# Heron-shaped Vase [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [SARACCHI brothers]() - Date: 1551-1600 - Technique: Rock crystal, mount: gold, enamel, and precious stones, height 32 cm ## Commentary Heron-shaped Vase c. 1570 Rock crystal, mount: gold, enamel, and precious stones, height 32 cm Museo degli Argenti, Palazzo Pitti, Florence The workshop of the Saracchi family in Milan specialized in bird-shaped vessels and grotesque imagery that were carved in rock crystal from the nearby Alps, or in other semiprecious stones. This rock crystal vase is held together by gold and enamel mounts, its flanks engraved with hunting scenes. "Herons," as they were called in inventories, occasionally had genuine heron feathers on their heads. ## Related artworks - [Bowl with Scenes from the Trojan Saga]() - [Hercules and the Hydra]() - [Heron-shaped Vase \(detail\)]() - [Jasper Flask \(detail\)]() - [Jasper Flask]() - [Vase with dragon-shaped lid]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()