Skip to main content

Europe

to
220
1,050
518
344,820
250,343
157,869
141,018
103,854
77,197
50,732
50,108
44,001
35,268
28,314
27,355
22,599
20,014
15,984
15,567
14,754
14,179
11,695
10,737
10,459
7,580
5,840
5,749
4,976
4,409
4,314
3,593
2,817
2,608
2,117
2,112
1,939
1,552
1,468
1,277
1,188
1,135
1,005
954
932
857
715
683
523
500
392
302
281
228
221
197
195
168
165
154
115
109
99
60
45
39
68
21
6
6
3
Period: 16th Century
Period: 1620s
Silver Pax O Portapaz, Spain, 16th Century
Located in Madrid, ES
Portapaz. Silver in its color and gilded. Century XVI. Portapaz made of silver that has a handle (decorated with delicate plant motifs similar to those of the pilasters) and a female and a male bust at the bottom, as well as other architectural elements on the back, and, on the front, an architectural composition classicist basement (with busts flanking a flower and a cross), two pilasters (vegetal decoration and capital recalling the composite order) with entablature (flowers flanking an angel's head; moldings), and a semicircular arch finish with elements veined in relief under cross and flanked by two architectural motifs in the upper part. This composition frames and enhances a gilt silver relief where you can see the Lament or Cry over the Body of Christ, with the Virgin holding the head of Jesus, Saint John at her side, the Magdalene and other characters, a cross following the group and a landscape background with houses and plant elements. This architectural structure mentioned is similar to the one present in other 16th century portapaces, such as that of the Magdalena de Dos Hermanas parish (Hernando de Ballesteros el Mozo, around 1575); or that of the Galaroza parish (same author and date); or that of the portapaz of San Miguel de Jerez de los Caballeros (in some details); etc. As for the relief, it is possible to clearly see a strong Italian influence, and the similarity between it and important pieces such as the Portapaz known as “de Cisneros by Juan de Burgos (1493-1497; MuseoCatedralicio de Alcalá de Henares), as well as in paintings and reliefs. Also noteworthy are both the male and female busts in the lower area and the Maltese cross (or Saint John's) that appears in this area. This symbol was used since the 12th century as an insignia by the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, also known as the Order of Malta...
Category

16th Century Spanish Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Silver

Late 16th Century by Jacopo da Empoli Temperance Oil on canvas
Located in Milano, Lombardia
Jacopo da Empoli (Florence, Italy, 1551 – 1640) Title: Temperance Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: without frame 101.5 x 75.7 cm – with frame 140 x 115.3 x 10.50 cm Expertise by Al...
Category

16th Century Old Masters Europe

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Portrait Of Lucas Cranach The Elder (1472-1553), 16th Century German Renaissance
Located in Blackwater, GB
Portrait Of Lucas Cranach The Elder (1472-1553), 16th Century German Renaissance School Large 16th Century German School portrait identified as Lucas Cranach The Elder, oil on canv...
Category

16th Century Europe

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Portrait of a woman with a book
Located in BELEYMAS, FR
Italian school circa 1560, circle of Bernardino Campi Portrait of a woman with a book Oil on panel H. 78 cm ; L. 57cm
Category

16th Century Italian School Europe

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

The Return Of King Agamemnon, 16th Century Frans I FLORIS (1516-1570) Trojan War
Located in Blackwater, GB
The Return Of King Agamemnon, 16th Century circle of Frans I FLORIS (1516-1570) Large 16th Century Flemish Old Master depicting the return of King Agamemnon from the Trojan War, o...
Category

16th Century Europe

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

Rare Renaissance Florentine Cabinet with Certosina Decoration
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
RARE RENAISSANCE FLORENTINE WALNUT CABINET WITH CERTOSINA DECORATION ORIGIN: FLORENCE, ITALY PERIOD: END OF 15th CENTURY – BEGINNING OF 16th CENTURY Height: 129 cm Length: 107 cm...
Category

