Silver and Silver Gilt Filigree and Enamel Perfume Burner Hermitage Museum and Sothebys

The Hermitage Silver and Silver Gilt and Enamel Perfume Burners.

and Some Comparable Examples.

As far as I know no one has yet investigated or fully researched these spectacular and remarkable pieces of filigree and enamel which are in the Hermitage Museum Collection in St Petersburg.

So far the origin of these pieces remains a mystery to me although Constantinople appears the most likely. If this is the case who made them - Ottoman craftsmen or possible a German working in the city?? 

They were not considered in the Hermitage Amsterdam Exhibition Catalogue of 2006.

There are definite similarities between these objects and the pair of silver filigree and enamel beakers by Rudolf Wittkopf (illustrated below), who worked in Stockholm from 1687 - 1722, particularly in the painting of the enamel. 

These beakers were among the presents given to Tsar Peter I by the ambassadors of the Swedish king Charles XII, in the autumn of 1699. I suspect the perfume burners here came from the same direction

The subject of the collection of filigree objects in the Hermitage would make a book on its own - I shall probably be returning to it frequently.

Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.

They say? Ottoman Empire, Turkey.

Early-mid 18th century.

Dimensions: 31,2 × 17,2 × 19,7 cms.

From the private collection of the Empress Catherine II.

https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/08.+applied+arts/360510

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Silver and Silver Gilt Filigree, Enamel and Semi Precious Stone Perfume Burner,.

Lapiz Lazuli

The Museum suggests Ottoman Empire, Turkey.

Early-mid 18th century.

Silver Filigree, ruby, emerald, spinel, beryl, lapis lazuli, glass, enamel, base metal

 

Dimensions: height: 28,6 cm.

https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/08.+applied+arts/360509

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Silver, Silver Gilt Filigree and Enamel Perfume Burner.

17th/ 18th Century?

They say Ottoman 18th Century.

Height: 25,3 cms.

 From the private collection of the Empress Catherine II.

https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/08.+applied+arts/360495

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 Silver Gilt Silver Filigree, Painted Enamel, Censer.

18th century.

 Dimensions: height: 26 cm; diameter: 19,5 cm.

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Sotheby's 10 Nov 2021, lot 34.

18 cms in diam.

They say East Indies, but so far I remain to be convinced. The workmanship should be compared with known Scandinavian and other examples of filigree and enamel.

There is no doubt that the form of this perfume/incense burner is Turkish/Eastern but the question of where it was made remains open.

Project for the future perhaps - The relationships between French, Scandinavian and German craftsmen and the Ottoman Empire.

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/gold-boxes-silver-and-ceramics/a-parcel-gilt-silver-filigree-enamel-and-coloured.

 

Sotheby's Catalogue note.

Another filigree incense burner with many similarities of construction and style but without gems or enamels,  was sold Sothebys, Arts of the Islamic World, 7 October 2009. This was catalogued as Indian, Gujerat, and possibly for the Turkish market because of the Islamic crescents which surmounted the raised parts.  Whether this filigree work was made in India or further east possibly in west Sumatra is open to debate. 

In response to the great demand for filigree in the 17th and 18th century, both from oriental buyers and those from Europe including the  princely courts, one of the areas of production was West Sumatra close to the Dutch capital of its trading empire, Batavia. 

A now much quoted description by the English Orientalist and Secretary of the British Admiralty, William Marsden F.R.S. (1734-1836) in his History of Sumatra in 1784, puts the importance of that large island into perspective.

 ‘There is no manufacture in that part of the world; and perhaps I might be justified in saying, in any part of the world, that has been more admired and celebrated than the fine gold and silver filigree of Sumatra".

 On the neighbouring island of Java where the Dutch had their trading capital at Batavia, the city had a reputation for its enamel work. 

See: Exhibition catalogue, Jan Veenendaal Asian Art and Dutch Taste, Gemeentemuseum in the Hague, 5th April-26th October, 2014.

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The Kremlin Museum Ewer and Basin Set.

17th Century Silver and Silver gilt Filigree with enamels.

They say " On display in the Patriarch's Palace are the creations of Turkish masters of the 17th century, whose art was highly valued among the royal courts of Europe and Russia. 

