Antique European Filigree: October 2024

Wednesday, 30 October 2024

A Late 17th Century Filigree Casket converted into a Tea Caddy and another unconverted Coming up at Bonham's London

Post in preparation.

A Late 17th Century Silver Filigree Casket converted into a Tea Caddy in 1794.

5 Lateral Domes.

These Caskets with the 5 Longitudinal Domes form a subsection of this type of Casket.

I have made an in depth study on these domed caskets previous see my post on this type of casket.

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

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

Probably Netherlands.

Previously with Dealers A Aardewerk.

https://www.aardewerk.com/silver-archives/filigree-tea-chest-with-silver-caddies/

Extract from the website.

They suggest that the Casket was manufactured in Batavia.

I am not convinced.

It might be useful to see the hinges on the back for comparison.

I have published at some length on the subject of these caskets.

The workmanship and techniques should be compared with those on The Khalili Casket, The Dresden Green Room Casket several of the Hermitage St Petersburg Pieces - especially the perfume burner and the William III writing Box, The Burghley House Filigree Temple

Reynier van Stapele was the scion of a Hague family of silversmiths. His grandfather François was recorded in the oath book in 1723. In 1757 Francois’s son Martinus followed; he died around 1805.

He was married to Anna Maria de Haan, the daughter of the silversmith Reynier de Haan. They had at least one son, Reynier van Stapele, who made the fine interior for this filigree chest. He was recorded in the Hague oath book in 1788. At the beginning of his career, Reynier worked with his father under the name Martinus van Stapele and son. He had several important commissions, including the gold Communion set for St James the Greater’s church in The Hague. He died in 1795 when he was just thirty.

The Marks -

Both tea caddies are fully marked with the Dutch Lion, the city assay mark for The Hague, the date letter X for 1794 and the maker’s mark RVS above a pot for Reinier van Stapele.

Provenance-

Private collection The Netherlands

Collection A. Aardewerk 1993

Private collection Belgium.

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17th/18th Century Silver Filigree Casket with Five Lateral Domes.

three quarter engaged filigree columns on the corners

and shaped skirt.

By coincidence another of these caskets is coming up for sale at Bonham's Auctions, London.

Lot 128, 12 November 2024.

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/29724/lot/128/an-indo-portuguese-silver-filigree-casket-probably-goa-17th-century/

It has the usual catalogue entry describing the manufacture as Goa.

As we now know Bruno Miguel Crespo of Lisbon University assures me - there is not a shred of evidence of any filigree being manufactured in Goa.

Sizes - 19.9 x 12.2 x 12 cm. max.

The techniques used on the hinges and lock clasp in particular are close to the Khalili Cabinet, the Green Room Dresden Casket

See my essay in a previous post.

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

For other Gold and Silver Filigree Caskets with the Shaped Skirts see -

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

Extract from Bonham's online catalogue.

included here for the references

A filigree casket in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon (inv. no. 114 illustrated below), with a cover of very similar form, has been dated to the seventeenth century (see Mughal Silver Magnificence, exhibition catalogue, Brussels, 1987, p. 152, no. 225).

A further example in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (inv. no. 384), illustrated in the same publication, features a similar clasp and lock system and was originally from a convent (op. cit p. 153, no. 227).

For a comparable casket sold in these rooms, see Bonhams Islamic and Indian Art, 6 October 2015, lot 108

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The Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon Silver Filigree Casket.

Probably Netherlands

11.5 x 11 x 15.7 cms.

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The Bonham's Five Lateral Domed Silver Filigree Casket referred to above.

17th/18th Century.

Probably Netherlands.

Sold - Lot 108 6 October 2015.

11.5 x 15.8 x 10 cm.

The feet are almost certainly missing.

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/22816/lot/108/an-indo-portuguese-silver-filigree-casket-probably-goa-western-india-17th-century/#!

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17th / 18th Century Silver Filigree Casket.