16th Century Antique Europe

Materials

Walnut

Belgian Marble Antique Pair Renaiscance Period Columns
Located in Beervelde, BE
Rich Renaiscance period half-columns in Belgian Saint-Remy Marble for eclectic interior design. These 2 original antique, 16th century period, columns are mounted on a stand and has ...
Category

16th Century Belgian Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Marble

16th Century Spanish Terracotta Vase
Located in Miami, FL
16th Century Spanish Terracotta Vase Hand made marks around the vase.
Category

16th Century Spanish Baroque Antique Europe

Materials

Terracotta

Spanish Azulejo Tile Arista y Cuenca - Toledo 16th century
By Estadio of Spain
Located in DELFT, NL
Early Arista y cuenca tile fragment made in Toledo. Tile decorated in renaissance with stylized flowers was probably made between 1550 and 1575. Losses and wear.
Category

16th Century Spanish Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Earthenware

Flemish Hand-Woven "Feuilles de Choux" Tapestry, Silk and Wool
Located in Firenze, FI
Provenance: Oudenaarde manufacture, Flanders, Mid-16th Century Tapestry wool and silk texture Dimensions 340/330 x 340/338cm Extremely rare piece In good condition Washed and lined It is a typical Flemish tapestry "with large leaves", well preserved, woven with green, yellow and brown yarns whose colors have remained fresh and intense. The market and collectors in recent decades have greatly re-evaluated tapestries with "large leaves", appreciating their high decorative value and ability to blend in with modern furnishings. Our tapestry belongs to a very particular subcategory of the "feuille de...
Category

16th Century Belgian Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Wool, Silk

Saint Jerome. Oil on slatted panel. Surroundings of KEY, Willem. 16th century.
Located in Madrid, ES
Saint Jerome. Oil on slatted panel. Surroundings of KEY, Willem. 16th century. With monogram (illegible) and dated (right ear of the saint). Oil on oak panel showing a thin, elderl...
Category

16th Century European Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Other

Original Antique Woodcut Map of Persia
Located in Langweer, NL
Antique map titled 'Tabula V Asiae'. Important early woodcut map of Persia, depicting the area of Mesopotamia, Armenia and the Gulf, to the Caspian and Carmania (Iran). Includes name...
Category

16th Century Antique Europe

Materials

Paper

16th Century Southern Germany Carved Wood Bracket Depicting a Mermaid
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
In Medieval Europe and even more during the early 16th century fantastic beasts could be found in Bestiaries, a literary genre close to poetry. A bestiary used the characteristics of...
Category

16th Century German Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Wood

16th century antique bronze Thai Buddha statue from Burma
Located in DEVENTER, NL
The antique bronze Thai Buddha statue is a captivating and historically significant artifact. Crafted from bronze and bearing traces of 24-karat gold gilding, this statue stands at 2...
Category

16th Century Thai Antique Europe

Materials

Bronze

16th Century Henry VIII English Oak Linenfold Chest / Coffer
Located in Hoddesdon, GB
A 16th-century Henry VIII English Oak Linenfold Chest, circa 1540, is a rare example. Made from solid oak boards, the chest features a four-panel lid r...
Category

16th Century British Tudor Antique Europe

Materials

Oak

Monstrance (temple type). Silver. Spain, 16th century with restorations.
Located in Madrid, ES
Portable temple custody. Gilded silver, glass. 16th century, possible restorations. Custody made of gilded silver (the finish has been lost in some points) composed of a base, an ax...
Category

16th Century Spanish Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Silver, Other

Bronze Pax or Pax Board, 16th Century
Located in Madrid, ES
Peacekeeper. Bronze. Century XVI. Bronze purse with a handle on the back in the shape of an esse in the same material and a decoration in light relief on the front that shows, unde...
Category

16th Century Spanish Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Bronze

Antique 16th Century Florentine carved Jesus Christ with Shroud in Glas Display
Located in Doha, QA
This is an absolutely outstanding and extremely expressive sculpture of Crucified Jesus Christ in carved polychrome wood, on the background of a 16th century Silk Florentine fine fab...
Category