Diplomatic and trade relations of the Russian state with the Ottoman Empire appeared at the end of the 15th century; and during the next two centuries were supported by constant exchanges of embassies and trade missions".

 

The ewer and basin with a cover were presented to Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich (1629 - 76) by the ambassadors of the Ottoman Empire

Unfortunately very low resolution images from

https://www.kreml.ru/en-Us/about-museums/story-of-one-exhibit/rukomoy-i-lokhan/#

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18th Century Ottoman Silver Filigree and Enamel Casket.

Previously with London dealer Michael Backman.

Michael Backman suggests Armenian from Ottoman Anatolia

Length: 12cm, height: 9.1cm, depth: 6.7cm

Photograph and information from the excellent website of Michael Backman.

Once again I am very grateful for the permission to use his photographs.

https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/object/rare-armenian-silver-filigree-enamelled-gilt-box-set-with-emeralds-pearls-garnets/

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The Swedish Beaker in the Hermitage Museum.

attributed to Rudolf Wittkopf.

Height: 24 cm; diameter: 14,5 cm; diameter: 13,5 cm.

For some reason it is omitted from the Silver Wonders from the East, Menshikova et al - The Catalogue of the loan exhibition at the Hermitage Amsterdam pub. 2006.

https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/08.+applied+arts/116398

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Rudolf Wittkopf.

Stockholm National Museum.

The enamel work looks very similar to the work on the two perfume burners.

The two beakers were among the presents given to Tsar Peter I by the ambassadors of the Swedish king Charles XII, in the autumn of 1699.

Twelve of the sixteen beakers with filigree ornamentation included among the 1699 gifts were requisitioned from the Kremlin and moved to the Preobrazhenskoe Palace six weeks after the audience. These were destroyed in a fire in 1721 when the victory over Sweden was celebrated. Of the four remaining beakers, the two now in the Nationalmuseum Stockholm were sold in 1931–32 by the Soviet government, through its trading organisation Antikvariat, at Bukowskis in Stockholm, where they were bought by a private collector. Since then, they have appeared twice at auction, in 1998 and 2020.

https://nationalmuseum.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1612612/FULLTEXT01.pdf

see my previous post on the Stockholm Museum beakers -

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

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Further non filigree examples of these types of incense burner.

Silver Incense Burner.

Sotheby's Lot 196, 24 April 2012.

No size given.

They say 19th Century. The base stamped with a tughra and traces of a further mark, undeciphered.

https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/an-eye-for-opulence-art-of-the-ottoman-empire/lot.196.html

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Christie's Catalogue entry: Lot 142, 10 October 2013.

AN OTTOMAN GILT COPPER (TOMBAK) INCENSE BURNER (BUHURDAN)

TURKEY, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY.

Of ovoid form with pierced hinged cover, supported on a trumpet base with very narrow delicate stem, three scrolling arms supporting the sides, all resting on a circular dish, the cover pierced and engraved with a very fine design of scrolling vine around paired cypress trees alternating with roundels containing similar flowering vine, arabesque interlace and floral borders above and below, the base engraved with elegant scrolling saz leaves linking cusped medallions, some gilding rubbed, small restoration at hinge, finial broken.

9¼in. (23.5cm.) high.

https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-an-ottoman-gilt-copper-tombak-incense-burner-5722663/?

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Christie's 21 June 2000, lot 93.

Ottoman Turkey 18th Century.

An enamelled gilt copper incense burner.

Christies Catalogue entry:

This incense burner is of a form typical of the 18th century. It is however most unusual to find one covered with enamel decoration. Ottoman enamelling is rare and usually associated with daggers rather than with objects of vertue or even with utilitarian items such as this incense burner.

A number of Ottoman knives bearing signatures and dates from the late 18th century with similar enamelled decoration were sold in these rooms, 28 April 1988, lots 122 and 123. Both were dated AH 1207 (1792-3 AD). Another very similar dagger was sold in these rooms 13 October 1998, lot 109.

Enamelling is usually associated with Iran and India, but was practised all over the Middle East. It has been suggested that this is Syrian work (Alexander, D: The arts of war, The Nasser D. Khalili collection of Islamic art Vol. xxi, pp. 146-0 Oxford, 1992).

https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-an-enamelled-gilt-copper-incense-burner-ottoman-1821752/?

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