A tazza (Italian, "cup", plural ''tazze'') is a wide but shallow saucer-like dish either mounted on a stem and foot or on a foot alone. The word has been generally adopted by
archaeologists and
connoisseur
A connoisseur (French traditional, pre-1835, spelling of , from Middle-French , then meaning 'to be acquainted with' or 'to know somebody/something') is a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts; who is a keen appreciator o ...
s for this type of vessel,
used either for drinking, serving small items of food, or just for display. Tazze are most commonly made in metal, glass, or ceramics, but may be made in other materials.
The
Farnese Tazza is a 2nd-century BC
cameo cup of
Hellenistic Egypt in four-layered
sardonyx agate
Agate () is a common rock formation, consisting of chalcedony and quartz as its primary components, with a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The ornamental use of agate was common in ...
. It is now in the
Naples National Archaeological Museum
The National Archaeological Museum of Naples ( it, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, italic=no, sometimes abbreviated to MANN) is an important Italian archaeological museum, particularly for ancient Roman remains. Its collection includes wor ...
(Inv. MANN 27611), and is 20 cm wide.
The shape and the name are sometimes adopted for reference to very large sculptured objects, especially ones used for fountains. The colossal tazza in the
Linda Hall Library
The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...
,
Kansas City, Missouri, is one of the largest pieces of
malachite
Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fracture ...
in North America. It was presented by Czar
Nicholas II
Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...
to
August Heckscher
August Heckscher (August 26, 1848 – April 26, 1941) was a German-born American capitalist and philanthropist.
Early life
Heckscher was born in Hamburg, Germany. He was the son of Johann Gustav Heckscher (1797–1865) and Marie Antoinette Br ...
in 1910 and given to the Linda Hall Library in 1972 by Mrs. Helen Spencer. It stands as the focal point in the center of the Main Reading Room of the library.
Vitellius tazza MET DP324301 (cropped).jpg, Aldobrandini Tazza of the Roman emperor Vitellius, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...
, New York, c. 1590s
References
External links
Linda Hall Library
Drinkware
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