Votive cup; Spain, second half of the 19th century.

Votive cup; Spain, second half of the nineteenth century.
Silver, bronze and marble.
Dedicated to D. Arsenio Martínez Campos (Segovia, 1831 - Zarauz, 1900).
Measurements: 44 x 50 x 34 cm.
Made in a combination of silver, gilded bronze and black marble, the work presents a careful harmony between the neoclassical elegance and the historicist echoes characteristic of the period.
The design is organized in three distinct bodies: the base, the shaft and the cup itself. The base, in dark marble, octagonal and slightly stepped, is ornamented with metallic appliqués and engraved plaques with dedicatory inscriptions. On the main front it can be read:
"To His Excellency Mr. General D. Arsenio Martínez Campos. The Provincial Council of Gerona. October 1875."
On the base rises a flared shaft, of columnar structure and grooved vertical lines, combining burnished silver and gilded bronze. The upper cup, of low and wide profile, culminates with two ornamental handles of elegant curvature and ends in scrolls, of clear classicist inspiration. In the center of the plate there is an engraved medallion, possibly with patriotic or military allegories.
Arsenio Martínez Campos (1831-1900) was one of the most outstanding figures of the Spanish army in the 19th century. A career military man, he participated in the wars of Africa, Cuba and the Carlist campaigns, but his fame was consolidated by the pronunciamiento of Sagunto in 1874, with which he restored the Bourbon monarchy in the person of Alfonso XII, putting an end to the First Republic.
The Votive Cup presented here is part of a context of institutional gratitude towards the general, in recognition of his role in the pacification of the country after years of political instability.
These types of pieces, commissioned by local or provincial corporations, fulfilled a dual function: commemorative and propagandistic. On the one hand, they exalted the figure of the national hero; on the other, they reaffirmed the loyalty of the institutions to the restored power.