":"cow","id":"x30280"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.17-1964"],"accessionNumberNum":"17","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1964,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LU9117"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2005-04-26","availableToBook":false}}