Ewer
- Gallery: Room 2a
- Culture: Antwerp
- Made in: Antwerp (city) (?)
- Date: 1559
- Object type: ewer
- Materials: silver
- Museum number: WB.93
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is an elegant silver ewer, its surface rich with embossed and chased detail. This 16th-century work features an oval lip with circles cut out on each side, a handle shaped by a figure of Pan, the nature god, and striking relief scenes from classical mythology.
The most prominent decoration on the body shows the "Rape of Helen," a scene inspired by the drawings of Raphael. You'll notice this scene is signed and dated HR 1559, though the origin of this mark remains a mystery to scholars. On the front and back of the ewer, there are masks that frame the central figures.
The ewer’s design is influenced by Renaissance artists like Raphael, Enea Vico, and Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, linking this Flemish masterpiece to broader artistic trends of the time. It was made in Antwerp, a renowned center for goldsmithing, and is part of the Waddesdon Bequest, a celebrated collection bequeathed by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild.
See it in person
Ewer is on display in Room 2a at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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