id: 106841 accession number: 1924.859 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1924.859 updated: 2023-08-24 11:35:18.951000 Table Fountain, c. 1320–40. France, Paris, 14th century. Gilt-silver and translucent enamels; overall: 33.8 x 25.4 x 26 cm (13 5/16 x 10 x 10 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of J. H. Wade 1924.859 title: Table Fountain title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1320–40 creation date earliest: 1320 creation date latest: 1340 current location: 109 Gothic Painting and Sculpture creditline: Gift of J. H. Wade copyright: --- culture: France, Paris, 14th century technique: gilt-silver and translucent enamels department: Medieval Art collection: MED - Gothic type: Metalwork find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 33.8 x 25.4 x 26 cm (13 5/16 x 10 x 10 1/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition opening date: 1936-06-26T04:00:00 The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936). title: The International Style: The Arts in Europe around 1400 opening date: 1962-10-23T04:00:00 The International Style: The Arts in Europe around 1400. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (organizer) (October 23-December 2, 1962). title: Gothic Art 1360-1440 opening date: 1963-08-06T04:00:00 Gothic Art 1360-1440. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 6-September 15, 1963). title: Treasures of Medieval France opening date: 1966-11-16T05:00:00 Treasures of Medieval France. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1966-January 29, 1967). title: Le Siecle de Charles V (The Century of Charles V) opening date: 1981-10-10T04:00:00 Le Siecle de Charles V (The Century of Charles V). Réunion des musées nationaux - Grand Palais, Paris cedex 12, France (October 10, 1981-February 1, 1982). title: Consuming Passions: The Art of Food and Drink opening date: 1983-07-26T04:00:00 Consuming Passions: The Art of Food and Drink. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 26-October 9, 1983). title: Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00 Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991). title: All That Glitters: Great Silver Vessels in Cleveland's Collection opening date: 1994-11-23T05:00:00 All That Glitters: Great Silver Vessels in Cleveland's Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 23, 1994-January 8, 1995). title: Dukes and Angels: Art from the Court of Burgundy (1364-1419) opening date: 2004-05-27T00:00:00 Dukes and Angels: Art from the Court of Burgundy (1364-1419). Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, Dijon, France (May 27-September 15, 2004); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24, 2004-January 9, 2005). title: Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2007-05-10T00:00:00 Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009). title: Myth and Mystique: Cleveland's Gothic Table Fountain opening date: 2016-10-09T00:00:00 Myth and Mystique: Cleveland's Gothic Table Fountain. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 9, 2016-February 26, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * The International Style: The Arts in European around 1400, The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, MD (October 23 - December 2, 1962). * Les Fastes du Gothique: Le Siecle de Charles V, The Grand Palais, Paris (9 Oct. 1981-1 Feb.1982). --- PROVENANCE (M. & R. Stora, Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1924 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1924- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: This fountain with its minute architectural details and finely made enamel plaques displayed the wealth and refinement of the owner as it entertained his guests. Imagine hearing the ringing of the tiny bells when this fountain was in use. digital description: wall description: Conceptually and stylistically, this object is beyond all else a piece of Gothic architecture in miniature with vaults, pinnacles, columns, and traceried arches. Though the artist who created it is unknown, he was unquestionably inspired by the great Gothic buildings of his time.
The table fountain is a three-tiered assembly combining cast elements with bent sheets of gilt-silver. To these have been attached a series of enamel plaques representing grotesque figures, some of which play musical instruments. Water wheels and bells were added to capture motion and sound.
