Nereid with Tridacna Valve, Nuremberg? Probably 16th-17th century
The bronze proposed here depicts a nereid riding on a dolphin and balancing on her head a valva of tridacna shell.
The bronze, originally silver-plated, now has a splendid black patina under which the silver shines through.
This kind of object probably belonged to a Wunderkammer, a cabinet of curiosities, as it combines natural and man-made wonder, combined in a fanciful composition.
Among Wunderkammer goldsmiths excelled those in Nuremberg and Augsburg, particularly the workshops of Jamnitzer and Gross. Gross’s basin with nereid and tridacna velves is housed in the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna.
Our small bronze is possibly an expression of that world: an intriguing object of goldsmithing suspended between nature and artifice.
Arciduca Geza von Habsburg, Tesori dei Principi - Silvana Editoriale, 1997, pp. 55, 81, 98, 128, 150, 207.
Hugh Honour, Orafi e Argentieri - Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Verona, 1972, pp. 80, 86.
Manfred Leithe-Jasper und Rudolf Distelberger, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien - Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd, 1982, p.102.