Fable of Cupid and Psyche (Silver tray)
Ca. 1629. Silver Room 078This egg-shaped tray has scrolls and animal heads at the axes. It depicts various episodes of the myth of Psyche and Cupid, as told by Apuleius in The Golden Ass. These scenes occupy the outer part of the tray. The center has the wedding feast, attended by the Olympian gods. The artist based his drawing of groups on the compositions of Venetian prints, although the results clearly owe much to Raphael´s frescos at the Villa Farnesina in Rome. The central scene is based on drawings by the Flemish engraver, Pieter de Iode. While mythological themes were frequent on domestic silver objects, the wedding subject shown here suggests it may have been a wedding present. There is documentation of this work being in private hands from the eighteenth century until it entered the Prado Museum.