Photograph: SREĆKO BUDEK,  © SREĆKO BUDEKPhotograph: SREĆKO BUDEK,  © SREĆKO BUDEKPhotograph: SREĆKO BUDEK,  © SREĆKO BUDEKPhotograph: SREĆKO BUDEK,  © SREĆKO BUDEK


Name of Object:

The Four Continents

Location:

Zagreb, North-West Croatia, Croatia

Holding Museum:

Museum of Arts and Crafts

 About Museum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb

Date of Object:

1744–1749

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Unknown

Museum Inventory Number:

MUO 19861–19864

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Unpainted porcelain group

Dimensions:

H: 19 cm; w: 18.5 cm; base: h: 15 cm; w: 10 cm

Workshop / Movement:

Porcelain Manufactory, Vienna

Type of object:

Allegorical figures

Place of production:

Vienna

Description:

On a low scalloped base, with relief decoration, are four female figures – allegories of the four continents. Europe, presented as the Ruler, is on horseback and has one leg resting on a globe. At her feet are an open book, a lute, fasces and a scroll. Africa, seated on a lion, holds an elephant's tusk in her right hand with smaller tusks and snakes at her feet. Asia, seated on a camel, has one leg on a pumpkin; alongside the pumpkin is a vessel from which smoke is rising. America is an American Indian on the back of a crocodile. She holds an eagle in her left hand, her right foot resting on decapitated human head on the ground. All the figures are marked with the imprinted seal of the Viennese porcelain manufactory (the Austrian shield) and the mark bossierer (M).

View Short Description

A group of unpainted porcelain female figures – allegories of the four continents – Europe, Africa, Asia and America.

How date and origin were established:

By the imprinted seal of the Viennese porcelain manufactory and stylistic analysis.

How Object was obtained:

From the Erwin Weiss Collection, Zagreb.

Selected bibliography:

Od svagdana do blagdana. Barok u Hrvatskoj. Katalog izložbe (From Everyday to Holidays: Baroque in Croatia), exhibition catalogue, Zagreb, 1993, pp.  274–275.
Staničić, S., Porculan. Meissen-Beč. Zbirka keramike Muzeja za umjetnost i obrt, Zagreb, Zagreb, 2004, p. 142.

Citation of this web page:

Marina  Bagarić "The Four Continents" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;hr;Mus11;44;en

Prepared by: Marina BagarićMarina Bagarić

SURNAME: Bagaric
NAME: Marina

AFFILIATION: Museum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb, Croatia

TITLE: Senior Curator, Head of the Ceramics Collection and Architecture
Department

CV:
Marina Bagaric studied Art History and Russian Language and Literature at Zagreb University, and was awarded her MA in the History of Architecture in 2006. She has been a curator at the Museum of Arts and Crafts since 1998, and since 2004, a Senior Curator and head of the Ceramics Collection and Architecture Department. She has curated exhibitions of contemporary Croatian ceramics, and is author and contributing author of various articles and catalogues associated with the Museum’s exhibitions: Art Nouveau in Croatia (2003), Tuscan Donations (2004) and Hidden Treasures from the Holdings of the Museum of Arts and Crafts (2005/6).

Translation by: Graham McMaster
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: HR 44

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