16th Century Italian Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Gold

Spanish Azulejo Tile Arista y Cuenca - Sevilla 16th century
By Estadio of Spain
Located in DELFT, NL
Early Arista y Cuenca tile, most likely made in Sevilla. Azulejo tile decorated with a gemetric pattern with 4 central leafs within a cirlce. Mid 16th century In very good conditi...
Category

16th Century Spanish Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Earthenware, Maiolica

Spanish Azulejo Tile Arista y Cuenca - Toledo 16th century
By Estadio of Spain
Located in DELFT, NL
Early Arista y Cuenca tile made in Toledo. Azulejo Toledano. Alhambra tile decorated in renaissance mudejar style geometrical design. Probably made between 1550 and 1575. In very g...
Category

16th Century Spanish Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Earthenware, Maiolica

Bronze Mortar - Italy - 16th Century
Located in Brussels, Brussels
Superb Italian Renaissance bronze mortar with his pestle - 16th century Very beautiful model with AN in its center surmounted by a cross below . The mortar is decorated with several...
Category

16th Century Italian Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Bronze

Strongbox Safe Iron Painted Armada Chest Nuremberg Renaissance
Located in BUNGAY, SUFFOLK
Rare, small, late-Renaissance, Nuremberg, iron, 'armada box', strongbox or travelling safe with its original, naïve, painted decoration This is a rare, s...
Category

16th Century German Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Iron

Venice. XVI century. Madonna with child with St. John. Attrib. Marco Bello.
Located in Firenze, IT
Sacred Conversation: Madonna with child with St. John with idealized landscape background with mountains. Early XVI century. Oil on wooden panel of Venetian conifers. Marco Bello, attributed. (Venezia, 1470 - 1523, Udine), pupil and follower of Giovanni Bellini. Venetian school. Madonna with child with St. John with idealized landscape background with mountains. Dimentions: 57cm x 68cm x 6cm Beautiful late Renaissance frame...
Category

16th Century Renaissance Europe

Materials

Wood Panel, Oil

A Very Large Virgin and Child ( 49 inches) , Champagne, circa 1500
Located in PARIS, FR
A Very Large Virgin and Child in walnut wood, carved in the round, trampling on Eve biting into the apple. The theme of the Virgin and Child is the most represented in all Christian...
Category

16th Century French Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Walnut

16th Century by Bernardino Detti Face of Christ Oil on Canvas
Located in Milano, Lombardia
Bernardino Detti (Pistoia, Italy, 1498 - 1572) Title: Face of Christ Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: without frame 41 x 32 cm - with frame 47 x 55.5 cm Antique box frame made of solid wood and walnut burl. Publications: unpublished The painting by Bernardino Detti (1498 - 1572) depicts the face of Jesus...
Category

16th Century Old Masters Europe

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Chinese Blue and White "Grape Dish", Ming Dynasty, 16th Century, Jiajing Period
Located in Delft, NL
Large Chinese Blue and White "Grape Dish", Ming Dynasty, Jiajing Period, 16th Century Large blue and white "Grape Dish". Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Jiaj...
Category

16th Century Chinese Ming Antique Europe

Materials

Porcelain

Venetian-Cretan master early 16th century Tempera on Gold Background
Located in Pistoia, IT
Venetian-Cretan master of the early 16th century, icon of Christ the Bridegroom (or Nymphios). Tempera on gold ground on panel. Measure 41 x 29 cm Holy Week, in Eastern tradition an...
Category

16th Century Renaissance Europe

Materials

Tempera, Board

Salamander-shaped pinjante.
Located in MADRID, ES
Its devotional pinjante votive offering which origin is Spanish, of Canarian manufacture. The piece represents a salamander crafted in solid gold, richly adorned with emeralds, rub...
Category

16th Century Spanish Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Emerald, Freshwater Pearl, Ruby, 22k Gold

