Table Fountain with Neptune and the Sea Voyage of Bacchus in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2020

Table fountain with Neptune and the sea voyage of Bacchus
ca. 1652/53

Melchior Gelb


Object Details

Title: Table fountain with Neptune and the sea voyage of Bacchus

Artist: Melchior Gelb (German, active 17th century)

Date: ca. 1652/53

Culture: German, Augsburg

Medium: Silver (cast, embossed, chased, chiseled, partially gilded), sheet silver (cut)

Dimensions: 23 1/4 × 7 15/16 × 11 5/16 in., 6.8 lb. (59 × 20.1 × 28.8 cm, 3.1 kg)

Classification: Metalwork-Silver-Miniature

Credit Line: Sammlung Angewandte Kunst, Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel,
Purchased with the support of Hessische Kulturstiftung, Hessisches
Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Kulturstiftung der
Länder, Bundesministerium des Innern, and Ernst von SiemensStiftung. Co-ownership of Ernst von Siemens Kunstfonds and
Bundesministerium des Innern


The fountain with Bacchus and Neptune was used to mix wine and water. Wine poured into the vat on Bacchus’s head flowed through his body and into the small cask he straddles. From there it was released into the water-filled shell-shaped bowl with a lobster and Nereid. The other, more technologically ambitious fountain likely produced jets of water through air pressure, typical of a model first designed by the Greek mathematician and engineer Heron of Alexandria (1st century a.d.). Placed on the table, a fountain like this would mesmerize guests with its mysterious technology, known only to humanists and goldsmiths.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/759670