Skip to main content
(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Medallion: Bird Attacking a Hare
(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Medallion: Bird Attacking a Hare

Date12th century - 13th century
Place MadeVenice, Veneto, Italy, Europe
MediumStone
Dimensions24.1 cm (9 1/2 in.)
ClassificationsArchitectural Elements
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberS5w7
eMuseum ID728874
EmbARK ObjectID11170
TMS Source ID416
Last Updated8/14/24
Status
Not on view
Web CommentaryIsabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
BibliographyNotesGilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 42. (the group as 12th-13th century, Venetian)
Walter Cahn. "Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections. IV. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston." Gesta (1969), pp. 56-59, no. 14y.
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), pp. 64-66, no. 93a.
Peter Lansburgh et al. 2000 Years of Sculpture, from the Classical Age to the Baroque: Collection of Mark Lansburgh. Exh. cat. (Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1977), cat. 8.
Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), p. 29. (the medallions disucssed as a group)
ProvenanceNotesIn September of 1897, Isabella Stewart Gardner purchased many pieces of Venetian relief sculpture and architectural elements in anticipation of the creation of her museum. These purchases included 35 marble medallions or 'paterae,' and in 1899 she purchased three more medallions for a total of 38. These medallions were all purchased in Venice, the majority coming from the dealers Francesco Dorigo and Moisé dalla Torre and one more from the art dealer Antonio Marcato. The 1899 purchases were also made in Venice, an additional patera coming from Francesco Dorigo and two from the art dealer and restorer Dino Barozzi. Gardner installed at least one of her medallions in the Conservatory at Green Hill, her residence in Brookline, Massachusetts, by about 1900 before the group was reinstalled in the Courtyard of Fenway Court.
This patera is probably one of seven objects described as "pateras bird & rabbit" or "[patera] animals & birds" in Gardner's receipts (museum archives). Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Francesco Dorigo for 30 or 40 lire on 22 September 1897.
(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Unknown
12th century - 13th century
(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Unknown
12th century - 13th century
(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Unknown
12th century - 13th century
(c) 2024 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Unknown
12th century - 13th century
(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Unknown
12th century - 13th century
(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Unknown
12th century - 13th century
(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Unknown
12th century - 13th century
(c) 2024 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Unknown
12th century - 13th century
(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Unknown
12th century - 13th century