A Collection of Rattles - Sterckshof Silver Museum Antwerp
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CORALS AND BELLS
A Collection of Rattles
October 6th 2009 - January 10th 2010
Rattles are among the oldest toys in the world. They appear in pre-Columbian America, in Pharaoh‘s Egypt and even in the Hittite kingdom. It is thought that during the earliest civilizations rattles consisted of a dried fruit whose seeds sounded like little bells when shaken. So it is hardly surprising that the oldest known examples, which are made of earthenware and bronze, are in the shape of a gourd or pomegranate.
Though a rattle was first and foremost a small toy used to distract the young child and calm it when teething, it was always believed that the object had exorcising and protective powers as well. It was thought to avert calamity and to help dispel evil.
One of the most striking aspects of the Corals and Bells exhibition is the sheer variety of jingling toys, both in terms of their shape and decoration. The private collection comprises 167 rattles which cover the period from the beginning of the eighteenth century through to the middle of the last century. They were made in Belgium, England, France, the Netherlands and Spain. The objects are shown alongside captivating miniature portraits and portraits of children depicting the tiny owner holding his or her rattle.
Visit the Corals and Bells exhibition from October 6th 2009 to January 10th 2010 and you will see the child, its toy and reproductions of both in their historical context.
To tie in with the exhibition, Sterckshof Silver Museum is producing a catalogue containing illustrations of the artworks and objects on show. The publication is Number 39 in the Sterckshof Studies series and includes articles by Marc Jacobs, Director of FARO (Flemish Centre for Cultural Heritage), and by Annemarieke Willemsen, Curator Middle Ages Collection at the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden) in Leiden. The exhibition is realized in association with Emil Fonfoneata.
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