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Box lid
unknown - Enlarge image
Box lid
- Place of origin:
Egypt (possibly, made)
Syria (possibly, made) - Date:
1500-1600 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Brass, engraved and formerly inlaid with silver
- Credit Line:
Given by Dr W L Hildburgh, FSA
- Museum number:
M.15-1946
- Gallery location:
In store
The elaborate decoration on this brass box and lid suggests that it was made in Venice between 1525 and 1575. Venetian brasswork was almost always engraved and inlaid with silver wire (now missing on this example) with extensive scrolling arabesque decoration often covering the entire surface of an object.
During the period 1500-1550 the production of brassware flourished in Venice. Venetian merchants brought back to the city goods from the Turkish and Arab empires that bordered the Mediterranean. These had an immediate influence on the local population and eventually the rest of Europe.
