SCHARDT, Johann Gregor van der
(b. ca. 1530, Nijmegen, d. after 1581, Nürnberg)

Sol

c. 1570
Bronze, height 46 cm
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

This sculpture formed part of a group with several other personifications of celestial bodies. It comes from a large table fountain - a stack of statues and water basins that stood in the middle of an aristocratic or royal dining-table. During the meal, the figures spouted water. It is not known who commissioned this particular table fountain, it was probably someone at the court of the Habsburg emperor, Maximilian II.