As discussed this form of casket with either three or five lateral dome form a distinct sub type

With a Five Lateral Domed Lid.

Museo Filigrana Pietro Carlo Bosio. Campoliguri. Italy.

This image from the Museum facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/museodellafiligrana/photos/1546554862319900

Base 7x11 cm; height 6,5 cms.

The hinge attachments and the terminal finials have distinct similarities with the Khalili casket/casket.

I am unable to provide any further details as yet!

I have contacted the museum and am expecting further photographs and details in due course.

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For Good Measure - Here is the Green Room (Grunes Gowolbe), Dresden, Large Silver Filigree Casket with Two Drawers beneath.

Size 17.8 x 20 x 13.8 cms

First noted at Dresden in an inventory of 1717.

The hinges, feet and arabesque work are very similar to those on the Khalili casket.

I tentatively suggest that they were manufactured in the same atelier.

This casket is first mentioned in the inventory of Lichtenburg castle 1717, when it was in possession of Anna Sophia (the mother of Augustus the Strong):

“4eckigtes silbernes Kästgen von durchbrochener Arbeit mit einem gewölbten Deckel, worinnen 2 Fächer“.

With the establishment of the Green Vault as a treasury with public access under Augustus the Strong (1723-1729), the casket was transferred to the Preciosa Room of the collection in 1724.

Info courtesy Dirk Weber, Curator at the Green Room (Grunes Gwolbe) Dresden.

I am extremely grateful to Dirk Weber for his very kind assistance and encouragement with this project.

A Filigree Mounted Medallion.

A Silver Filigree Mounted Silver Gilt Medallion of The Baptism of Christ.

Dutch or German

18th Century?

10 cms.

Lot 238, 29 Nov 2023.

https://www.delon-hoebanx.com/lot/142380/23570888-le-bapteme-du-christ-plaque-en-vermeil-dans-un-encadrement

Tuesday, 29 October 2024

Two Chinese Filigree Caskets from the Gerard Collection.

Post under construction.

Two 18th Century Chinese Silver Filigree Caskets from the Gerard Collection.

and some comparable examples.

Sold by Chiswick Auctions, London 9 October 2024.

I have written on the subject of Chinese Filigree before but in this post I will concentrate on the two boxes from the Gerard Collection.

There are other objects which were made using the same techniques as these boxes in particular Gulab Pash (rosewater sprinklers) and there are many examples of tubular Bodkin Cases.

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In this post I attempt to identify some filigree pieces that may? have originated from Batavia and Sumatra.

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

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Silver and Silver Gilt Chinese Filigree Casket.

15.2 cms.

Mid 18th Century.

Lot 34, 9 October 2024.

https://www.chiswickauctions.co.uk/auction/lot/lot-34---a-mid-18th-century-chinese-export-parcel-gilt-silver-filigree-casket-canton-circa-1750/?lot=260633&so=0&st=&sto=0&au=1132&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=1&pp=96&pn=1&g=1

A near identical casket is illustrated Kwan. S. (2018) Chinese Export Silver – The Muwen Tang Collection. Hong Kong: Muwen Tang Fine Arts Publication Ltd. p.80-81, f.4.

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The Chinese Silver and Silver Gilt Filigree Box with London Dealer Joseph Cohen.

Mid 18th Century.

Height 6.5 cms, width 16 cms, depth 14 cms.

Many thanks are due to Joseph Cohen for all his assistance.

https://www.josephcohenantiques.com/products/antique-chinese-export-silver-gilt-silver-filigree-casket-canton-china-c-1750

https://www.josephcohenantiques.com/

Refs.

Christies, Lot 171, Sale 2373, 19th May 2010, New York

Christies, Lot 200A, Sale 2474, 21st October 2011, New York

Mikhail B. Piotrovsky, ‘Treasures of Catherine the Great’, 2001, Harry N Abrams.

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The Hermitage, St Petersburg Box.

17x 6,5 x13 cm.

Probably Canton, China.

