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The Wedding of Psyche
Maker: Courteys, Pierre I
Oval dish decorated in grisaille and flesh pink enamels and gilded. On the front, the Wedding of Psyche with a border of masks and strapwork on the rim. On the back, Jupiter astride an eagle surrounded by male and female masks, strapwork and bunches of fruit, with guilloche ornament and strapwork on the underside of the rim. Signed 'P. COVRTEYS' on the front, and dated '1560' on the back.
Copper, enamelled in opaque white in grisaille technique and with pale salmon and darker salmon pink flesh tones, and a little red over a black background, with dotting, scrolls, sprays and other embellishments in gold. Oval with a narrow rim, shallow curved sides and uneven centre. The well is decorated with the Wedding Feast of Cupid and Psyche. Six gods, alternately male and female are seated behind a table, including Jupiter on the left, and in front of the table on the right, Venus and Hercules are seen from the back, with below them on a cloud, the signature 'P. COVRTEYS' inscribed in black and gold. To their left Cupid emerges from under the table, holding up the cloth and gazing at Venus. Standing on the extreme left is Ganymede pouring out water into a cistern in which a ewer is standing. Behind the table above the guests there are three winged Horae scattering flowers. On the rim there are four long-eared masks linked by strapwork. The edge is white.
On the middle of the reverse, is Jupiter astride an eagle within an oval guilloche frame, surrounded by two large male masks on right and left, and two smaller female masks above and below, linked by strapwork and bunches of fruit. On the rim, there is guilloche ornament broken at the cardinal points by a strap, one dated "1560" and at intervals between them by four oval cabochon motifs.
History note: Unknown before October 1948 when listed in Sotheby’s inventory of the collection of Louis Colville Gray Clarke, MA, LL.D., Leckhampton, Cambridge
Louis C.G. Clarke Bequest, 1960
Height: 5 cm
Length: 54.9 cm
Width: 41.8 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1961-04-27) by Clarke, Louis Colville Gray
16th Century, Mid
François II
Charles IX
Production date:
dated
AD 1560
: François II of France reigned 1559-60 and was succeeded on 5 December by his brother, Charles IX
The story of Psyche was told by Lucius Apuleius (c. 125- c. 175 CE) as a story within a story in Books 4 to 6 of Metamorphoses, also known as The Golden Ass. The Feast of the Gods or Wedding Feast of Cupid and Psyche, is described in Book 6, 25. The event takes place after Psyche, having suffered many trials, has finally been reunited with her lover, Cupid, and at the latter’s request, has been raised by Jupiter to the status of an immortal with the assent of the other gods. The enameller, Pierre Courteys, based his design on an engraving by the Master of the Die after Raphael. The use of this print as a design source by Limoges enamellers seems to have been far less common than another of the same subject, which was the penultimate print in a series of thirty-two with verses illustrating the Fable of Psyche by Agostino Veneziano and the Master of the Die after Michiel Coxie (1497-1592). Three more dated oval dishes after the print by the Master of the Die by Pierre Courteys are known: signed P. CORTEYS and dated 1554 in the Walters Art Gallery; signed and dated P. CORTEYES 1560 in the Louvre; and signed P. COVRTEYES MAF (joined) and dated 1567 in the Walters Art Gallery. He also produced small plates decorated with scenes from the story. The alternative engraving of the Wedding of Psyche, in the series by the Master of the Die after Michiel Coxie, was copied by several Limoges enamellers including Léonard Limosin, Pierre Reymond, and Jean Court dit Vigier.
Decoration composed of enamel ( pale salmon and darker salmon pink flesh tones, a little red, white, and black) gold
Raising (metal forming process) : Copper, enamelled in grisaille technique in opaque white with pale salmon and darker salmon pink flesh tones, and a little red over a manganese-black ground with dotting, scrolls, sprays and other embellishments in gold
Accession number: M.116-1961
Primary reference Number: 156462
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
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The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "The Wedding of Psyche" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/156462 Accessed: 2025-04-21 16:51:08
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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/156462
|title=The Wedding of Psyche
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-04-21 16:51:08|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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