Pair of centers. Venice, 19th century

Pair of centers. Venice, 19th century.
Silver.
With punches.
Measurements: 40 x 13,5 x 19 cm (each one).

This exceptional pair of Venetian silver centerpieces fully responds to the historicist and scenographic taste of Italian eclecticism. Each piece is organized in several registers: a base profusely decorated with scrolls and aquatic motifs holds the figure of a warrior -possibly an idealized representation of African or "Moorish" type, frequent iconography in Venetian art- who, in the manner of an Atlantean, carries the main body on his head.

The central vase, worked in high relief by means of chiseling and embossing of notable quality, develops a frieze with hunting scenes and landscapes, authentic sculptural miniatures in silver that demonstrate the technical expertise of the workshop. Above this narrative register, the upper scene unfolds, of a more dynamic and fanciful character: figures sailing on shells, accompanied by heraldic dolphins, rockeries and rock formations. This compositional theatricality is reminiscent of the neo-baroque and rococo language, which sought to impress through movement, formal exuberance and detail.

During the 19th century, Venice, with its deep-rooted goldsmith tradition, reinterpreted Renaissance and Baroque models in a decorative and spectacular manner for an international market. These punched pieces not only fulfill an ornamental function as table centerpieces, but are conceived as true sculptures of apparatus, a synthesis of virtuosity, iconographic exoticism and decorative lavishness.