{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O129038"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O129038/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CB7426/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CB7426/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CB7426","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CB7457","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CB7433","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8832","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8833","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8834","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8835","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8836","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8837","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8838","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8839","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8840","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8841","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8842","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8843","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8844","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FH8845","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JY2845","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O129038/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O129038","accessionNumber":"553-1883","objectType":"Ewer","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This elegant enamelled ewer is unlikely to have been used for liquids but would probably have been put on display by its original owner among other works of art and unusual treasures.  Use would have put the delicate and expensive enamelling work at risk.  The upper part of the ewer depicts the 'Triumph of Ceres' (goddess of agriculture) after Jacques Androuet 'Du  Cerceau' (ca.1515-1585).  The lower part of the ewer bears two scenes from the life of Moses after engravings in Bernard Salomon's Lyons Bible, published by Jean de Tournes in 1554.  \r\nSusanne de Court was the only recorded female enameller (before the nineteenth century) working in Limoges.  Her precise relationship to the other enamellers of the Court family is unknown but her style is so like the late work of Jean Court that she must have been belonged to this enamelling dynasty either by birth or by marriage.  Although she signed her work, she did not add dates but she is thought to have been working at the end of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.  One document is said to mention that she was living in the Boucherie district of Limoges in 1600.  She made much use of gilding and translucent enamels over foils and painted chiefly Biblical and mythological subjects after print sources, one of which was published in 1585.  Object types are typically plaques, mirror backs, large oval dishes and ewers.","physicalDescription":"Ewer with bulbous body tapering to a foot, with a high loop handle.  The upper part of the ewer is painted on a black ground in polychrome enamels with \"paillons\" (translucent enamel backed with gold and silver foils) with the 'Triumph of Ceres' after Jacques Androuet, known from his emblem of a ring which he used to sign his engraved ornamental designs, as 'Du  Cerceau' (ca.1515-1585).  Ceres was the Roman goddess of agriculture (Greek goddess Demeter) who was especially associated with corn and personifies the earth's abundance.  When her daughter Proserpine (Persephone) was carried off to the underworld by Pluto, she sought her everywhere while the earth remained barren.  When she found her, she was allowed to return for part of each year during which time the earth blossomed again.  She is shown seated in a car drawn by cranes and attended by a musician and other figures carrying fruits, vases and agricultural tools.  The lower part has two scenes from the life of Moses: 'Moses and the Israelites in the Desert', and 'Moses striking the Rock', both scenes after engravings for Exodus chapter 17 in Bernard Salomon's Lyons Bible, published by Jean de Tournes in 1554.  The Israelites were thirsty in the desert so Moses appealed to God for help.  God bid him strike a rock with his rod and water gushed forth.  \r\nThe loop handle is heavily cold-restored and regilded.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Court, Susanne","id":"A18330"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Painted polychrome enamel on copper with some use of translucent enamels over gold and silver foils, with gilding","categories":[{"text":"Enamels","id":"THES48876"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2009CB7426","2009CB7457","2009CB7433","2012FH8832","2012FH8833","2012FH8834","2012FH8835","2012FH8836","2012FH8837","2012FH8838","2012FH8839","2012FH8840","2012FH8841","2012FH8842","2012FH8843","2012FH8844","2012FH8845","2017JY2845"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"007","id":"THES388597"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Ewer","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Limoges","id":"x32604"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1590-1600","earliest":"1585-01-01","latest":"1600-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"29.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"16.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"13.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"0.6","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'SVSANNE DE COVRT', painted","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"On a panel on the white enamelled interior of the neck"}],"objectHistory":"Bought for the V&A (then South Kensington Museum) from the Blenheim Palace sale, Christies, 14 June 1883, lot 63\n\nHistorical significance: Susanne de Court was the only recorded female enameller (before the nineteenth century) working in Limoges.  Her precise relationship to Jean Court(ois) and Pierre and Martial Courteys is unknown but they were certainly all from the same family of enamellers, to which Susanne must have belonged either by birth or by marriage.  It is possible that she continued to run her male enamelling relative's workshop by herself after his death.  Although she signed her work variously 'Susanne Court', 'Susanne de Court', 'SC' or 'SDC', no works firmly attributed to her bear dates.  Details of her birth and death dates have not been found in archives and even the range of her enamelling activity is not precisely known though she is generally thought to have been working at the end of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.  Maurice Ardant, a nineteenth century archivist for the Haute-Vienne region of France, quoted (in an article he wrote in 1857) a document he had seen (but without reference) which mentioned that Susanne de Court was living in the Boucherie district of Limoges in 1600.\r\nHer style bears a strong resemblance to the later work of Jean Court yet is still distinctive and makes much use of gilding and translucent enamels over foils.  Her subjects are chiefly Biblical and mythological and derive from print sources, one of which was published in 1585.  Object types are typically plaques, mirror backs, large oval dishes and ewers.  There is a very similar ewer to this one by her in the Louvre - the shape including the rounded high looped handle and also the design of a goddess in a car above an Old Testament subject are very like.  The Louvre ewer (inv. no. MR 2409) depicts the Triumph of Flora in the upper register, in a car drawn by oxen, with the Departure of Abigail (to meet David who later married her, from the first Book of Samuel) below.  The Triumph of Ceres also appears on another ewer formerly in the Warwick Collection (sale, Christies, 19th July 1896, lot 24), and the British Museum possesses a polychrome ewer depicting the Crossing of the Red Sea.","historicalContext":"This elegant enamelled ewer is unlikely to have been used for liquids but would probably have been put on display by its original owner among other works of art and unusual treasures.  Use would have put the delicate and expensive enamelling work at risk.","briefDescription":"Copper ewer painted in polychrome enamels with gilding and translucent enamels over foil, France, Limoges, Susanne de Court, ca.1590-1600","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Catalogue of the Special Loan Exhibition of Enamels on Metal held at the South Kensington Museum in 1874, London 1875"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Blenheim Palace Collection sale catalogue, Christies, 14 June 1883"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Maurice Ardant, 'Emailleurs Limousins', in the Bulletin de la Societe archeologique et historique de Limousin, VII, 1857"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Clare Vincent, Painted Enamels, in ‘The Robert Lehman Collection: XV Decorative Arts’, The  Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2012."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Moses","id":"N636"},{"text":"Ceres","id":"N285"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["553-1883"],"accessionNumberNum":"553","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1883,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2024NR8894","2019LN8995","2019LR6204","2019LT6392","2019LW5971","2019LV9167"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-11","recordCreationDate":"2006-11-06","availableToBook":false}}