The rich detail, precious materials, and involved ornamentation of this deluxe object suggest it would have been expensive to produce and highly treasured by its original owner, someone of high status, and would have been deployed as an object of spectacle. This is the most complete example of its type known to survive from the Middle Ages. Medieval inventories reveal that small fountains like this, often taking various forms, and generally made from precious metals, once existed in large numbers, thus making the Cleveland table fountain an extremely rare object. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Milliken, William M. "A Table Fountain of the Fourteenth Century." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 12, no. 3 (1925). page number: pp. 36-39 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25093719 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 16 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook_80839/page/n18 Milliken, William M. "In Memoriam: Jeptha Homer Wade." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 13, no. 4 (1926) page number: p. 75 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25136919 Milliken, William M. “Early Enamels in the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Connoisseur 76 (October 1926). page number: pp. 69-70 url: Bassermann-Jordan, Ernst von. The Clock of Philip the Good of Burgundy. Leipzig: W. Diebener g.m.b.h, 1927. page number: p. 39, figs. 35-36 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. page number: Reproduced: p. 18 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1928/page/n22 Milliken, William Mathewson. The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art. [New York]: [The Art news], 1936. page number: Cat. No. 15 url: Henry S Francis, "A Gothic Table Fountain and an Engraved Design for on by the Master [W with a Key]" The Print Collector's Quarterly (April, 1939). page number: url: Francis, Henry S. "A Gothic Fountain Design by the Goldsmith-Engraver Monogrammist [Unrepresentable Symbol]." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 26, no. 7 (1939). page number: p. 118, 120 url: Stites, Raymond S. The Arts and Man. New York: Whittlesey House, 1940. page number: p. 445, fig. 369 url: N. M. Penzer, "The Great Wine Coolers -- II," Apollo LXVI, no. 391 (September, 1957). page number: pp. 40-41, fig II url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 179 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n43 Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, Md.). The International Style: The Arts in Europe Around 1400; [Exhibition]: October 23-December 2, 1962. 1962. page number: url: "Gothic Art 1360-1440." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 7 (1963). page number: No. 33, p. 175 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25151960 Harry Bober, "Medieval Art and Cleveland," Apollo LXXVII, no. 22 (1963). page number: url: Silvio A. Bedini, "The Role of Automata in the History of Technology, " Technology and Culture V (Winter, 1964). page number: p. 33, fig. 7 url: Colin Eisler, "Le gothique international," Art de France IV (1964). page number: pp. 288-90 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 63 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n87 Joseph Alsop, "Treasures of The Cleveland Museum of Art," Art in America (May-June, 1966). page number: p. 36 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. 1967. page number: No. 99 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. Treasures from Medieval France: A Summary Catalogue of the Exhibition. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. page number: Cat. No. VI 18, pp. 250-51, 376 url: Wixom, William D. Treasures from Medieval France. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 250-251; cat. no. VI-18 url: https://archive.org/details/TreasuresMedievalFrance/page/n277 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 63 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n87 Munro, Thomas. Form and Style in the Arts: An Introduction to Aesthetic Morphology. Cleveland: Press of Case Western Reserve University, 1970. page number: fig. 18 url: Hernmarck, Carl. The Art of the European Silversmith, 1430-1830. London: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1977. page number: p. 100, pl. 271 url: Impey, O. R. Chinoiserie: The Impact of Oriental Styles on Western Art and Decoration. London: Oxford University Press, 1977. page number: p.178, fig. 203 url: Miller, Naomi. French Renaissance Fountains. New York: Garland Pub, 1977. page number: pp. 33, 347, No. 8, footnotes 11-12 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 71 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n91 Lightbown, R. W. Secular Goldsmiths' Work in Medieval France: A History. London: Society of Antiquaries of London, 1978. page number: p. 48-51 url: Donzet, Bruno, and Christian Siret. Les Fastes du gothique: le siècle de Charles V : Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 9 octobre 1981-1er février 1982. [Paris]: Ministère de la culture, Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1981. page number: Cat. No. 191, pp. 236-38 url: Dombi, Istvan, Bernd Höfler, and Ingrid Loschek. Bruckmann's Silber-Lexikon. München: Bruckmann, 1982. page number: p. 290 url: Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium on the History of Landscape Architecture, and Elisabeth B. MacDougall. Medieval Gardens. