{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O7770"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O7770/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM9158/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM9158/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AM9158","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JT9067","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O7770/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O7770","accessionNumber":"M.1647-1944","objectType":"Dish","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This silver-gilt dish with two handles is a rare and sophisticated example of a presentation dish. The central scene is taken from the epic poem, the <i>Aeneid</i>, by the Roman poet Virgil. It shows the central character, Aeneas, fleeing the burning city of Troy, carrying his father Anchises and accompanied by his son Ascanius. The  poem was extremely popular and was published throughout Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, often with illustrations. These provided a source for the figural compositions used by painters, architects, goldsmiths, sculptors and ceramic painters in their own works. Often they copied an entire scene, but sometimes just certain figures were selected. In this case, Gabriel Felling has made an almost-identical copy of Johann Wilhelm Baur's 1641 etching of Aeneas fleeing Troy. Baur (c. 1607-1642) was a German painter and engraver who worked in Italy and Austria.\nAeneas's flight from Troy with his family was a scene of great symbolic meaning with a long literary and artistic tradition. To classical scholars, it represented the origins of Rome, since Aeneas was believed to be the founder of Rome. It also signified the themes of exile, of the Three Ages of Man and of filial love. The scene was chosen by Andrea Alciati to depict filial love in his <i>Emblematum liber</i> ('Book of Emblems'), published in Augsburg in 1531. Alciati, a lawyer with a fine classical education, was the inventor of the emblem book, in which moral lessons were conveyed through a combination of word and image. In this case, the emblem of filial love was especially suitable for a commemorative gift from a grandfather to a grandson.","physicalDescription":"A silver dish embossed with scene of Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius escaping from Troy. Octofoil with two flat handles cast and chased with satyr's heads, each foil decorated with two profile dolphins and with a full-force fish between. Inscribed: 'The great grandfather's William Martin gift to J.H. grandson 1687'.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Felling, Gabriel","id":"A1297"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"}],"techniques":[{"text":"embossing","id":"AAT53826"},{"text":"chasing","id":"AAT54016"},{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"},{"text":"engraving","id":"AAT53829"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silver, embossed, cast and chased","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"British Galleries","id":"THES48985"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006AM9158","2017JT9067"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"56D","id":"THES49242"},"free":"","case":"CA17","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Dish","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Bruton","id":"x36668"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1687-1695","earliest":"1687-01-01","latest":"1695-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by W. J. Johnson","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"2.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"30.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"21","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"0.246 kg\nDimensions checked: Measured; 07/07/1999 by DW","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'THE GREAT GRANDFATHERS WILLIAM MARTIN GIFT TO J H GRANDSON 1687'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"1687","earliest":"1687-01-01","latest":"1687-12-31"},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"English","medium":"","method":"engraving (incising)","position":"on panel below the rim","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Textual information","note":"Textual information; English; on panel below the rim; engraving (incising); 1687"},{"content":"'SC'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"engraving (incising)","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Textual information","note":"Textual information; engraving (incising)"},{"content":"'GF' above a swan","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"struck in the sky of the engraving in the bowl","script":"","translation":"Jackson, 1949, p. 484","transliteration":"","type":"Maker's mark (Hallmark)","note":"Maker's mark (Hallmark); struck in the sky of the engraving in the bowl"}],"objectHistory":"Made in Bruton, Somerset by Gabriel Felling (active in Bruton by 1678, died there in 1714)","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Silver two-handed dish embossed with scene of Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius escaping from Troy. English, 1687-95, mark of Gabriel Felling. ","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Jackson's Silver &amp; Gold Marks of England, Scotland &amp; Ireland</u>, ed. by Ian Pickford. 3rd edn (rev.). Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 1989. ISBN 0907462634"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"For Bauer's etching of Aeneas and his family fleeing Troy, see the print in the British Museum, 2AA+,a.31.125, available online at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_2AA-a-31-125 [accessed 27/10/2022]\nWe are grateful to Nigel Ip for pointing out the source of the design.\r\n"}],"production":"Dated 1687, Gabriel Felling's mark for 1690-1695 - also found on a rat tailed spoon with a trifid end from the Dunn-Gardner Collection (Jackson 2nd edn. (1949)  p. 484)","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Troy","id":"x30074"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Aeneas","id":"N18"},{"text":"Anchises","id":"N19"},{"text":"Ascanius","id":"N20"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"fires","id":"AAT68986"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"mythology","id":"AAT55985"},{"text":"old age","id":"AAT189603"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":["Virgil, <font -u>Aeneid</font>, 2:671-679"],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Dish (Silver dish with scene from the Aeneid)\r\n<font -i>Unmarked, Bruton, Somerset, dated 1687, Mark of Gabriel Felling (or Feline)</font>\r\nEmbossed with Aeneas, his son Julus and his father Anchises escaping from Troy. Engraved on a panel below the rim 'THE GREAT GRANDFATHERS WILLIAM MARTIN GIFT TO J H GRANDSON 1687' and 'SC'. With cast handles soldered to a chased bowl. The central scene has been laid out using a lead plaque as a model. The dolphins around the edge have been done free-hand and are considerably less skillful.\r\nGallery 65 case 19","date":{"text":"11/1996","earliest":"1996-11-01","latest":"1996-11-30"}},{"text":"British Galleries:\r\nThis dish depicts Aeneas carrying his father from the burning city of Troy, accompanied by his son.The story comes from Virgil's epic poem, The Aeneid (1st century BCE). It is likely that this scene is based on a print, although exactly which one has not yet been identified. If you recognise it, we would be glad to hear from you.","date":{"text":"27/03/200","earliest":"0200-03-27","latest":"0200-03-27"}}],"partNumbers":["M.1647-1944"],"accessionNumberNum":"1647","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1944,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LT9406"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-06-24","recordCreationDate":"1998-06-01","availableToBook":false}}