Some 17th / 18th Century Sicilian Silver Filigree Objects.
(in preparation).
For Coral and filigree work from Sicily and Trapani in particular see -
https://www.bcp.it/site/home/la-banca/chi-siamo/la-banca-del-territorio/i-nostri-libri/documento17010977.html
see also-
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/53304616.pdf
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/333574822.pdf
Silver Filigree, Ivory and Coral.
The Filigree perhaps made by émigré South German craftsman or a craftsman trained in Germany.
The ivory carvings suggested as by the workshop of Andrea Tipa of Trapani. Sicily.
The use of carved coral was the traditional art of Trapani, western Sicily.
The Tipa brothers, Alberto (1732-1783) and Andrea (1725-1766),
Size 30,6 x 31,1 cm
This piece was was formerly (January 2013) with Paris gallery - A La Facon de Venise.
https://www.alafacondevenise.fr/index_general.php
...............................
Silver Filigree and Coral Holy Water Stoup.
with a coral figure of John the Baptist.
Museo Civico Filigrana Pietro Carlo Bosio. Campo Ligure.
Attributed to Franciscus Palumbo of Palermo, Sicily. (see below).
I am in touch with the museum and hope to better photographs in due course.
...............................
18th Century Holy Water Stoup with a Coral figure of John the Baptist.
Coral, Gilded Copper and Silver Filigree.
The coral from Trapani, the silver perhaps manufactured in Palermo, Sicily
31 x 21 cms.
Attributed to Franciscus Palumbo of Palermo, Sicily. (see below).
Sold by Cambi Auctions, Milan.
18th November 2015.
https://www.cambiaste.com/uk/auction-0245/acquasantiera-in-rame-dorato-filigrana-dargent-144586
The auctioneers catalogue essay ably translated by Google!
The work, created on an embossed and chiseled gilded copper
sheet, which serves as a support, is composed of silver and coral filigree. In
fact, a floral and phytomorphic decoration in silver filigree is skilfully
inserted on the metal surface, probably originally much denser, with various
floral types of different shapes and mostly ribbon-like foliaceous elements,
ending with small coral corollas. Centrally, in a niche surrounded by a floral
wreath, there is a small sculpture also in coral depicting St. John the
Baptist. The forerunner of Christ, with an emaciated face and covered by a
large, flowing loincloth, is portrayed in the act of pouring water from a bowl,
which symbolically collects in the silver filigree basin below. L'juxtaposition
of gilded copper and coral refers to the valuable artifacts made by the mastery
of the Trapani coral workers, conforming moreover to another propensity typical
of Sicilian craftsmanship that combines the most diverse materials, but the
work in question could be the result of the collaboration between a silversmith
from Palermo and a coral worker from Trapani.
The valuable artefact from the
Maranghi collection in Rimini can be compared with a few other splendid
examples of Sicilian-made stoups, including with the similar artefact which
incorporates the depiction of San Rocco, formerly in a private collection and
now kept in the Pietro Carlo Bosio Civic Filigree Museum of Campoligure (cf. MC
Di Natale, file II.101, in Gold and silver of Sicily from the fifteenth to the
eighteenth century, exhibition catalog edited by MC Di Natale,Milan 1989, p.
254-255; see also ancient Tigullio.
Rediscovering the cult of Santa Rosalia. Art, history,
traditions, Genoa 2002, p. 125) and with the other similar from a private
collection in Palermo bearing on the reverse the inscription Franciscus Palumbo
filius Gennari Palumbo fecit hoc opus 1678, which presents the representation
of Santa Rosalia and the genius of the Oreto river (cf. MC Di Natale, entry 116
, in L'arte del corallo in Sicilia, catalog of the exhibition edited by C.
Maltese - MC Di Natale, Palermo 1986, pp. 288-290, which reports the previous
bibliography; MC Di Natale, file 1.25, in Sicilian Wunderkammer at the origins
of the lost museum, exhibition catalog edited by V. Abbate, Naples 2001, pp.
116-117).
