{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O40055"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O40055/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O40055","accessionNumber":"602-1865","objectType":"Statuette","titles":[{"title":"Cupid playing a harp","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This is a bronze gilt statuette made in the early 17th century in Italy. The statuette represents Cupid playing a harp and was probably a furniture decoration.\r\n\r\nThis statuette in gilt bronze belongs to a group of putti, seven of which are in the V&A collection, mostly holding flutes, harps, tambourines and violins in their hands. They are generally attributed to Niccolò Roccatagliata (active about 1593-1636), although similar pieces were also produced in the workshops of Giuseppe de Levis and Andrea di Alessandro del Brescianino. However, the excellent quality of the cast and gilding, as well as the delicately chiselled drapery, hair and wings, allow us to ascribe them to the studio of Roccatagliata.  The majority of these small bronzes were probably made to decorate chairs, wardrobes and other pieces of furniture, as embellishments of this type were extremely popular at the end of the sixteenth century.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Gilt bronze statuette - furniture ornament, of cupid playing a harp.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Roccatagliata, Nicolò","id":"A13749"},"association":{"text":"attributed to","id":"THES286691"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gilt bronze","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES396090"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Statuette","id":"x45409"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"early 17th century","earliest":"1600-01-01","latest":"1650-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"601-1865","id":"O40057"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"603-1865","id":"O153723"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"604-1865","id":"O40058"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"605-1865","id":"O153720"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"606-1865","id":"O40060"},"association":"Group"}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"14.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"7.62","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bought from the Soulages Collection for £16s. 8d. in 1865.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Statuette, gilt bronze, Cupid playing a harp, ascribed to Nicolò Roccatagliata, Italian, early 17th century","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. 57"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Robinson, John Charles. <font -u>Catalogue of the Soulages Collection.</font> London: Chapman & Hall, 1856, p. 120"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Binnebeke, Emile van.<u>Bronze sculpture : sculpture from 1500-1800 in the collection of the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum.</u> Rotterdam : Het Museum, 1994, pp. 74-75, cat. no. 14"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"cupid","id":"N31"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"harp","id":"x31558"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["602-1865"],"accessionNumberNum":"602","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1865,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-13","recordCreationDate":"2000-05-31","availableToBook":true}}