The Destruction of Pharaoh

The scene is painted in the deep well of the dish. In the foreground the Israelites rest after the passage of the Red Sea. One sees vases and bundles on the flower-strewn grass. Seated at the left is Moses, surrounded by Aaron, Miriam and Josue. He holds his rod in his left hand and gestures with his right toward the claret-colored sea, where the waves overwhelm Pharaoh in his chariot and the Egyptian host. In the distance, parting waters still permit the rear-guard of the Israelites to hasten to the shore, while at the left, the head of the column- camels, turbaned men carrying bundles, women bearing packages on their heads or in one case, a cradle- is making progress on safe land. Shafts of light illuminate the sky and two birds hover above the last Israelites.

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.

Collection of Baron Schenk von Stauffenberg, Laupheim [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1]. Collection of Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth, London, by 1862 [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [2]. Jacques Seligmann & Co., New York [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1928; by bequest to the Walters Art Museum, 1931.

[1] Unconfirmed, as given by Jacques Seligmann & Co., see Archives of American Art, Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, box 310, folder 2: Invoices, 1927 December-1928 December: Purchase invoice dated December 1, 1928, from Jacques Seligmann & Co., New York, to Henry Walters Esq., including “4320 A large deep, oval platter representing, “The Passage of the Red Sea”; French work of Limoges of the Sixteenth Century. It is signed in full by Susanne de Court…. Former Collections: Baron Schenk von Stauffenberg, near Laupheim (Wurtemberg), and Sir Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, M.P.”
[2] J. C. (John Charles) Robinson, ed., “Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Mediæval, Renaissance, and More Recent Periods, on Loan at the South Kensington Museum, June 1862” (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1863), p. 179: “No. 1,858. Oval dish, painted in brilliant colours with foil; the Passage of the Red Sea; near the lower part SVSANNE COVRT. The back is painted in grisaille on a black ground, with pale flesh tints. 20 in. by 15 ¼ in. D. C. Marjoribanks, Esq., M.P.”