Rare Renaissance Cabinet Richly Carved
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
This rare Renaissance cabinet is richly decorated on the doors and drawers with carvings depicting the four seasons, and on the uprights and the entablature, alternating flower bouquets inlaid with mother of pearl. This is a beautifully conceived piece of furniture, representing a crowned portico with its entablature and cornice. The upper body Articulated separately in a ternary rhythm, as with the lower body, the upper part opens with two carved doors. The doors are framed by both the lateral uprights and the casing. There are cartouches carved into the casing in which mythological figures are depicted with flower bouquets. On the doors: On the right: Spring, a female figure crowned with a wreath of leaves, holding a basket full of flowers. She is wearing necklaces and bracelets on each arm, with drapery discretely wrapped around her body and is standing on a winged putti’s head. On each side are depicted a tree and a village with a steepled church. Above her head floats the three signs of the zodiac corresponding to the season: Aries, Taurus and Gemini. On the left: Summer, a bearded man crowned with ears of corn and bearing armfuls of corn. He is standing on a similar winged putti, flanked by a tree and an ear of corn. The following three signs of the zodiac appear: Cancer, Leo and Virgo. On the uprights and the central casing a number of smaller figures seem to represent virtues and vices that newly wedded couples should aspire to and avoid. On each side, at the bottom of the uprights, there is a dog representing fidelity. Above, a lion embodies power, wisdom, and justice. In between, on the left upright, there is a figure of noncombatant Athena wearing a helmet and holding a spear, an arrow pointing down and in her left hand, a shield, symbol of protective power. On the right upright, the goddess Venus controls the arrow of Cupid. The iconography here acts as a clear reminder of the required virtues that both parts of a young couple need to fulfill: fidelity, power, wisdom and justice. For him, the goddess Athena focuses on the power. Whereas for her, it is Venus who shows how to control Cupid’s arrow. On the central casing at the bottom, by way of contrast, there is a peacock, a symbol of pride and at the top, a monkey representing lust and mischief. In between, a woman holding a chain and a cup full of precious stones while on the floor sits a half empty opened casket. This can be interpreted as a symbol of extravagance. Above, the entablature, decorated with male figures resting on leaking urns, may symbolize the passing of time. They are flanked by two consoles decorated with acanthus leaves and separated by flower bouquets (inlaid with mother of pearl). Finally on top, a cornice acts as a crown for the piece of furniture. The lower body The moulded base stands on four round, flattened feet. Represented on the doors: On the left: Autumn, a stocky, naked man crowned with vine leaves, holding fruits in his right hand and with his left, picking a bunch of grapes from a climbing vine. Standing on a mound, he is surrounded by a vine and a hill, at the foot of which a man presses the grapes in a big vat after the harvest. Above the climbing vine appear the signs of Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius. On the right: Winter, an elderly man wearing a fur cloak...
Category

16th Century French Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Walnut

Fin de la Guerre: The Behemoth of the Siege of Antwerp, 1585
Located in Langweer, NL
This print depicts the Antwerp warship Fin de la guerre, a massive vessel constructed during the Siege of Antwerp (1584-1585). It is a copperplate-engraved oblique profile of the D...
Category

16th Century Antique Europe

Materials

Paper

French Medieval Painted Wooden Madonna
Located in Buisson, FR
Unique and extremely rare medieval wooden Madonna with traces of her original color Original period piece, South of France, circa 1500 or older Weathered, small losses and old repair...
Category

16th Century French Medieval Antique Europe

Materials

Wood

Large 16th century carved and polychroom painted oak Venetian chest, Italy
Located in Meulebeke, BE
Italy / 16th century / Venetian chest or Cassone / oak, polychroom / antique / renaissance A large carved and gilt painted Venetian marriage chest made in oak in the 16th century i...
Category

16th Century Italian Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Wood, Oak

16th century large chest strongbox iron and walnut
Located in Vosselaar, BE
A quite large 16th century Italian so called 'coffre fort' . Coffers or chest like these were specifically made for cities or large villages to safegueard the gold and valuables. The...
Category

16th Century Italian Gothic Antique Europe

Materials

Iron

ITALIAN RENAISSANCE PORTRAIT HEAD OF BEARDED MAN
Located in Milan, IT
PORTRAIT HEAD OF BEARDED MAN Central Italy, 16th/17th Century marble with traces of polychromy height 39 cm height 15 1/4 in
Category

