Silver Filigree Casket / Container.
with Dealer Ben Janssens 2023.
Height: 4 1/8 inches, 10.5 cm
Diameter: 3 3/8 inches, 8.5 cm
https://www.benjanssens.com/portfolio/silver-filigree-container/
The fish shaped handles and the foot are unusual.
They suggest Goa, a Portuguese enclave on the West Coast of India but from e mail conversations with Bruno Miguel Crespo of Lisbon University
he assures me that there is no documentary proof of any manufacture of filigree in Goa.
I suspect that over the centuries Goa stones (Bezoars) were found in silver or gold filigree cages and that this led to the popular belief that the figree was manufactured in Goa.
The word bezoar is derived from the Persian pād-zahr (پادزهر), literally 'antidote'.The myth of the bezoar as an antidote reached Europe from the Middle East in the 11th century and remained popular until it started to fall into disrepute in the age of enlightenment in the 18th century.
It was believed that a bezoar had the
power of a universal antidote and would work against any poison – a drinking
glass that contained a bezoar could allegedly neutralize any poison poured into
it.
The low resolution photograph doesn't help with identifying the source of this piece.
I will contact the dealer.
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