Mid 18th Century.

https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/08.+applied+arts/580550

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Another Very Similar Chinese Silver Gilt Casket with London Dealer Michael Backman.

height: 6.7cm, length: 16cm, width: 12cm.

On his website Michael Backman questions the origin of these boxes and suggests perhaps Batavia but I am inclined to a Chinese probably Canton origin.

https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/archived_objects/silver-filigree-batavian-or-chinese-casket-box/

Many thanks to Michael Backman for permission to use his photographs.

A casket of similar form and decoration which is attributed to the third quarter of the eighteenth century Batavia is illustrated in Voskuil-Groenewegen (1998, p. 66). Similar pieces from another toiletry set from the Prussian and Germany royal von Hohenzollern family and in the David Chan Collection are illustrated in Chan (2005). These are attributed to the mid-18th century.

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The Tremont Auctions Chinese Filigree Box.

3 x 6.5 inches.

Tremont Auctions, Dudbury Mass. USA. Lot 11 - 12 November 2023.

https://www.tremontauctions.com/auction-lot/chinese-export-silver-box-with-silver-overlaid-fi_9B64E808B6

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The Bonham's Smythe-Pigot Chinese Filigree Box.

8 cms wide.

Lot 137, 9 March 2004.

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/10780/lot/137/?category=list

The interior brightly gilt and incised to the cover with the arms of Smythe-Pigot

The Paragraphs below from Bonham's online Catalogue.

The arms of the Smythe-Pigots were granted in 1824, following the marriage in 1815 of Anee Pigot and John Smythe.

It is known that similar boxes were in the Royal collection of Queen Charlotte, which was sold at auction by Christie's in 1819.

It is therefore not inconceivable that this box was formerly in the Royal collection, purchased at Christie's by the Smythe-Pigots in 1819, and engraved in around 1824.

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Chinese Filigree Box on the London Dealers Koopman's website.

https://www.koopman.art/blog-detail/34093

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Christie's New York

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The Victoria and Albert Museum Chinese Silver Gilt Filigree Box.

18th/ 19th Century Chinese Silver Gilt and Silver Filigree Box.

With Butterfly Design on the Front. The Butterfly Motif appears on at least two other Chinese Boxes that I am aware of - one is in the collection at Burghley House, Lincolnshire another is currently in a private collection.

Catalogued as Dutch?

Size 3" x 1"

Victoria and Albert Museum.

Accession Number M.183-1940.

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O91908/snuff-box-unknown/

For further examples of boxes and needle cases of this type see -

https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/09/chinese-jewelled-silver-and-silver-gilt.html

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The Burghley Collection The Pair of Gilt Filigree Butterfly Boxes.

18cms wide

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Another Chinese Silver Filigree Box Previously with London Dealer Michael Backman.

With Remains of Gilding.

Length of tray: 11.5cm, length of box: 9.3cm.

Once again huge thanks to Michael Backman.

https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/object/colonial-silver-filigree-lidded-box-tray/

https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/

Michael Backman makes the case for this object and many similar pieces having been made by Chinese craftsmen working in Batavia (Jakarta) but I remain to be convinced.

I cannot pretend to be an expert - but there seems to have been a need by some scholars to attribute the this type of work to Indonesia, manufactured by emigrée Chinese craftsmen.

This is also the case with many objects particularly caskets illustrated elsewhere in this blog but which show techniques used in 17th and 18th Century Europe.

Many of these pieces might have been constructed by craftsmen in Indonesia particularly Batavia under the auspices of Dutch craftsmen.

The absence of any pieces with a long term provenance does not help in researches.

It should be noted that the Chinese were ejected (for want of a better term) from Batavia in 1740.

For a very revealing article on the subject which makes for particularly grim reading and does not put the Dutch colonists/ occupiers in a very good light see -

https://www.persee.fr/doc/arch_0044-8613_2009_num_77_1_4127

Chinese people slowly returned to Java but their lives were circumscribed - they were forced to live in separate Chinatowns.