16th Century Europe

Materials

Marble

European 16th Century Hand Carved Wooden Virgin Mary Polychrome Statue
Located in Oostende, BE
This 16th century hand-carved wooden Virgin Mary polychrome statue comes from a church in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium (Europe), and was bought directly fr...
Category

16th Century Belgian Gothic Antique Europe

Materials

Walnut

Monumental 16th Century Painting Depicting the Scene of the Visitation of Mary
Located in Torino, IT
Monumental 16th century painting depicting the scene of the Visitation of Mary. Anonymous painter of the Lombard school. Coeval copy after Federico Bar...
Category

16th Century Italian Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Paint

Mannerist Italian painter - 16th century figure painting - Christ mocked
Located in Varmo, IT
Italian painter (16th century) - Christ mocked. 18 x 28 cm. Antique oil painting on canvas glued on board, without frame. Condition report: Good state of conservation of the picto...
Category

16th Century Old Masters Europe

Materials

Panel, Oil

“Ressurrection”, Polychromed Wood, Spanish School, 16th Century
Located in Madrid, ES
The relief was probably a door of the Sagrario. The piece follows a customary decoration in the tabernacles of the Renaissance and the Baroque. Compare, for example, with the sevente...
Category

16th Century Spanish Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Other

Conestabile Madonna Old Master Renaissance
By (after) Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino)
Located in London, GB
After Raphael Conestabile Madonna 1483 - 1520 Oil on canvas Image size: 8 x 8 inches (20.5 x 20.5 cm) Original ornate hand carved gilt frame Conestabile Madonna Made in compositiona...
Category

16th Century Old Masters Europe

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Female Head, Andrea del Sarto, Sphere of, post 1522
Located in Milan, IT
Tempera on wood depicting a half-length female figure; she wears a red dress over a light-colored tunic, while a green drape rests on her right shoulder. The red hair is tied up with a central parting and is partly covered by a white headdress; the full face has an absorbed expression: a thoughtful gaze, arched eyebrows and slightly furrowed lips. Presented in a frame made with parts of an ancient larger frame. Historical-critical analysis: Our table in question is one of the numerous derivations from a lost fresco by Andrea del Sarto...
Category

16th Century Other Art Style Europe

Materials

Tempera

1625 Petrus Plancius / Cloppenburg Map of the Holy Land with Biblical Vignettes
Located in Langweer, NL
1625 Petrus Plancius / Johannes Cloppenburg Map of the Holy Land with Biblical Vignettes This exquisite 1625 map by Petrus Plancius and Johannes Cloppenburg represents the Holy Lan...
Category

1620s Antique Europe

Materials

Paper

Antique Map of Greece from Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1595
Located in Langweer, NL
Original antique map titled "Graecia Sophiani." This is a very detailed and decorative engraved map, with two decorative cartouches and a hand-colored initial on the verso, from Abra...
Category

16th Century Antique Europe

Materials

Paper

Swiss Chest richly carved, Riedmatten family, framed by two Holy conversations
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
SWISS CHEST RICHLY CARVED WITH THE COAT OF ARMS OF THE RIEDMATTEN FAMILY FRAMED BY TWO HOLY CONVERSATIONS ORIGIN : SWITZERLAND, VALAIS CANTON PERIOD : END OF 16th CENTURY – EARLY 17...
Category

16th Century Swiss Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Wood, Walnut

Engraving of St. Gallen and its Monastery, from Civitates Orbis Terrarum (1575)
Located in Langweer, NL
Description of the Engraving: Braun & Hogenberg’s "S. Galli Opp. et Monasterium Heluetiorum" from Civitates Orbis Terrarum (1575) This is an original, hand-colored copper engraving ...
Category

