Goldsmiths

Il libro presenta un’indagine sistematica sui tesori appartenenti agli edifici religiosi della città di Randazzo, in provincia di Catania e nasce dall’esigenza di dare un contributo allo studio della sacra suppellettile in materiale prezioso con particolare riguardo alle tre maggiori chiese. Partendo dal profilo storico del centro etneo, protagonista nei secoli XIV e XV delle vicende siciliane grazie al ruolo di sede estiva della corte regia, vengono descritte le tappe salienti che portarono alla realizzazione delle oreficerie. Lo studio individua caratteri internazionali per le suppellettili medievali, svelando provenienze francesi, toscane, veneziane e nord italiane. Nel periodo che va dal XVI al XIX secolo, la concentrazione di materiale che giunge dai due maggiori centri di produzione siciliana quali Messina e Palermo, unitamente alla presenza degli argentieri di Acireale e Catania, permette di acquisire un valido campionario di marchiature. La seconda parte è dedicata all’illustrazione ed alla descrizione dei singoli oggetti, con lo specifico compito di rilevare la particolare cifra stilistica voluta dalla committenza delle diverse “collezioni” che, nel loro insieme, costituisce una delle più cospicue raccolte di oreficeria sacra all’interno del panorama isolano.
Conclude l’indagine un’appendice documentaria in cui sono trascritti i primi risultati della ricerca avviata presso vari fondi archivistici, riservando grande spazio ad inventari ed atti inediti relativi al tesoro di Santa Maria. In questo modo è possibile percepire la ricchezza delle risorse godute in passato da questa chiesa grazie alla donazione De Quatris, la cui Opera commissiona nel 1561 l’interessante custodia eucaristica all’argentiere palermitano Antonio Cochula.

In der St.-Joseph-Kirche in Charbrow bei Leba ist ein einzigartiges Ensemble von zwölf Sargbeschlägen erhalten geblieben, die ursprünglich eine Sargausschmückung der Mitglieder der Familie von Somnitz bildeten. Der Bestattungsort der Familie war eine Krypta, die sich unter dem Altarraum der Kirche befand. Eben von den Särgen, die sich in dieser Grabstätte befanden, wurden die Sargbeschläge entfernt. Es hing mit der Tatsache zusammen, daß das Grabmal aufgeräumt und geschlossen wurde, da kein Platz für weitere Bestattungen vorhanden war, was sich zeitlich mit dem Anfang 19. Jahrhundert erlassenen Verbot zusammen el, die Toten in den Kirchen zu bestatten. Die Sargbeschläge wurden dann an Holztafeln im Inneren der Kirche angebracht.

In der deutschen Vorkriegsliteratur erscheinen die Sargbeschläge nur selten. In vielen Fällen wies ihre Ausführung ein niedriges Niveau auf und sie stammten meistens aus einer Zeit, die im Augenblick der Inventarisierung nicht weit zurück gelegen war. In der polnischen Literatur blieben derartige Objekte, obwohl sie wahrgenommen wurden, kaum im Interessensbereich der Forscher und erschienen somit  nur gelegentlich. Die einzige längere Erwähnung der Sargbeschläge von Charbrow kann man in der Inventarisation von Hugo Lemcke  finden.

Es ist nicht gelungen, den Herstellungsort der Sargbeschläge von Charbrow festzustellen. Da sie ein hohes künstlerisches Niveau aufweisen, kann man lediglich vermuten, daß sie in Danzig bestellt worden waren, das noch im 18. Jahrhundert ein dynamisches  Handwerkszentrum war. Es ist zu bezweifeln, daß die mit einer derartigen Fertigkeit ausgeführten Objekte des Metallhandwerks in einem anderen Zentrum, wie etwa das nahe gelegene Lauenburg oder das etwas mehr entfernte Stolp, entstehen sein konnten. Es scheint um so weniger möglich, daß die östlichen Gebiete Hinterpommerns in der ersten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts unter dem Einfluß der Danziger Werkstätten standen, und daß es auf dem lokalen Markt an Handwerkern fehlte, die sich in der Metallbearbeitung spezialisiert hätten, vor allem in der Herstellung von Luxusgegenständen – und die Sargbeschläge zählen zweifelsohne dazu. Über ihre Hersteller in Danzig sind recht wenige Informationen erhalten geblieben. In den Danziger Archivalien aus den Jahren 1753-1782 wurden die Namen von Handwerkern gefunden, die sich mit ihrer Herstellung beschädigten. Sie gehörten der Zunft, die als „Riemer, Sattler und Gürtler Gewerk” bezeichnet wurde, an. Aufgrund einer Zusammenstellung aus dem Jahre 1763 wissen wir, daß sie außer den vergoldeten und versilberten Sargbeschlägen sowie der Sargausschmückung auch mindestens fünf Arten von Schmucknägeln, Möbelbeschläge, gegossene und versilberte Pferdegeschirrteile, Schnallen und versilberte Blaker herstellten.

