Silver or Silver Gilt Filigree objects with Monograms

 Silver or Silver Gilt Filigree with Monograms.

Post in preparation.

A Polished Orange Agate Casket mounted with Silver Filigree.

17th /18th Century.

The lid with monogram surmounted by a crown.

Size - 12.5 x 6.5 x 10 cms.

With ALJ Antiques of London May 2023.

ALJ suggest East Indies - I suspect European, perhaps Italian.

https://www.aljantiques.com/antique/an-indo-portuguese-or-batavian-silver-filigree-casket-probably-goa-india-or-batavia-dutch-east-indies-circa-17th-century/

I am very grateful to Duraid al Jashemi for permission top use his photographs.

_________________

Round Casket with Monogram 

Previously with London Dealer Michael Backman.

This casket appears to be one from a specific group of filigree caskets.

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

Diameter: 12cm, height: 5.3cm. 

 The crowned "V", was used 1814-1893 as a tax mark applied to all imported, unmarked and invalid marked objects of foreign, national and unknown origin. It does not necessarily mean that the object was imported! It is also not a guarantee of quality. Very little Silver Filigree is marked due to the difficulty of the process.

This very fine box is included in this post because of the construction - the small, finer filigree double twisted wire elements are set back from the surface formed by the larger rectangular section elements, as in the caskets illustrated above.

The filigree bun feet suggest an early date.

It would be useful to know whose monogram appears on the lid?

There are several other silver filigree objects with monograms incorporated into the designs -, the furniture art Rosenborg Castle, Denmark, the writing box of William III now in the Hermitage, St Petersburg and a Gold filigree embellished Casket currently (May 2023) with ALJ Antiques, London.

Michael Backman says possibly Sumatra Batavia - currently I am not so sure.

https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/object/very-fine-dutch-colonial-filigree-box-with-gilded-royal-monogram/

Refs from Michael Backman.

As ever I am very grateful to Michael Backman etc etc.

Haags Gemeentemuseum, V.O.C. – Zilver: Zilver uit de periode van de Verenigde Oostinische Compagnie 17de en 18de eeuw, 1983.

 Piotrovsky, M. et al, Silver: Wonders from the East – Filigree of the Tsars, Lund Humphries/Hermitage Amsterdam, 2006.

(whilst attempting to give an overview of silver filigree objects in the 178th and 18th century this work requires some serious revisions}.

 Tchakaloff, T.N. et al, La Route des Indes – Les Indes et L’Europe: Echanges Artistiques et Heritage Commun 1650-1850, Somagy Editions d’Art, 1998.

 Voskuil-Groenewegen, S.M. et al, Zilver uit de tijd van de Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, Waanders Uitgevers, 1998.

 Zandvlieyt, K. et al, The Dutch Encounter with Asia 1600-1950, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 2002.

__________________

The Hermitage St Petersburg Silver Filigree William III Writing Box.

 The writing box of William III and other objects in the Hermitage St Petersberg Collection; are catalogued in Silver Wonders of the East.... Menshikova et al pub 2006, Hermitage - Amsterdam Catalogue.

If this writing box was made in the Netherlands and I believe it was, given the sophistication of the workmanship, particularly the larger section wires used on the crowned monogram, then it brings into question the origin of other pieces in the Hermitage and pieces such as the Khalili Casket, and the casket in the Green Room, Dresden.

For the Khalili Casket and comparable objects see my post -

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

For the Green Room Casket and comparable objects see my post -

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

_______________

Size 13 x 31 x 27 cms.

It has proved rather difficult to obtain any high resolution photographs of all of the Hermitage silver filigree objects.

Hermitage Amsterdam have been playing hard to get and I don't hold out much hope with getting a response from St Petersburg but one can live in hope!

.............................

It is my intention in the future to take each object from the Hermitage collection and illustrated in the catalogue of the Hermitage Amsterdam - Silver Wonders from the East by Maria Menchikova and Jet Pijzel Domisse pub. 2006 and to update or add to the descriptions and include photographs of comparable objects in a forthcoming blog post in due course.

I will in due course consider the objects in the Hermitage, St Petersburg Collection taking them one by one - updating the information in Menshikova and will provide images of comparable examples.

__________________________