diorama

Object NameDiorama of English Stag Hunt

Designer Charles David Aubin (French, perhaps 1779-1885)

Made FromGlass, Woodl, Mercury-Tin Amalgam Mirror

Dateabout 1811-1820

Place MadeEngland

TechniqueLampworked, Enameled

SizeCase H: 17.1 cm, D: 16.65 cm, L: 51.6 cm

Accession Number59.2.5

Curatorial Area(s)

Early Modern

Exhibitions

Museum Under Water

On ViewThe Jerome and Lucille Strauss Study Gallery

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

Charles David Aubin must have learned lampworking in France, his native country, before he reportedly fled to England during the French Revolution. The stag hunt was a popular sport among the European aristocracy. Especially in England, it was favored over fox hunts until the 1830s. This lamp-worked scene, which incorporates wood as well as glass, was badly damaged in the Corning flood in 1972. The small scale of this diorama made repairing it a very delicate operation.

Physical DescriptionClear, translucent white, transparent green glass; lampwork, enamel. The hunt is mounted on a green surface, including eight horses, six male and one female rider, in hunting coats and caps, proceeding to the left to follow a stag on the far left, with at least 27 hounds, one rider has fallen off his horse, one dog by the stag, landscape is accentuated by trees and many hedges, all of glass; the scene is in a glass case framed in wood. On the right side is a fence, on its right side is the name: "AUBIN". The five sides of the back of the case have been covered with a mirror in order to enlarge the effect of the scene.
Provenance

Source Cecil Davis - 1959-09-14