This paper identifies Open Jazdów in Warsaw as a model for an alternative production of social space in contemporary urban environments. The attempt will be made to present co-management as a type of governance that enables city dwellers to actively participate in the decision-making processes that affect the common space.

The parishes from la Garrotxa manage to form a remarkable set of liturgical objects of gold and silver during the XVI and XVII centuries. Pastoral visits allow us to study their evolution and content, as well as being a stimulus for the recruitment of new pieces or their repair, which is sometimes recorded in local notaries. In this way we can establish a first list of goldsmiths and silverware that settle in Olot, for example, to meet the county demand.

Ján Szilassy (1704 – 1782) from Levoča is considered to be the most famous and most productive baroque goldsmith and enameller of Upper Hungary. Regarding the importance and number of his high quality preserved works, he was shown a  great interest from the researchers. In spite of that, an important aspect of his work remains omitted: the emblems applied on enamel medallions, which are a characteristic part of his rich gold production. The emblems that he often used, such as Latent res eximiae (Hidden is special), Non confractus non divisus (Unbroken and undivided) and Ut vit habeant (So that they may have life), can be found in the extended emblematic compendium of Symbolographia, sive de arte symbolica sermones septem (Augsburg and Dillingen, 1701) by the Jesuit Jakob Bosch (1652 – 1704). The unique emblem is the one depicting a man at the body of a dead lion, with bees flying out of its jaws. Its inscription, on the chalice from 1762 found in the eastern Slovak village of Kluknava, reads De forti dulcedo (Out of the strong came forth sweetness). The source for this emblem can be found in another significant book that is important for understanding the visual culture of the 17th and 18th centuries, in the Mundus Symbolicus (Cologne, 1681) written by Filippo Picinelli (1604 – 1667). The books help to explain the individual emblems and their link to the liturgical function of the goldsmith works. The applied emblems symbolically reminded and communicated the faith and dogma of the assembled Catholic Church community at the regular celebration of the Eucharist.

The article discusses the history of the Imperial Easter egg «Tsarevich» manufactured by Faberge on Easter 1912 for Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. The full text of the letter by Eugene Carlovich Faberge (1874–1960), the eldest son of Carl Fabergé, from the archives of Tatiana Fabergé (Geneva) is first published which indicates that the father asked him to give this egg to Emperor Nicholas II personally in Livadia. The letter was written in 1934 and addressed to H.Ch. Bainbridge, the head of the London branch, who collected materials for the biography of Carl Faberge. Eugene Faberge told interesting details about his journey to the Crimea and about the impression that the Easter masterpiece by Faberge produced upon the Emperor. Gratitude of the Emperor expressed to Carl Faberge reveals the confidential interpersonal relations between them which went beyond the ordinary relationship between seller and buyer. In the article the further history of the Easter egg «Tsarevich» is traced, estimation of the egg made by the Kremlin Armory in 1927 is critically analyzed, the role of A. Hammer in sale of this subject is discussed. The egg was sold to Mrs. Lillian Thomas Pratt, the wife of the Director of the American company «General Motors» who bequeathed it as part of her collection to Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia. The fact is specified that the genuine miniature of Tsarevich Alexis by miniature painter Vasilii Zuev was damaged more than 30 years ago and replaced with color photography. Questions are defined for further study of the history of the egg. The critical issue is detection of the cause which made for the concept of the egg in 1912. The article is intended for historians and art historians studying works by Faberge.

Who instigated the development of the production of silverwares in seventeenth-century Dublin: the city’s goldsmiths or their consumers?

This paper presents the burgeoning market for silver among consumers in early-seventeenth century Ireland as an essential socio-economic condition for encouraging the concerted development of the craft at this time. The paper will also show how the formation by the Dublin guild of goldsmiths of the Company of Goldsmiths of Dublin in 1637 and, with it, the timely regulation of their craft, brought immigrant craftsmen to the capital, cultivating an environment in which the quality of silver produced was regarded to be ‘as good and ffyne as any plate of London towche’. A consumer society was well-established in seventeenth-century Ireland and the period witnessed the growing appetite for imported and domestically-manufactured luxury wares among the country’s elite. This is particularly apparent with the evidence relating to the consumption of silver; seventeenth-century Irish consumers sourced their domestic silverwares from local and international goldsmiths alike. As the century progressed, the increasing volume of silver produced and acquired in Ireland by Irish consumers was mirrored by the exponentially expanding numbers of goldsmiths operating in Dublin and in other regional centres. Balancing case-study evidence relating to individual goldsmiths and their patrons with quantitative analysis demonstrating the craft’s growth and expansion, this paper examines the multiple and complementary factors informing the production of silver in early-modern Ireland.

