Polychrome Allegorical
Figure of ‘Fame’
Delft, circa 1740-60
The youthful figure with well defined blue wings, wearing an iron-red and yellow scalework cuirass and a flowered blue skirt spilt at the front to reveal bare legs and feet, standing on his left toes above an iron-red-marbleized yellow globe, and modeled blowing a trumpet supported in his right hand while holding another in his left hand, the flaring hexagonal base with a green top mottled in yellow and blue above iron-red-ground sides decorated with a manganese and yellow floral vine, and the footrim with a blue hatchwork border.
Height: 27.2 cm. (10 3/4 in.)
This winged figure: an angel clad in a feathered cuirass, standing on a stylized globe and holding two trumpets, is the personification of ‘Fame’. Since the Renaissance, the Roman goddess of fame and rumor, Fama (‘Pheme’ in Greek mythology), was a well-known figure in allegories of triumph and glory, mostly representing powerful sovereigns. An important example is the monumental tomb designed by Hendrick de Keyser (1565-1621), the famous Renaissance architect and sculptor, for William I, Prince of Orange ([1533-84] also known as William the Silent), in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft (1614-21), which shows the goddess Fama standing behind the deceased ruler and blowing her trumpet to herald his glory in perpetuity (see E. Jimkes-Verkade, “De ikonologie van het grafmonument van Willem I, Prins van Oranje”, in: exh. cat. De stad Delft. Cultuur een maatschappij van 1572 tot 1667, Delft [Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof] 1981, pp. 214-227).
A great rarity and a highly interesting example of the complex mutual influences between Dutch Delftware and both European and Chinese porcelain is a figure modeled after an amalgam of European examples (below).
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
In Roman mythology (for instance in Virgil’s Aeneid, IV, line 180 ff.), Fama was described as having multiple tongues, eyes, ears and feathers. Her stance on the globe indicates her universal power and presence, probably an attribute derived from the better-known goddess Fortuna. Fama’s main attribute is the trumpet she blows to blaze abroad the glory of a hero; and sometimes, she holds a second smaller trumpet through which she would announce the disrepute of the less fortunate (compare Van Aken-Fehmers 2001, p. 117).
A great rarity and a highly interesting example of the complex mutual influences between Dutch Delftware and both European and Chinese porcelain is a small figure modeled after an amalgam of European examples (to the left). The Chinese porcelain figure, holding a later staff instead of the original second trumpet, resembles the Dutch model in detail, although the globe and the base have been replaced by a floral and rocaillerie base that was inspired by contemporary European porcelain examples. No other examples of this Chinese porcelain figure have been recorded.
Similar examples:
A similar angel, marked IP for Jan Pennis, the owner of De Porceleyne Schotel (The Porcelain Dish) Factory from 1724 until 1764, is in the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (inv. no. OC-D 148-1904), illustrated in Van Aken-Fehmers 2001, p. 117, no. 1, along with another unmarked example (inv. no. OC-D 200-1904). Another angel, without the wings, in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, is illustrated in Hudig 1929, p. 182, ill. 174); and an example with wings and possibly later attributes is in the Lavino Collection, illustrated in Lavino, p. 94. An example on a tripod socle with a globe is at the Neue Residenz, Bamberg, illustrated in E. Bachmann, “Delfter Fayencen in der Neuen Residenz Bamberg”, in: Die Weltkunst, XXVI, 1956, p. 13, ill. 7. A plaque in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. no. BK-NM-12400-2), painted with a view of the tomb of William I, Prince of Orange, depicting Fama with both of her trumpets and dated 1657, is illustrated in Lunsingh Scheurleer 1984, p. 275, no. 247.
PREVIOUSLY
