Phoenix Rising from the Flames
Dateearly 16th century
MediumCast bronze
DimensionsHeight: 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, Gift of Mrs. Chester Tripp in memory of her husband
Object number1979.18
Status
Not on viewIn the classical legend of the phoenix, the bird is resurrected on a nest of fragrant twigs where it undergoes a process of decomposition that results in a worm, from which it then regrows. In the post-classical era this legend gave way to the idea that the sun’s rays caused the nest to ignite, fanned by the phoenix’s wings. The phoenix’s vivid coloring of bright red and gold plumage may have led to the conflation of feathers and fire, with their similar hues. This early-sixteenth-century bronze represents the phoenix, wings about to unfold, rising from a ring of flames that resembles a nest. Because this object was designed as a finial for an andiron (meant to keep fireplace logs in place), the Renaissance observer would have viewed the phoenix illuminated by a real fire, as though actually witnessing the bird’s resurrection. This vision in turn would have invited meditation on Christ’s resurrection, of which the phoenix was a popular symbol.
Smart Publications:
The Place of the Antique in Early Modern Europe
Charles-Jean-François Chéron
after 1669
Bartolomeo Giovanni Vaggelli
1714
circa 1720
circa 1650 - 1675