Temperance

For some sculptural commissions, a leading artist such as Giambologna made only the model and the work was executed by others. Ideas were also transmitted by terracotta models, plaquettes and engravings, as well as by decorative objects for which sculptors had provided designs. Peisser probably made this relief as a model for a silver roundel. He based the composition on Peter Flötner's lead roundel of Temperance (see inv.no. A.29-1954). It was possibly one of a set of Virtues decorating a cabinet. However, in the seventeenth century, a smaller roundel by Peisser, also depicting Temperance, was in the celebrated collection of Paul Praun in Nuremberg. This suggests that the relief was regarded purely as a Kunstkammer object.