Creative Commons License
Drinking Bowl
(Baroque Europe )
In 17th-century Russia, cups often carried moralizing maxims and images, thus urging one to drink with moderation. Here, the depiction of Samson and the accompanying versified inscription warn the cup's owner not to surrender to the wiles of immoral women. The painting on the underside probably depicts the fox and the crow from Aesop's Fables and has a similar message: as the harlot decieved Samson, so the fox decieved the crow with sweet talk, thus making him drop the cheese he held in his beak. Aesop's text was translated into Russian in 1700 but was probably known even before then through Western sources.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Leon Grinberg ("A La Vieille Russie"), New York, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1952, by purchase.
Exhibitions
| 1996-1997 | Russian Enamels. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Geographies
Russia, Solvychegodsk (Usolsk) (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 1 3/4 x Diam: 6 5/16 in. (4.5 x 16 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, 1952
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
44.626