{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O118362"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O118362/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AE6082/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AE6082/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AE6082","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE5991","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O118362/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O118362","accessionNumber":"4723-1859","objectType":"Cane","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This staff is decorated with religious themes and would probably have been used in church processions.  In 1859 it was acquired from the Museum of the Collegio Romano, based in Rome and the head quarters of the Jesuits. The ornaments on this staff indicate it was made from about 1600; the style of the figures suggest that it was more likely to have been made in the Spanish or Portuguese colonies of the New World countries where the Jesuits were active missionaries, rather than Italy.","physicalDescription":"Bamboo cane enrgaved with fifty-nine subjects, scriptural and ecclesiastical each with a Latin inscription.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"bamboo","id":"AAT11873"}],"techniques":[{"text":"engraving","id":"AAT53829"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bamboo, engraved with ink outlining","categories":[{"text":"Accessories","id":"THES48998"},{"text":"Woodwork","id":"THES48877"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006AE6082","2006AE5991"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES344120"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Cane","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"possibly Spain or Mexico? India?"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1550","earliest":"1545-01-01","latest":"1554-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"161.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured 12.01.2010. The 1859 Registered Description gives 5 ft. 3 1/2 inches (166.5 cm).","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bought from the Museum of the Collegio Romano (records do not say for how much).\n\nOne current view of this type of staff (sometimes called pilgrim staffs, or staffs of dignity) is that examples were made in bamboo with inked decoration or ivory with engraved decoration, mainly in the 17th century, as souvenirs for visitors or as gifts for senior churchmen, particularly to mark papal jubilees.\n\nComparable objects\nA number of comparable engraved bamboo staffs have been published, most recently in the exhibition catalogue ROMA 1300-1875, L'arte degli anni santi, eds., Marcello Fagiolo and Maria Luisa Madonna (exhib. cat. Roma, Palazzo Venezia, 20 Dec. 1984 - 5 April 1985), cat. nos. II.2.14-16 - as pilgrim staffs, made in Sicily in the early 17th century.\n\nBayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (bamboo and bone), 138cm long (missing the knob and base point), with 50 scenes with inscriptions in Latin and some Italian including at the top four scenes with the saints Francesco, Bonaventura, Antonio da Padova, and B.Giraldus (probably Giraldo Cagnoli d.1342); scenes from Genesis (14), the life of Jesus (33), prophets Isaiah and Zacariah. ROMA II.2.14\n\nV&A, 2167-1855; Cerimonial staff (ivory with black mastic), 173cm, 1610-20, with biblical scenes and portraits of Pope Paolo V, and Cardinal Orazio Lancelotti. ROMA II.2.15\n\nVatican City (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticano, Museo Sacro), bamboo, 122cm (missing the handle), with the arms of Pope Innocent X Pamphilj (1644-55), and scenes illustrating the exaltation of the Roman Catholic church, including St Peter's basilica and Biblical scenes. ROMA II.2.16\n\nThree are held at the British Museum, one in bamboo (See ROMA, p.56) with 75 oval scenes from the old and new testaments.\r\n\r\nSee also:\r\nAncient and Modern Furniture & Woodwork in the South Kensington Museum, described with an introduction by John Hungerford Pollen (London, 1874), p. 279.\r\nClive Wainwright, edited for publication by Charlotte Gere, 'The Making of the South Kensington Museum III: Collecting Abroad', in Journal of the History of Collections 14, no. 1 (2002), pp. 45-61.\r\nPaul A. Underwood, 'Drawings of St Peter's on a pilgrim's staff in the museo sacro', in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institute (1939-40), pp. 147-153.\n\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Cane, Italian, 1470-1500","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Ancient and Modern Furniture & Woodwork in the South Kensington Museum, described with an introduction by John Hungerford Pollen (London, 1874), pp. 279-280.\r\n\r\nStaff, of Bamboo cane. Engraved with 59 subjects, scriptural and ecclesiastical, each with a Latin legend; the interspaces decorated with cherubs' heads.\n\r\nItalian. 16th century. \n\r\nL. 5 ft. 3 ½ in. \n\r\nBought (Museum of-the Collegio Romano).\n\r\nThe subjects are 59, but a 60th cartouche is added to contain heraldry or a signature, never added. The surrounding work is less fine in execution and design than on those last described. The subjects are described in Latin legends:  I. “Creavit Dominus coelum et terram.”2. “Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et fimilitudinem nostram,” &c. The first series represent the typical events of the Old Testament history down to the Flood, and the repeopling of the earth, with the renewal of the Promise. To these succeed a series representing scenes in the life of the Redeemer, till the work reaches the top. Gold or enamel rings have covered the joints of the cane, but these are gone. It has been used probably as a pastoral staff.\r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Ancient and Modern Furniture & Woodwork in the South Kensington Museum, described with an introduction by John Hungerford Pollen (London, 1874), p. 279.\r\n\r\nStaff, of Bamboo cane. Engraved with the seven joys of the Blessed Virgin; borders of foliated scrollwork between the subjects. \n\r\nItalian. 16th century (?).\n\r\nL. 4. ft. 2 in.\n\r\nBought (Museum of the Collegio Romano).\n\r\nSeven engravings, finely executed, designed in the style of the Roman school, represent the seven joys of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with a legend, “Septem Gaudia B. V. Mariae.” These are-1, the Annunciation; 2, the Adoration of the Shepherds; 3, the Adoration of the Magi; 4, the Resurrection; 5, the Ascension; 6, the Descent of the Holy Spirit; 7, the Assumption. \n\r\nThe compositions twine round the stick, and are executed with the etching needle. Bands of delicate scrollwork set off the subjects. There is no signature visible. There are no indications of its ever having been mounted in metal top or bottom. It appears to have been prepared for a crozier or abbot‘s staff, but not completed.\r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Clive Wainwright, edited for publication by Charlotte Gere, 'The Making of the South  Kensington Museum III: Collecting Abroad', in Journal of the History of Collections 14, no. 1 (2002) pp.45-61.\r\np52 Notes that Henry Cole went on 26 January 1859 \"To the Collegio Romano [in Rome] to see padre Marchi, a great authority there on antiquities. He was willing to sell a collections of objects which did not fit in to those in which the Museum of the College was strong. The most remarkable were three Abbots sticks engraved in the finest style all over the bamboo. I know nothing like them in any Museum. They are noticed in Murray as curiosities of the College...\"\r\n"}],"production":"This cane came from the Museum of the Collegio Romano, the headquarters of the Jesuits. It is described as Italian and made of Bamboo, a plant not native to Italy. Judging from photographs it looks more like a reed, such as might be found in the Mediterranean. The style of the decoration is a mixture of fairly sophisticated ornament but rather crude figures. Given the active missionary work of the Jesuits, might this be Iberian colonial (Mexico or even Goa) and date from the 1550s?","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["4723-1859"],"accessionNumberNum":"4723","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1859,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LT7913"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2005-11-09","availableToBook":true}}