Epergne

The round flat epergne is decorated with Medusa’s head in the middle. In Greek mythology, she was the youngest and most dangerous of Gorgon sisters, who had writhing snakes instead of hair, and her look turned every gazer to stone. Medusa was overpowered by Perseus, who showed Medusa’s own reflection in the shield to her, thereby defeating her with her own weapon. Her face on the epergne is modelled on an ancient sculpture called Medusa Rondanini, which was a frequent motif quoted by artists in various fields of art and craft in successive centuries, an example of which is the epergne shown here. Gorgo’s head is surrounded with two decorative strips separated with a row of full-bodied pearls. One of the strips shows four winged women holding flowers and palms in their hands, with an arabesque – an ornament of volute-arranged vine scrolls – placed between them. The strip contains a dynamic scene depicting figures of women and men fighting Centaurs. The scene is closed with an ornament running along the entire edge, which is based on a palmette – a sequence of leaves turned outwards.

According to the former inventory description of the epergne, the scene shown in the external strip shows a story from the Centauromachy – in Greek mythology, it was the battle of Centaurs and Lapiths. This topic was used because of the possibility of bold depiction of many human figures in dynamic poses. The upper part of the epergne is connected with the foot in the form of a reversed chalice connected with a short base on which the tray rests.

The manufactory and the time of origin of the object are unknown. Considering the form of the object and the type of material used (cast iron), we can presume that the epergne was made in the second half of the 19th century.