Plaque with the Personification of Africa (?)
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Walters Art Museum Object Description
This depiction of a beautiful woman as a hunter (indicated by her footwear) from outside of Europe (signaled by her exotically decorated drapery) is puzzling. Iron was rarely used for art, because it was hard to work, especially to create fine detail. To introduce the detail, sculptors turned to gold. Similar plaques decorated a splendid casket commissioned by Emperor Maximilian II. This use of iron may take advantage of the metal's color to depict a black African, possibly as a personification of the continent Africa, one of the four continents (along with Europe, Asia, and America) then known to Europeans.For the latest information about this object, Plaque with the Personification of Africa (?), visit the Online Collection of the Walters ...
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All Works in Curationist’s archives can be reproduced and used freely. How to attribute this Work:
Italian, Plaque with the Personification of Africa (?), ca. 1550-1575 (Early Modern), Walters Art Museum. CC0, GNU Free Documentation License.
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