Lot n° 30
Estimation :
4000 - 5000
EUR
Result without fees
Result
: 7 500EUR
A silver spice box - Lot 30
A silver spice box
The silver box is oval in shape, slightly curved, and stands on four scrolled feet. The double lid is decorated with undulating and wavy rocaille waves. The interior is silver-gilt. Good condition.
Germany, Augsburg, 1743-1745
Master silversmith: Philipp Jakob VI DRENTWETT (1686-1754), received master in 1717
Height: 4 cm.
Length: 12 cm.
Width: 6.7 cm.
Weight: 313 g
This very elegant model of spice box seems to have been copied in a lighter version, with less talent and finesse, by Christian Lütgens, another Augsburg silversmith, circa 1747-1749 (see Dorotheum sale, Vienna, 25 November 2014, lot 32).
Long attributed to Faenza, the famous series of ‘Orsini-Colonna’ pharmacy vases, chevrettes, bottles and albarelli have been traced back to Castelli thanks to the discovery of shards in 1982 during excavations at the site of Castelli Orazio Pompei's pottery workshop. This association is also confirmed by a chevrette bearing the inscription ‘Oc Opus Oratii’ referring to Orazio Pompei (Vincenzo de Pompeis, Le Maioliche Cinquecentesche di Castelli, Brescia, 1989, p. C39, no. 353).
It is possible that part of the production was destined for a pharmacy in Rome belonging to the Orsini family. Bernard Rackham referred to this production as ‘Orsini-Colonna’ in reference to the bottle in the British Museum, decorated with the Orsini family emblem, a bear, embracing the Colonna family emblem, a column, accompanied by the inscription ET SARRIMO BONI AMICI (and we shall be good friends), a reference to the Pax Romana established in 1511 by Pope Julius II between the two rival Roman aristocratic families who were constantly at odds with each other (D. Thornton and T. Wilson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics, A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection, London, 2009, Vol. II, p. 542).
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