Box
ca.1500-1550 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The decoration on this bronze box and lid suggests that it was made in Venice. Venetian brasswork was almost always engraved and inlaid with silver wire as here - a technique known as damascening. The extensive scrolling arabesque decoration often covered the entire surface of an object.
During the period 1500-1550 the production of metalware 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 indigenous population and eventually the rest of Europe.
During the period 1500-1550 the production of metalware 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 indigenous population and eventually the rest of Europe.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Bronze, inlaid with silver and engraved |
| Brief description | Bronze box inlaid with silver and engraved with geometric designs, Venetian |
| Physical description | Circular, inlaid with silver and engraved with geometric designs. The bottom is modern, the inside tinned. |
| Dimensions |
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| Object history | Bought from the collection of Gaston de Saint-Maurice (1831-1905) in 1884. Saint-Maurice displayed his extensive art collection at the 1878 Paris exhibition, in a gallery entitled L'Egypte des Khalifes. This was part of an official sequence of displays celebrating the history of Egypt, presented by the Egyptian state at this international event. Saint-Maurice held a position at the Khedival court, and had lived in Cairo in 1868-1878. Following the exhibition, Saint-Maurice offered his collection for sale to the South Kensington Museum (today the V&A). |
| Associations | |
| Summary | The decoration on this bronze box and lid suggests that it was made in Venice. Venetian brasswork was almost always engraved and inlaid with silver wire as here - a technique known as damascening. The extensive scrolling arabesque decoration often covered the entire surface of an object. During the period 1500-1550 the production of metalware 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 indigenous population and eventually the rest of Europe. |
| Bibliographic reference | Sylvia Auld, Renaissance Venice, Islam and Mahmud the Kurd. A metalworking enigma, 2004, no.4.2, p.209. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 918:1, 2-1884 |
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| Record created | February 11, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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