The compositional and stylistic affinities lead us to hypothesize
that the precious surviving works, including the one here, have been
made by the same workshop, probably active in Palermo in which a coral worker
from Trapani must have collaborated, possibly sheltering in the city after the
diaspora of 1672, following a revolt by the coral workers in Trapani and a
silversmith from Palermo (MC Di Natale, Ars corallariorum et sculptorum coralli
in Trapani, in Rosso corallo. Precious arts of Baroque Sicily, exhibition
catalog edited by C. Amaldi di Balme - S. Castronovo, Milan 2008, pp. 27-28),
even if the work of Campoligure and that of Rimini were built immediately
after.
Father Benigno of Santa Caterina in 1810 recalls how the Trapani coral
workers had the possibility of moving and working even outside the island and
reports a privilege given by the Barcelonians to the coral workers of
Trapani, highlighting how in the Iberian city, in addition to the inhabitants,
no one can work coral that was not from Trapani (Trapani in the present state
profane and sacred work divided into two parts by P. Benigno da S. Caterina
Agostino Scalzo dedicated to the Virgin of Trapani, part I , Trapani profane,
ms. of 1810 of the Fardelliana Library of Trapani).
A work similar to the one
in question must also have been included in the list of silver furnishings of
Donna Felice Ventimiglia, inventoried and valued by the Palermo silversmith
Francesco Bracco on 25 August 1693, described as a silver filigree holy water
with gilded copper even if not embellished with coral (cf. RF Margiotta,
Documentary appendix, in MC Di Natale, R. Vadalà, The treasure of Sant'Anna in
the museum of the Ventimiglia castle in Castelbuono, Palermo 2010, p. 97).
Unpublished Rosalia Francesca Margiotta
......................................
Holy Water Stoup.
Silver Filigree on Gilded Copper
with carved Trapani Coral Figures.
Santa Rosalia and the personification of the River Oreto.
70 x 44 cms.
A gentle polish would change the tarnished silver into a truly spectacular object.
On the back of the gilded copper foil is the inscription Franciscus Palumbo Filius Gennari
Palumbo fecit hoc opus 1678.
https://iris.unipa.it/retrieve/handle/10447/558344/1352669/PURIFICATION_Vitella_Acquasantiera%20Corallo.pdf
.......................................
Detail from Pinterest - as yet from an unknown source.
.............................
Reliquary of Santa Rosalia.
Silver Filigree and Coral
Treasury Museum, Palermo.
Another Pinterest image.
..........................
Saleroom suggests 18th Century
Height 27.5 cms,
Lot 94. 19 May 2014.
Cambi Saleroom, Milan.
https://www.cambiaste.com/uk/auction-0196-2/a-pair-of-twohandled-silver-filigree-vases-pal-123859
..................................
Height approx. 12 cms.
Lot 330, 18 September 2013.
Wannenes Saleroom.
.......................
18th Century Silver, Tortoiseshell, Ivory and Coral Nativity.
36 x 26 cms.
Lot 171 15 - 16 Nov. 2016.
https://wannenesgroup.com/lots/276-1710-adorazione-dei-magi-in-avorio-argento-rame-corallo-e-madreperla-con-cornice-in-tartaruga-e-legno-dorato-maestranze-trapanesi-e-palermitane-xviii-secolo/#!
Whilst not directly related to this filigree research on this blog, it is worth stating this piece is very interesting from the point of view that the silver flower decoration bears distinct similarities with the work of Wenzel Jamnitzer (b. Vienna, d.1585) of Nuremberg and his family, and later craftsmen using his methods.
This again suggests to me the possible influence of South German craftsmen.
____________
Silver Filigree and Silver Gilt Vase and Cast Silver Flowers.
The flowers are attributed to Wenzel Jamnitzer (1508 - 85) of Nuremberg.
c. 1550 - 85.
The vase is perhaps late 17th Century.
The junction between the filigree and silver gilt base leads me to believe that it is a marriage.
23.5 cms
The flowers here are cast from life.
https://pab.pt/projeto/floreiro
For an excellent and in depth article on these vases by Hugo Miguel Crespo see -
https://www.academia.edu/42263484/Hugo_Miguel_Crespo_As_Flores_de_Jamnitzer_A_fundic%C3%A3o_pelo_natural_no_Renascimento_Jamnitzers_Flowers_Life_casting_in_the_Renaissance_Lisboa_AR_PAB_2020
.jpg)