Cet ouvrage rassemble quinze articles explorant les deux aspects, distincts mais imbriqués, de la fabrication et de la réception des œuvres d’orfèvrerie à l’époque gothique. Embrassant la période qui va du début du XIIIe au début du XVIe siècle, ces études s’appuient tant sur les œuvres elles-mêmes, qu’elles soient célèbres ou peu connues, que sur les sources écrites afin d’éclairer, sur un espace qui s’étend de l’Angleterre à Chypre et de la Catalogne à Prague, les attentes des commanditaires, le goût des élites, les usages de l’orfèvrerie sacrée ou profane, leur rôle respectif dans la mise en scène du pouvoir, la circulation des produits de luxe, les conditions de travail des orfèvres, l’organisation des ateliers… Par la variété des auteurs (chercheurs jeunes ou confirmés, appartenant tant au monde des musées qu’à celui de l’Université), de leurs questionnements et de leurs choix de méthode, ce recueil s’inscrit dans un renouveau des études sur les arts précieux qu’il espère ainsi conforter.

This study is devoted to the emotional experience of the famous Renaissance sculptor, goldsmith, and writer, Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571), as it is portrayed in his life writing, the Vita. Providing the variety of arguments on the connection between the artist and contemporary intellectuals, who attended the Florentine Academy (1540–1583) together, I demonstrate that Cellini’s literary production can be examined productively against the background of Neoplatonic thought. In particular, Marsilio Ficino’s On Love, first published in the vernacular Italian in 1544, helps to establish an explanation of what Cellini meant when he decided to play the cornet while falling in love simultaneously with a young boy and girl, or  how he justified kicking or punching his servants, or why he did not kill his adversary, the artist Baccio Bandinelli, when he had the chance. These cases of radical affectivity are inscribed into Ficino’s concept of the “melancholy genius” manifesting melancholic madness. In Cellini’s Vita, the latter can not only turn humans almost into beast, literally (for example, in a bat); but, properly tempered by the means of music and poetry, as well as of individual and collective magic, it elevates one’s soul “on high,” which corresponds to the Neoplatonic concept of divine madness.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1.  Benvenuto Cellini and the Florentine Academy
1.1 Why did the Italian academies emerge?
1.2 Academic movement before the Florentine Academy
1.3 The Florentine Academy
1.4 Benvenuto Cellini’s writings in the context of the Florentine Academy
Chapter 2.  “Essendo io per natura malinconico”: Benvenuto Cellini and the Ficinian Legacy
2.1 “Grand theories” and “grounded” early-modern artists
2.2 Marsilio Ficino’s On Love
2.3 “Melancholy genius” concept
2.4 (Neo)Platonic love
Chapter 3.  “Tu ten sei gito a contemplar su ’n Cielo l’alto Fattore”: Benvenuto Cellini Ascending on High
3.1 Esoteric knowledge and censorship
3.2 “Furor divino” and “diabolico furore”
3.3 Different kinds of furor divino in the Vita
Conclusion

The history of electronic dance music is a long and colourful continuum. Since its inception in the underground house, garage and disco scenes of Chicago and New York, it has developed an ever-increasing matrix of techno-tools and cultural manifestos. It has inspired competing and collaborating worlds of gadgets, gizmos and garments; circuit boards, synthesisers and electronic drum patterns. Rave, its enfant terrible, now stands as a global phenomenon. Born in colloquial terms in the United Kingdom during the Second Summer of Love (1988 – 1989), the cultural significance of rave has oscillated from counter-cultural ekstasis to humdrum corporate leisure-activity. Yet, despite its pre-88 genealogy and current state of techno-globalism, it was specifically the UK Rave scene of the late 80s and early 90s which fuelled the tsunami of electronic dance music that soon swept the world. Attuned to these brief and emphatic years (1988 – 1994), the purpose of this dissertation will be to critically analyse the social and experiential history of UK Rave through the current ecological discourse of Dark Ecology. Published in 2016 by philosopher and ecologist Timothy Morton, Dark Ecology is a bold manifesto for a new form of ecological awareness—or ecognosis—heralded by the urgency of our contemporary geological era – The Anthropocene. Faced with objects so far beyond the limits of human epistemology, the primary task of this new ecognosis is the ontological restructuring of human and non-human relations, or the radicalisation of post-Kantian philosophy toward a weird metaphysical realism. Moving beyond straightforward environmentalism to the corollary proposition of an 'Ecology without Nature', I will look to the work of Morton, supported by further engagement and comparison with the writings Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, to argue that the heyday of UK Rave culture is in many aspects better understood through the concept of Dark Ecology: as the dismantling of post-Kantian correlationism and the opening up of human experience to a truly symbiotic ecological awareness. Furthermore, I will argue that the countercultural phenomenon of UK Rave is thus less a question of social escapism and rather a positive drive towards this new ecognosis. A will to both access and be accessed.

