German and Netherlandish Metalwork before 1603
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Glasgow Museums holds a large collection of medieval and Renaissance metalwork of northern European origin. Famed for their quality base metalware, the great production centres of Germany, the Netherlands and the Meuse Valley produced some of the finest bronze and brass goods of the age. A highlight of the collection, and amongst the earliest pieces, are the pair of pricket candlesticks representing Samson’s slaying of the lion. Rightly regarded as masterpieces, these works represent the very best of the thirteenth century metalworkers' art and would have been intended for only the richest clientele. The collection includes four examples of decorative lion-shaped vessels known as ‘aquamaniles’. A particularly fine example, dated to circa 1300, is marked with Hebrew inscriptions. Possibly used for ceremonial hand washing within a synagogue, this beautifully cast object is rare evidence of medieval Jewish material culture. Amongst the most numerous pieces in the collection are the fifteenth and sixteenth century dishes of hammered brass, thought to originate from Nuremberg. Made for the burgeoning merchant classes and the aristocracy, these attractive and decorative pieces were manufactured and sold in great numbers throughout Europe. Also represented in the collection are functional domestic items, the cauldrons, mortars, ewers, candlesticks and jugs that during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were commonly found in the households of the middling and upper classes. Most of these pieces were donated by Sir William and Lady Burrell in 1944.
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