Kneeling African figure

late 18th or early 19th century

Not on view

By the eighteenth century, Venice’s wealth was increasingly connected, much like the rest of Europe, to the transatlantic slave trade. In 1700 the sculptor Andrea Brustolon carved enchained African men as ornamental supports for the Ca’Rezzonico, a palace on the Grand Canal, spreading the trend for “blackamoors,” stylized and often racist depictions of Africans. Used as domestic decoration, works with such imagery proliferated throughout the Grand Tour market and were later exported to the United States. Probably from the nineteenth century, this glass figure, which once held a vessel, speaks to the subject’s disturbing popularity even in the era of emancipation.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Title: Kneeling African figure
Date: late 18th or early 19th century
Culture: Italian, Venice (Murano)
Medium: Glass, furnace-worked and blown
Dimensions: Height: 7 5/8 in. (19.4 cm)
Classification: Glass
Credit Line: Gift of James Jackson Jarves, 1881
Object Number: 81.8.253
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

In the same medium

A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.

Hercules and Antaeus, Bronze, with red-brown natural patina, and remains of dark brown lacquer., possibly Italian — Hercules and Antaeus
possibly Italian
probably 19th century

Goblet, Glass, enameled and gilded, Italian, Venice, Murano — Goblet
Italian, Venice, Murano
ca. 1475–1500 (modern foot)

Seated satyr with an inkwell and a candlestick, Bronze, Northern Italian — Seated satyr with an inkwell and a candlestick
Northern Italian
ca. 1530–40

Trotting horse, Giambologna Netherlandish, Bronze, with remains of red-brown lacquer, Italian — Trotting horse
Giambologna
18th–19th century?

Saint Sebastian, Alessandro Vittoria (Alessandro Vittoria di Vigilio della Volpa) Italian, Bronze, Italian, Venice — Saint Sebastian
Alessandro Vittoria (Alessandro Vittoria di Vigilio della Volpa)
1566

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.