16th Century Antique Europe

Materials

Paper

French Richly Carved Sideboard Buffet - Renaissance- circa 1580 France
Located in Beuzevillette, FR
Beautiful Renaissance two-body buffet with four doors and six drawers. On the upper part of the buffet, who hide two secrets drawers, an alternating band of three masks, represents a mythological scene: Zeus changed into a swan seduces Leda on the banks of the Eurotas. The sides of the buffet are decorated with foliage and vines. The doors cornices...
Category

16th Century French Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Walnut

Child Jesus - Umbria, first half of the 16th century
Located in Bruxelles, BE
Child Jesus Polychrome and gilded wood Umbria, first half of the 16th century H 40 cm Entirely naked, the Child is standing, leaning on his left leg, his right leg forward; he keep...
Category

16th Century Italian Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Wood

Large Gothic chest strongbox
Located in Vosselaar, BE
A verry rare and quite large Gothic chest in untouched condition. Strongbox like these where made for the safekeeping of money, important documents and pr...
Category

16th Century Italian Gothic Antique Europe

Materials

Iron

Portrait Of An Architect & Dog, 16th Century
By Domenico Tintoretto
Located in Blackwater, GB
Portrait Of An Architect & Dog, 16th Century circle of TINTORETTO (1518-1594) Huge 16th Century Italian Old Master portrait of an architect and dog, oil on canvas. Exceptional earl...
Category

16th Century Europe

Materials

Canvas, Oil

16th Century Carved Religious Panel Sculpture of Poor Souls in Purgatory Hell
Located in London, GB
Antique Religious Relief Sculpture, Poor Souls in Purgatory Sculpture, Sinners in Hell Sculpture, Antique Religious Carving, Antique Church Plaque, Antique Religious Panel, Antique P...
Category

16th Century Italian Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Wood

Plitman Banquet Chair
By Jonathan Sainsbury
Located in Sturminster Marshall, Dorset
The Plitman banquet chair is a mahogany dining chair hand carved in the Chippendale style and upholstered with client’s own fabric. Bespoke sizing, d...
Category

16th Century British Neoclassical Antique Europe

Materials

Mahogany

Capture of Limburg by Spanish Forces under Duke of Parma, 1578 - Engraving
Located in Langweer, NL
This engraving illustrates the capture of Limburg by Spanish forces under the command of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, in 1578 during the Eighty Years' War. The scene vividly dep...
Category

16th Century Antique Europe

Materials

Paper

Map of Avenches Region Switzerland by Mercator, Original 1585 Engraving
Located in Langweer, NL
Map of Wiflispurgergov by Gerardus Mercator, Avenches Region, 1585 This rare and finely engraved map, titled *Das Wiflispurgergov*, was produced by Gerardus Mercator and published i...
Category

16th Century Dutch Antique Europe

Materials

Paper

XVI Century, Italian Renaissance Wood Chest
Located in IT
XVI Century, Italian Renaissance wood chest. This important noble chest of the Tuscan Renaissance was built towards the end of the sixteenth centur...
Category

16th Century Italian Renaissance Antique Europe

Materials

Nutwood

Ancient Jain Altarpiece with Three Standing Jina's, Gujarat, India 16th Century
Located in Antwerp, BE
An authentic, ancient and exceptional Three Jina Shrine. For it’s age the altarpiece is in a very good condition and rather large. The image of three standing, nude Jinas flanked by the other 21 seated Jinas is rare. The lintel of the shrine is showing the nine comets and three seated figures...
Category

16th Century Indian Medieval Antique Europe

Materials

Bronze

An Unusual and Rare English ‘Memento Mori’ Carved Shrine with Two Human Skulls
Located in London, GB
An Unusual and Rare English ‘Memento Mori’ Carved Shrine with Two Human Skulls to the underside, a carved ‘Dragonfly’ Marble 16th / 17th Century England Size: 36cm high, 28cm w...
Category

16th Century English Antique Europe

Materials

Marble

Sandstone Carving of Two Demons Riding on Elephants
Located in Kastrup, DK
500-600 year old sandstone carving. The sculpture is depicting 'Two demons riding on elephants'. From Buddha pagoda / temple in Arakan, Burma, 1400-1500. Untouched and in original condition with great patina. Mounted on light sandstone plinth...
Category

