Jean de Court
(French
,
active ca. 1555
-
85)
Tazza
1555
-
85
grisaille enamel and gilt on copper
4.5 x 10 in diameter
11.43 x 25.40 cm
Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund
88.40
Utilizing the shape of this tazza’s bowl to his advantage, Jean de Court splendidly painted in grisaille (monochromatic) enamel the biblical story of Moses parting the Red Sea, based on an engraving by Bernard Salomon. After the pharaoh granted the Israelites permission to leave Egypt, he and his army secretly followed as Moses led them toward the Red Sea. Moses, however, parted the sea to escape the country on dry land, and the pursuers were engulfed as he closed the water around them. The bowl shows the opposing forces on either side, with the sea surging up from the deeper recesses of the center and swallowing the pharaoh’s army into its depths. Classical motifs surround the exterior of the tazza, along with Jean de Court’s cipher “IC.”
JS