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1986. page number: p. 144 url: Patrick M. De Winter, "Castles and Town Residences of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (1364-1404), Artibus et historiae No. 8 (1983). page number: p. 117 url: Truman, Charles. Sotheby's Concise Encyclopedia of Silver. London: Conran Octopus, 1993. page number: p. 53 url: Chastel, André. French Art. Paris: Flammarion, 1994. page number: p. 315 url: Richter, Rainer. "Between Original and Imitation: Four Technical Studies in Basse-Taille Enameling and Re-Enameling of the Historicism Period." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 7 (1994): 222-51. page number: Reproduced: cover, p. 222, 234-35; Mentioned: p. 222-52 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161461 Daston, Lorraine, and Katharine Park. Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750. New York: Zone Books, 1998. page number: p. 99, Fig. 2.10 url: Kemp, Martin. The Oxford History of Western Art. 2000. page number: No. 237, p. 168 url: May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. page number: pp. 27 & 116 url: Fliegel, Stephen N. "The Cleveland Table Fountain and Gothic Automata." Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 7 (2002). page number: pp. 6-49 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20079718 Pérouse de Montclos, Jean-Marie. Paris: City of Art. New York: Vendome, 2003. page number: p. 119 url: Fliegel, Stephen N., Sophie Jugie, and Virginie Barthélémy. Art from the Court of Burgundy: The Patronage of Philip the Bold and John the Fearless 1364-1419 : Musée Des Beaux-Arts De Dijon, May 28-September 15, 2004, the Cleveland Museum of Art, October 24, 2004-January 9, 2005. [Dijon]: Musée des beaux-arts, 2004. page number: Cat. No. 26, p. 87 url: Fliegel, Stephen. "Patronage and the Burgundian Court, 1364-1419" The Magazine Antiques (October 2004). page number: p. 142-51, pl. III url: Bernstein, Bernard. The Fifteenth Century Arles Torah Crown Contract: A Twenty-First Century Silversmith's Interpretation. [New York]: B. Bernstein, 2005. page number: p. 31, fig. 5 url: Nys, Wim. Zilver uit Antwerpen = Argenterie d'Anvers = Silber aus Antwerpen = Silver from Antwerp. Antwerp: Zilvermuseum Sterckshof, 2006. page number: p. 120 url: Rowland-Jones, Anthony. "Iconography in the history of the recorder up to 1430-Part 2". Early Music XXXIV, no. 1 (2006). page number: p. 12, fig. 12 url: Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 190-193, no. 68 url: Eikelmann, Renate, Holger A. Klein, Stephen N. Fliegel, and Virginia Brilliant. The Cleveland Museum of Art: Meisterwerke von 300 bis 1550. München: Hirmer, 2007. page number: Cat. No. 72, p. 198-199 url: Piña, Leslie A. Furniture in History, 3000 B.C.-2000 A.D. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2010. page number: pp. 3, 25 url: Caskey, Jill, Adam S. Cohen, and Linda Safran. Confronting the Borders of Medieval Art. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill, 2011. page number: p. 176, fig. 4 url: Anderson, Maxwell Lincoln. The Quality Instinct: Seeing Art Through a Museum Director's Eye. Washington, DC: AAM Press, American Association of Museums, 2012. page number: p. 32-33 url: Cleveland Museum of Art, David Franklin, and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. page number: pp. 116-7 url: Kirkham, Pat, and Susan Weber. History of Design: Decorative Arts and Material Culture, 1400-2000. 2013. page number: p. 92, Fig. 5.10 url: Conference "The splendour of Burgundy.", Wim Blockmans, and Anne van Oosterwijk. Staging the Court of Burgundy: Proceedings of the Conference "The Splendour of Burgundy". Turnhout: Brepols, 2013. page number: Fig. 20, p. 136 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 269 url: Normore, Christina. A Feast for the Eyes: Art, Performance, and the Late Medieval Banquet. Chicago: Univesity of Chicago Press, [2015]. page number: Mentioned: p. 28-31; Reproduced: p. 29, fig. 3 url: Fliegel, Stephen N., and Elina Gertsman. Myth and Mystique: Cleveland's Gothic Table Fountain. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art; London: In association with D Giles Limited, [2016]. page number: Reproduced: p. 92, plate 1 url: Bagnoli, Martina. "Sensual Awakenings." In A Feast for the Senses: Art and Experience in Medieval Europe, edited by Martina Bagnoli. Baltimore: The Walters Art Museum, 2016. page number: Reproduced: p. 14 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 15 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 62-64 url: Gertsman, Elina and Barbara H. Rosenwein. The Middle Ages in 50 Objects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. page number: Mentioned: p. 146-149; Reproduced: p. 147 url: Freundeskreis des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums. Hommage: Renate Eikelmann. München: Sieveking Verlag, 2018. page number: Reproduced: p. 38 url: Kessler, Herbert L . Experiencing Medieval Art. Toronto; Buffalo ;London: University of Toronto Press, 2019. page number: Reproduced: p. 182, fig. 64 url: Cordez, Philippe. "Musique et Jouvence au Royaume de France: Le Roman de Fauvel et la Fountaine de Cleveland (Pairs, vers 1320)," Object Studies in Art History Vol. 3 (2020) page number: pp. 17-39 url: Bernasconi, Gianenrico, and Susanne Thürigen. Material histories of time: objects and practices, 14th-19th centuries. 2020. page number: Reproduced; pp. 18, 21, 31, fig. 1. Mentioned: pp. 17-39 url: Bock, Nicolas, and Michele Tomasi. Art et économie en France et en Italie au XIVe siècle: prix, valeurs, carrières. 2020, 124. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 124, Fig. 4. url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1924.859/1924.859_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1924.859/1924.859_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1924.859/1924.859_full.tif