Bernard Palissy, 1565-1585
As promised, here’s the Palissy snake serving dish from the Victoria and Albert Museum. It’s very similar to the one from the British Museum, except that the colors in this piece seem much brighter. I like the duller plate at the BM better, but that’s kind of like preferring the unrestored Sistine Chapel to the brightly colored version Michaelangelo (presumably) intended. We have an irrational attraction to patina in this technological age. The variety of shells and leaves evoke Palissy’s interest in fossils – I wonder if he intended this selection of specimens to represent a certain geographical area, or just combined whatever organisms he thought would look yummiest under some stew?
Looks like you have a series starting here on snakes and plates…