Wide-rimmed bowl with Vulcan Forging Arms with Venus and Cupid 1523 - 1530

Curator: This enameled ceramic dish, created by Fra Xanto Avelli da Rovigo sometime between 1523 and 1530, is titled “Wide-rimmed bowl with Vulcan Forging Arms with Venus and Cupid." It resides here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Immediately, I'm struck by the color palette—the vibrant blues and greens contrast with the orange hues. The figures feel robust and idealized, it’s classical and yet… strange. There is a tension between labor and love represented here. Curator: Absolutely, and that tension is central to understanding the cultural context. Vulcan, the god of the forge, is toiling away, while Venus, the goddess of love, stands with Cupid in a kind of languid, elegant contrast. What is important is how gender and power are visually presented through the active labor versus the passive image of idealized beauty and motherhood. Editor: I think what the artist may be conveying with these sharp juxtapositions, is to underscore the importance of both in the domestic sphere of the period—both labor and beauty—although rendered through this classical lens. Is that labor coded as intrinsically male while female value hinges only on an aesthetic ideal? Curator: I believe so. This piece sits within the tradition of Italian Renaissance decorative arts, often commissioned to adorn the homes of the wealthy. We can also delve into who commissioned the work, and why. These domestic settings played a vital role in shaping identities and expressing power dynamics within families, specifically about female subjugation during that period. Editor: These bowls were obviously never just about aesthetics. It makes me consider, what’s the power dynamic like between Vulcan, who makes, provides, builds versus Venus the beautiful goddess who just stands pretty? Or she IS the power since her beauty has a role to play, just of a different order? And is her position as the “idealized woman” making her unapproachable? Curator: Exactly! So this work offers a chance to really consider how those visual dynamics get reproduced and reinforced over time. And, ultimately, how those structures impact us still. Editor: Thanks to the beautiful colors, it is such an interesting item that reflects these interesting issues with such clarity! Curator: I completely agree. It shows the complexities and nuances of art, always hinting at the sociopolitical circumstances from which it sprung, the material context of which has lasting repercussions even to this day.