Dish 1685

Sigismund Zschammer crafted this silver dish, teeming with images of putti and garlands, during a time when the echoes of antiquity still resonated deeply. These putti, with their playful innocence, are not merely decorative. They remind us of Eros, the Greek god of love, a motif that dances through history from classical sculptures to Renaissance paintings. The garlands, overflowing with leaves and fruit, symbolize abundance and festivity, recalling the Roman cornucopia, the horn of plenty. Yet, look closer, and you'll find that these symbols have shifted in meaning over time. The innocent putti, once symbols of divine love, have become secularized cherubs, adorning even the most earthly of objects. Consider how the same motif of a winged child appears in medieval Christian art, transformed into a symbol of spiritual devotion. Such transformations remind us of how collective memory shapes and reshapes our visual language, imbuing even the most familiar images with new layers of meaning. In viewing this dish, we are not merely observing a work of art, but engaging with a continuous, cyclical narrative of symbols that have resurfaced and evolved over time.