Creamer
Medium
Porcelain
Dimensions
H. 3 7/8 in. (9.8 cm); Diam. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm)
Classification
Cream pot
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Chace, 1969
Accession Number
69.194.14
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold *Sol* (1533), a engraving by Heinrich Aldegver, one of the renowned "Little Masters" of the Northern Renaissance. This intimate print, measuring just 97 mm high by 63 mm wide, captures a moment from classical mythology: the nude god Apollo, embodying the Sun, seated regally on a throne with a radiant sun emblem beside him. Kneeling before him is his son Phaëton, pleading to borrow the fiery sun chariot—a fateful request that, in Ovid's *Metamorphoses*, ends in catastrophe. As the first in Aldegrever's series of seven engravings personifying planetary deities, *Sol* reflects the Renaiss...