Provenance

Samuel H. Kress

Kress, Samuel Henry

American, 1863 - 1955

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The sculpture is a medallion featuring the profile of a woman. Her face and upper torso are depicted in a smooth, painted style, and she is shown with long, flowing golden hair, contrasting sharply against a vivid blue background. The material of the medallion appears to be a gold or gold-like metal, with a textured surface that forms an intricate pattern around the central portrait. The surrounding design consists of raised, geometric shapes reminiscent of floral motifs. The medallion is relatively small and is set against a dark, textured backdrop.
North Italian 14th Century, Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait, c. 1380/1400, repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.190

Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait

North Italian 14th Century · c. 1380/1400 · repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet ·  Accession ID  1961.9.190

Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, Kneeling Angel, 1470/1480, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.320

Kneeling Angel

Giovanni Antonio Amadeo · 1470/1480 · marble ·  Accession ID  1939.1.320

This is a photograph of an ornate medallion. The medallion is circular with a raised floral design engraved into a golden surface. At the center, there is an inset blue enamel piece featuring a stylized profile of a person. The background is a dark fabric.
North Italian 14th Century, Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait, c. 1380/1400, repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.187

Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait

North Italian 14th Century · c. 1380/1400 · repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet ·  Accession ID  1961.9.187

The sculpture is a circular medallion featuring a central portrait of a person in profile, designed with a blue hue for the skin and hair against a gold background. The material appears to be metal with intricate engraved patterns encompassing the portrait. The surface contains raised floral and geometric motifs surrounding the central figure. The medallion has two small holes near its edge, indicating it was likely attached to a surface for decorative purposes.
North Italian 14th Century, Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait, c. 1380/1400, repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.194

Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait

North Italian 14th Century · c. 1380/1400 · repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet ·  Accession ID  1961.9.194

This is a photograph of a circular gilded object with an enamel centerpiece. The object is a richly decorated, golden disc featuring a central motif of enamel depicting a figure in profile with blue hair and a green tunic against a blue background. Surrounding the centerpiece is a symmetrical design of raised, geometric shapes. The edge of the object features a raised, beaded border, and the piece is set against a dark, warm-toned background, possibly velvet.
North Italian 14th Century, Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait, c. 1380/1400, repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.189

Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait

North Italian 14th Century · c. 1380/1400 · repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet ·  Accession ID  1961.9.189

This is a photograph of an artifact. The central focus is a circular golden object with raised patterns and designs. A small image set into the gold depicts a stylized profile portrait in shades of blue and red. Surrounding it are decorative designs resembling clover or floral motifs. The artifact is set against a textured, possibly velvet, burgundy background. The detailed embossing and vivid color scheme suggest historic craftsmanship and artistic intent.
North Italian 14th Century, Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait, c. 1380/1400, repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.188

Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait

North Italian 14th Century · c. 1380/1400 · repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet ·  Accession ID  1961.9.188

This is a photograph of an embossed circular object with a central enamel portrait. The object features an intricate embossed design with a central medallion showcasing a blue and green enamel portrait outline of a bust facing to the right. The background is a rich gold color with a symmetrical pattern of stylized leaves and geometric shapes surrounding the central enamel part. The outer rim is beaded. The entire object is set against a burgundy fabric.
North Italian 14th Century, Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait, c. 1380/1400, repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.193

Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait

North Italian 14th Century · c. 1380/1400 · repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet ·  Accession ID  1961.9.193

The sculpture features a circular plaque with a portrait of a human figure at the center. The central image depicts a person's bust in blue and green, with defined facial features and clothing. The background of the plaque is detailed with embossed gold patterns resembling leaves or a floral motif. The piece is made of metal, possibly gilded, giving it a shiny, golden look. The plaque is displayed against a textured purple surface, contrasting with its golden color. The artwork combines human depiction and decorative elements within a circular format.
North Italian 14th Century, Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait, c. 1380/1400, repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.186

Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait

North Italian 14th Century · c. 1380/1400 · repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet ·  Accession ID  1961.9.186

Dozens of men and women wander through a tall interior space lined with statues and columns and topped by a soaring domed roof in this vertical painting. The people are small in scale within the cavernous space. The women wear long, full dresses and the men wear knee-length waistcoats and stockings in shades of dark blue, crimson red, pine green, marigold orange, or brown. Three people wear clothing of the clergy: two of them, on our left, wear long, ginger-brown robes under white mantles, and a third person on our right wears a hip-length, diaphanous white cape over a long dark blue robe. The crowd strolls, kneels, converses, or leans back to look up at the high ceiling overhead, which has a round opening at its apex. A glimpse white of azure-blue sky with white clouds is visible through the opening. The interior is divided into three levels. The ground level has five niches lining the walls, each with a white stone statue of a man or woman standing inside. Each statue is at least three times the height of the people in the space below. The three niches closest to us on our left and right have semicircular pediments with garnet-red or moss-green columns flanking the statues. Two niches at the far end have triangular pediments and honey-gold columns. Each niche sits on a wide base, presumably an altar, and is surrounded by marbled gold and purple panels set against a sage-green background. Sets of three honey-gold columns line the wall between each niche. Oversized, copper-green double doors are swung inward at the far side of the space. More people, a sunlit obelisk, blue sky, and slivers of other buildings are visible through the doorway. The second level of the interior has windows spaced across walls otherwise covered with white, blue, and mauve-pink panels. An inscription running around the building between the first and second level reads, “DOMINVM IN SANCTIS EIVS LAVS EIVS IN ECCLE.” The third level is the domed pewter-gray ceiling with coffers, like inwardly stepped panels. The floor is patterned with alternating circles and rectangles in sage green or light brown.
Giovanni Paolo Panini, Interior of the Pantheon, Rome, c. 1734, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.24

Interior of the Pantheon, Rome

Giovanni Paolo Panini · c. 1734 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1939.1.24

A woman climbs a ladder propped against a tall base of a white stone sculpture with a sledgehammer over one shoulder in this vertical, arched painting. The statue stands in a narrow town square hemmed in with buildings on each side. About a dozen people look on from the ground and from a balcony to our right. All the people have pale skin and wear dresses, robes, or cloaks in topaz blue, red, harvest yellow, or black. The base of the statue is twice as tall as any of the onlookers, and the statue atop is life sized. The base has eagles standing astride garlands, with flame-like leaves flaring above their heads. The statue is of a nude male with chin-length hair. He holds a gold staff in one hand and what appears to be a branch in the other. The woman climbing the ladder wears a carnation-pink dress, a gold crown, and has a gold, disk-like halo. Two more women brace the foot of the ladder, and another stands nearby. The three-story building behind them has a white façade with a carved, pink entablature across the top of the first level. More women and men gather to our right in front of a terracotta-orange building with a wide, arch opening on the ground level. Four women look down from a balcony on the second level. The face of that building is carved over the door to read, “EVSEBIV.” A tree grows beyond an enclosing wall at the far side of the square, between the buildings, beneath an azure-blue sky.
Giovanni d'Alemagna, Saint Apollonia Destroys a Pagan Idol, c. 1442/1445, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.7

Saint Apollonia Destroys a Pagan Idol

Giovanni d'Alemagna · c. 1442/1445 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.7

Bibliography

1955

  • A.F. "In Memoriam Samuel H. Kress." Art News 54 (November 1955): 21.

1991

  • Perry, Marilyn. "Five-and-dime for millions: the Samuel H. Kress Collection." Apollo 133, no. 349 (March 1991): 157+

1994

  • A Gift to America: Masterpieces of European Painting from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. Exh. cat. The North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Seattle Art Museum; The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1994: 12-41.