Another 17th/18th Century Silver Filigree Casket.

This post under construction

A Silver Filigree Casket.

15.7 cms wide

Probably late 17th Century.

Converted into a tea Caddy in the 18th Century.

The caddies are unmarked.

Sold Sotheby's - London - Lot 40, 24 Feb. 2015.

They describe this casket as Indo Portuguese - until recently the catch all description for many silver filigree objects. 

I will continue to dispute this until I can prove otherwise and will misquote Bruno Miguel Crespo of Lisbon University who has written at some length on the subject - there is no documentary proof of any filigree manufacture in Goa (Portuguese India).

see - Hugo Miguel Crespo, Choices, Lisboa, AR-PAB, 2016.

 https://www.academia.edu/33608988/Hugo_Miguel_Crespo_Choices_Lisboa_AR_PAB_2016

 This document contains the first recent serious research /writing on the subject of 17th and 18th century gold and silver filigree from the Persian Gulf, India  and South East Asia.

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The other source of manufacture of these objects is frequently stated as Batavia or Sumatra. 

My belief is that some of these pieces of European filigree were exported in the 17th/18th centuries by Dutch merchants from Holland to Indonesia and copied by native or Chinese craftsmen. I suspect that those pieces decorated with blue enamel were made in Indonesia but until I can come up with documentary proof the jury will remain out.

see my next post for an enamelled casket in the Museum in Porto, Portugal.

A problem here is that most writers, auctioneers or dealers refer to very flawed Silver Wonders from the East: Filigree of the Tsars – 28 Aug. 2006 by Maria Menshikova. This work is the Catalogue for an exhibition at the Hermitage Amsterdam Museum of the filigree collection in the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.

The section of this book by Menshikova is particularly garbled contradicting itself several times - it is a useful start to the subject which is covered in much greater depth in this blog.

For a fairly in depth look at filigree caskets see my post - 

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/01/spectacular-and-large-silver-gilt.html

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For further caskets that have been converted for use as Tea Caddies see my previous posts -

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/10/silver-filigree-casket-from.html

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/06/17th18th-century-silver-filigree-casket_7.html

It the mount over the lock catch is original this would suggest European manufacture.

and combined with the filigree crown also suggests that it was manufactured for an aristocratic family.

Probably Netherlands or Germany - made by emigrant German /Bavarian craftsmen.

Unfortunately these two photographs are the highest resolution images available.

https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2015/of-royal-and-noble-descent-l15306/lot.40.html

I need to return to these caskets and conduct a thorough survey.

They fall into several sub types -

The shaped apron of the base appears fairly frequently.

The domed top appears on several versions.

and the three or five longitudinal domed top is another variety.

some are silver and some gilded or a mixture of silver and silver gilt.

 

I have covered the subject of this type of casket, its variants and related objects in my previous posts.

see - https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/01/spectacular-and-large-silver-gilt.html

For further examples of caskets with similar skirts to the base see -

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/04/17th-18th-century-silver-filigree.html

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This Casket with dealer Michael Backman in 2024.

Height: 8.1cm, width: 12.3cm, depth: 7.8cm.

see my post -

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2024/06/filigree-casket-with-michael-backman.html

and Michael Backman's excellent website -

https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/object/exceptional-dutch-colonial-gilded-silver-gilt-filigree-box/#top

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The Porto Museum Silver and Silver Gilt Filigree and Blue Enamel Casket.

Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis. Porto.

The photographs taken by the author October 2024.

No size available at present - I will attempt to contact the Museum.

see my next post

For further examples of caskets with blue enamel decoration see -

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/01/17th-18th-century-silver-filigree-and.html

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For much more on these caskets see my previous posts -

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/11/silver-filigree-casket.html

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/11/silver-filigree-casket-video-on-youtube.html

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/11/silver-filigree-casket-bonhams.html

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/10/century-silver-filigree-box-with-lion.html

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/10/miniature-silver-filigree-cabinet.html

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/10/filigree-in-museeums-landschaft-hessen.html

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/10/silver-filigree-casket-from.html

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/10/silver-filigree-casket-from.html

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/06/17th18th-century-silver-filigree-casket_7.html

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/06/17th18th-century-silver-filigree-casket.html

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Caskets manufactured in Batavia???

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/10/a-mystery-object.html

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For Japanese Caskets perhaps influenced by European 

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/09/a-japanese-namban-laquered-casket.html

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https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/04/queen-juliana-silver-filigree-casket.html

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https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/04/an-early-17th-century-silver-filigree.html

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For further examples of Caskets with shaped skirts to the base see -

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/04/17th-18th-century-silver-filigree.html

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For Caskets with the filigree infill set back from the wire framed surface see -

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/04/t-he-dullaert-art-and-antiques-17th.html

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Caskets with Lateral/ Longitudinal Domed Lids.

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/04/some-photographs-of-domed-silver.html

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Marked Nuremberg Filigree and Enamel Casket by Lorenz Wernberger.

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/03/18th-century-nuremberg-silver-filigree.html

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William of Orange Writing Box Hermitage St Petersburg.

A Key piece in identifying European Filigree Objects.

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-writing-box-of-william-iii-of-orange.html

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Filigree Caskets with Blue Enamel Decoation.

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/01/17th-18th-century-silver-filigree-and.html

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The Metropolitan Museum New York Casket.

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-seventeentheighteenth-century-silver.html

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The Grunes Gewolbe/ Green Room Casket Dresden.

Another key piece in the identifying of European Filigree.

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/01/17-th-century-silver-filigree-casket-in.html

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The Kunsthistorische Museum Vienna Casket.

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/01/filigree-casket.html

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The Hans Breghtel Clock - 1665 - 70 - Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Key Piece for Identifying European Filigree.

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2017/09/a-magnificent-dutch-clock.html

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