salver thumbnail 1
On display

salver

Salver
ca. 1650-ca. 1700 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This salver, based on the shape of a flower, may have originated in Cordoba, Spain. A similar example from there was used for serving fruit. Decorative wirework dishes and vessels were often imported from Goa and were popular throughout the 17th century. As filigree is rarely marked it is always difficult to locate where such pieces were made.

Objects of this size are unusual as filigree was more often employed for small, intimate objects, particularly jewellery. The technique consisted of shaping and soldering silver wires together without a supporting background.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Titlesalver
Materials and techniques
Silver; cast panels of imitation filigree soldered into a silver frame.
Brief description
Silver, wire frame and cast elements in imitation of filigree, Cuba (Havana), 1650-1700, unmarked
Physical description
Circular silver salver with cast panels of silver imitating filigree. The salver has a concave disc in the centre made from six wide lobes with a flat rim, surrounded by a wide frame of 24 long narrow lobes. At the end of each of these is a leaf-shaped segment attached at an almost vertical angle. These segments support a broad rim consisting of 72 narrow lobes, matching those in the rest of the object, with a ridged band of sheet silver on the inner and outer edges.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 42.09cm
  • Height: 3.03cm
Gallery label
(26/11/2002)
Silver Gallery:
This salver, based on the shape of a flower, may have originated in Cordoba in Southern Spain. A similar example from there was used for serving fruit.
Object history
Bought from Gonsalez of Granada, with a matching pair, for £24/1/0 (the pair).
Summary
This salver, based on the shape of a flower, may have originated in Cordoba, Spain. A similar example from there was used for serving fruit. Decorative wirework dishes and vessels were often imported from Goa and were popular throughout the 17th century. As filigree is rarely marked it is always difficult to locate where such pieces were made.

Objects of this size are unusual as filigree was more often employed for small, intimate objects, particularly jewellery. The technique consisted of shaping and soldering silver wires together without a supporting background.
Bibliographic references
  • Pérez Morera, Jesús. 'El Arte de la Platería en Cuba. La plata labrada y la filigrana'. In: Estudios de Historia del Arte. Centenario del Laboratorio de Arte. 2 vols (Seville: 2009), vol. II, pp. 427-468.
  • Pérez Morera, Jesús. 'La filigrana: seña de identidad de la platería cubana. Técnicas, formas y tipologías'. In: El tesoro del lugar florido. Estudios sobre la plata iberoamericana. Siglos XVI - XIX, ed. by Juan Haroldo Rodas Estrada, et al. (León (Spain) and México D.F., 2017), pp. 401-58.
  • Kennedy, Kirstin. 'Silver from Spanish America at the V&A'. In: Silver Studies. The Journal of the Silver Society, no. 38 (2022), pp. 142-52 (at p. 145).
Collection
Accession number
315-1864

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Record createdFebruary 9, 2004
Record URL
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