Plaque with Pilate Washing His Hands
about 1520–15403 1/4 x 5 x 1/8 in. (8.26 x 12.7 x 0.32 cm)
Valerio Belli (Italian, about 1468–1546)
Creation Place:
Rome or Vicenza, Italy
Medium:
Rock crystal
Credit Line:
Bequest of Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft
Accession Number:
1931.323.2
Currently on View in:
Tiny Treasures (4)
Exhibition History
Michigan. Detroit Institute of Arts. Decorative Arts of the Italian Renaissance, 1400–1600, November 18, 1958–January 4, 1959, no. 410.Cincinnati, Ohio. Taft Museum of Art. Out of the Attic: Forgeries, Treasures, & Curiosities from the Taft Collections, September 14–October 30, 1994 (a and b only).
Ohio. Cincinnati Art Museum. Museum within a Museum: Treasures from the Taft at the Cincinnati Art Museum, January 2002–February 2003 (a and b only, during TMA renovation).
Cincinnati, Ohio. Taft Museum of Art. In a New Light: Treasures from the Taft, July 3, 2021–May 1, 2022.
Gallery Label
Valerio Belli—one of the greatest Renaissance artists to work in rock crystal—used light to define figures and unify compositions. On this plaque, he engraved 14 overlapping figures. Jesus appears at the center. Accused of blasphemy, he is led by a soldier toward Pontius Pilate, who has been pressured to order Jesus’s crucifixion. Seated atop a platform, Pilate symbolically washes his hands, a gesture that, in Christian tradition, indicated his belief in Jesus’s innocence.
Provenance
Acquired by M. LeComte de Portalès-Gorgier; sold in Paris, February 22, 1865 (stock no. 1256). Acquired by Charles Phelps Taft [1843-1929] and Anna Sinton Taft [1850-1931], Cincinnati, OH, before 1929; donated to the Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts, Cincinnati, OH, May 21, 1927 [1]; transferred to the Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH, September 1, 2006 [2]. Notes:
[1]. The Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts (CIFA) was formed by Charles Phelps and Anna Sinton Taft on March 22, 1927 as a non-profit corporation to stimulate the development of art and music in the City of Cincinnati and run the Taft Museum of Art, which opened in 1932. The Tafts offered $1 million for a permanent endowment fund, on the condition that the community raise $2.5 million in matching funds, which was achieved by December 3, 1928. [2]. Until August 31, 2006, the Museum was owned by CIFA, administered by CIFA’s Board of Trustees, and governed by the Taft Museum Board of Overseers. On September 1, 2006, the Museum legally separated from CIFA and began operations as its own incorporated 501(c)(3) entity. This separate incorporation led to the transfer to the separate entity after August 31, 2006 of all tangible assets comprising the Taft collection.
Collection Lists
This artwork is in the following list(s):
