{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O151907"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O151907/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CD9039/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CD9039/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CD9039","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CD9038","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CD9036","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O151907/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O151907","accessionNumber":"136-1865","objectType":"Hammer head","titles":[{"title":"Hammer head with the arms of Cardinal Andrea Cornaro, Bishop of Brescia","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"The hammer head was a papal badge-of-office. It derived from a ritual performed every 50 years when the Jubilee year was celebrated. The Pope tapped on the sealed door of St. Peter's with the silver hammer and specially appointed cardinals used bronze hammers at the other three basilicas. This one may have been used by Cardinal Andrea Cornaro, Bishop of Brescia, 1543-51, and must have been made for the Jubilee of 1550, to commemorate his appointment as cardinal legate (the pope’s representative). Very few such hammers survive.","physicalDescription":"Bronze hammer head with the coat of arms of a cardinal from the Cornaro family. The hammer head combines expected functional elements associated with a normal hammer such as a rounded head for striking and a pointed claw for extracting nails. It also contains several decorative elements. The cylindrical head of the hammer, which would have been used for striking, is held within the jaws of a delicately rendered dragon. The scaly, wrinkled nature of the dragon’s skin can clearly be seen, along with the beast’s sharp teeth. On either side of the main body of the hammer head, just behind the dragon’s head is a roundel of laurel leaves which house an image of a spirited horse. This roundel is in relief and contrasts with the three dimensional representation of the dragon. Directly above the neck of the hammer is another roundel of laurel leaves surrounding the face of a cherub. The cherub is the only example of overtly religious imagery on the hammer head and helps to suggest its original function. The neck of the hammer head is decorated with a frieze of acanthus leaves. The neck is hollow where a handle would have fitted.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":"formerly thought to be by the workshop of Alfonso Alberghetti"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[{"text":"cast","id":"x32615"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Cast bronze","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2009CD9039","2009CD9038","2009CD9036"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"62 (VA)","id":"THES49739"},"free":"","case":"CA1","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Hammer Head","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Brescia"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1550","earliest":"1545-01-01","latest":"1554-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"17.77","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"16.2","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"3.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"0.54","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries 2006","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased from Mr Whitehead in April 1865 for £8.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe coat of arms belongs to the Cornaro family. Originating in Venice, the Cornaro were one of the city's most distinguished and influential clans. Claiming to be descended from the god Jupiter and the great Roman general Scipio Africanus the Younger, the Cornaro also insisted that they were one of the four founding families of the city. The coat of arms that adorns the hammer originated in the fifteenth century when Caterina Cornaro married James II Lusignano, the illegitimate son of King John II of Cyprus. \r\n\r\nIn 1500, the head of the Cornaro family, Zorzi, purchased a cardinalate for his son Marco at a cost of 30,000 ducats from Pope Alexander VI. Marco was the first of eight Cornaro cardinals, who appeared to succeed one another in an almost hereditary fashion until the eighteenth century.  Ownership of the hammer is difficult to determine due to the succession of Cornaro cardinals. However, it is most likely that it belonged to Cardinal Andrea Cornaro (1511-1551) because he was the only member of the Cornaro family to hold the office of cardinal during a Jubilee year, that of 1550.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Hammer, head of a jubilee hammer, bronze, with the arms of Cardinal Andrea Cornaro, Italy (Brescia), ca. 1550","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1865. <font -u>Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1.</font> London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 28"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"[Catalogue entry] Burns, Howard, Fairbairn, Lynda and Boucher, Bruce. <font -u>Andrea Palladio, 1508-1580: The Portico and the Farmyard.</font> London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1975, p. 63"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"[Catalogue entry] <font -u>Roma 1300-1875, L'arte degli anni santi.</font> 1984. pp. 95-98. Catalogue of exhibition held in Palazzo Venezia, Rome, 20 December 1984 - 5 April 1985"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"arms of Cardinal Andrea Cornaro","id":"x42644"},{"text":"dragons","id":"x30096"},{"text":"acanthus","id":"AAT164902"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["136-1865"],"accessionNumberNum":"136","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1865,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2017JW1381","2017JW1382","2019LP2604","2019LV3064","2019LW9457"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-18","recordCreationDate":"2008-04-01","availableToBook":false}}