Monkey fountain figure

Caspar Gras

ca. 1600 · Bronze · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

These two monkeys, intended to be fountain spouts, were modeled after close observation of captive macaques brought to Europe from North Africa or Gibraltar for display in a princely menagerie. The bronze monkeys were originally part of a scheme for a larger fountain that has since been lost but may have resembled glorious fountain designs recorded in Innsbruck, Danish Kronborg, and Prague. The sculptor, possibly Gras (whose mortar is on view across the gallery), made a single terracotta piece from which two wax intermediary models were cast. Each was subtly individualized—for example through facial features—and cast in bronze.

Artist

Caspar Gras

Date

ca. 1600

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Austrian

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Purchase, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Acquisitions Fund, 2016