16th Century Burmese Other Antique Europe

Materials

Sandstone

16th-Century Indo-Portuguese Colonial Mother-of-pearl Gujarat Casket
Located in Amsterdam, NL
An exceptional Indo-Portuguese colonial mother-of-pearl veneered casket with silver mounts India, Gujarat, 2nd half of the 16th century, the silver mounts Goa or probably Lisbon Measures: H. 16 x W. 24.6 x D. 16.1 cm An exceptional Gujarati casket with a rectangular box and truncated pyramidal lid (with slopes on each side and a flat top) made from exotic wood, probably teak (Tectona grandis), covered with a mother-of-pearl mosaic. The tesserae, cut from the shell of the green turban sea snail (Turbo marmoratus, a marine gastropod) in the shape of fish scales, are pinned to the wooden structure with silver ball-headed nails. The casket is set on bracket feet on the corners. The masterfully engraved decoration of the silver mounts follows the most refined and erudite Mannerist repertoire of rinceaux and ferroneries dating from the mid-16th century. The high quality and refinement of the silver mounts and, likewise, the silver nails that replaced the original brass pins used to hold the mother-of-pearl tesserae in place indicate the work of a silversmith probably working in Lisbon in the second half of the 16th century. The Indian origin of this production, namely from Cambay (Khambhat) and Surat in the present state of Gujarat in north India, is, as for the last three decades, consensual and fully demonstrated, not only by documentary and literary evidence - such as descriptions, travelogues and contemporary archival documentation - but also by the survival in situ of 16th-century wooden structures covered in mother-of-pearl tesserae. A fine example is a canopy decorating the tomb (dargah) of the Sufi saint, Sheik Salim Chisti (1478-1572) in Fatehpur Sikri in Agra district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, north India. This is an artistic production, geometric in character and Islamic in nature, where usually the mother-of-pearl tesserae form complex designs of fish scales or, similar to the dishes also made using the same technique, with the thin brass sheets and pins, stylized lotus flowers. The truncated pyramidal shape corresponds, like their contemporary tortoiseshell counterparts also made in Gujarat, to a piece of furniture used in the Indian subcontinent within the Islamic world prior to the arrival of the first Portuguese. This shape, in fact, is very old and peculiar to East-Asian caskets, chests or boxes used to contain and protect Buddhist texts, the sutras. A similar chest is the famous and large reliquary chest from Lisbon cathedral that once contained the relics of the city's patron saint, Saint Vincent. Both match in shape, having the same kind of socle or pedestal and bracket feet, and in their engraved silver mountings, featuring the same type of refined, erudite decoration. Their differences lie in the silver borders that frame the entire length of the edges of the chest (both the box and the lid), pinned with silver nails, and on the lock plate, shaped like a coat of arms in the Lisbon example. Given the exceptional dimensions of the reliquary casket...
Category

16th Century Indian Antique Europe

Materials

Silver

Post Medieval posy ring, 'BE x TRV x TIL x DEATHE x AND x SO // SHAL x I'.
Located in London, GB
Post Medieval gold posy ring 'BE x TRV x TIL x DEATHE x AND x SO // SHAL x I' ('be true till death and so shall I'). A D-shape band decorated on the exterior with five rectangular pa...
Category

16th Century Medieval Antique Europe

Madonna Enthroned with Child between angels and saints Nicholas of Tolentino
Located in Milan, IT
The painting features the enthroned Madonna and Child, two praying angels, and Saints Nicholas of Tolentino, Augustine, Luke the Evangelist, and Monica, below an elegant canopy. The ...
Category

16th Century Other Art Style Europe

Materials

Oil

Study of a Man, Old Master Drawing, Figure, Roman Study, Lombard
Located in Greven, DE
Old Master Drawing by the Circle of Lambert Lombard. Drawing/ Study of a Man in Renaissance Style, later signed "F. Floris". Study of a Man Lombard li...
Category

16th Century Renaissance Europe

Materials

Handmade Paper

Recently Viewed

View All