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1. Bevezetés: a kincs előkerülési helye, előkerülési körülményei és kutatástörténete 1.1. Miske Kálmán és a helyszín Az Alpok keleti nyúlványát jelentő velemi Szent Vid hegy szűkebb környezetét az utóbbi másfél évtized topográfi ai kutatásainak 1 köszönhetően árnyaltabban ismerjük, mint korábban (1-2. ábra). Itt, a Gyöngyös-patak völgyét követő, ún. Borostyánkő úttól nem túl távoli, arra jó rálátást biztosító hegyen (10. ábra 1.) számos kincs került elő. Számbavételükre és azonosításukra ez ideig többen tettek kísérletet, 2 de a valódi és véglegeshez közeli megoldás -véleményem szerintmég várat magára. A kincsek egy része röviddel megtalálásukat követően "újrahasznosításra", azaz beolvasztásra került (pl. Pfi stermeister kőszegi harangöntő műhelyében) 3 vagy elkallódott, másik része magángyűjteményekbe (Széchenyi Rezső, Miske Kálmán 4 ) vagy külföldi közgyűjteményekbe (Graz, Bécs 5 ) vándorolt, ugyanis a találók eladták azokat. Kisebb részük a szombathelyi székhelyű, hajdani Vasvármegyei Múzeumba került, amelynek jogutódja ma a Savaria Múzeum, de jutott a Magyar Nemzeti Múzeumba is. 6 E könyvecskében a depók közül eggyel, az aranykinccsel foglalkozom; ezt báró Miske Kálmán 1929. évi régészeti feltárásán találták. Mielőtt azonban az aranytárgyak előkerülési helyét és feltárási körülményeit megismernénk, szeretném röviden bemutatni Miske Kálmán (6. ábra 1.) és a velemi Szent Vid hegy régészeti lelőhelyének kapcsolatát.

Диссертация представляет собой первое исследование иконных окладов с фигуративными изображениями середины XVI – первого десятилетия XVII века, выполненных в кремлевских мастерских. В работе впервые суммируется и систематизируется весь существующий материал, который дополняется сведениями о несохранившихся украшенных иконах. Ранее эти памятники не были рассмотрены как единое художественное явление с присущими ему характерными особенностями. Выделяются композиционные и стилистические изменения, которые произошли в этом виде искусства с середины XVI века по начало XVII столетия. Некоторые из произведений впервые вводятся в научный оборот; в ряде случаев благодаря натурным исследованиям удалось уточнить атрибуцию памятников. Изучение стиля, иконографии, технико-технологических особенностей позволило внести коррективы в датировки. Проанализирована роль заказчиков в создании иконографических программ окладов, а также распространение патрональных изображений на различных частях драгоценного убора. Впервые памятники московского ювелирного искусства сопоставляются с произведениями европейского прикладного искусства по целому ряду параметров (орнаментика, типология, технология). На основании художественных и технологических особенностей прослеживается работа европейских и восточных ювелиров при царском дворе. Памятники, отличающиеся от произведений других стран православного мира драгоценностью материалов и сложностью исполнения, рассматриваются как особая линия поствизантийской традиции.

Artículo sobre los objetos de platería y joyería del Santuario de Illescas, Toledo, en la publicación colectiva La Caridad reina. 50 años de la Coronación canónica de la Virgen de la Caridad, Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad de Illescas, 2005, pp. 41-47

Count Pere II d’Urgell (ca. 1339/1343-1408) is one of the most outstanding artistic promoters of the gothic centuries. He, along with his wife, Margarida de Monferrato (1364-1420), set in motion an artistic policy that was developed in different fields, the maximum exponent of which is the renovation of the residence that the counts had in Balaguer, the so-called Castell Formós. Throughout his life Pere and Margarida showed a special interest in jewels and luxury objects, which on some occasions were given as a present to churches and religious centers as an example of piety and magnificence. It could be the case of the pastiglia casket from Santa Maria de Bellpuig de les Avellanes (Museu de Lleida: diocesà i comarcal), which contained an important relic, the Santa Sandàlia (Holy Slipper) of the Virgin, which in this study we present as a possible donation of the counts to this monastery. The same goes for an enamelled ciborium, of great quality and with the mark of Barcelona, preserved in the Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg, Russia), which has at the base the double heraldry of Count Pere. We do not know its origin, but it is feasible that this luxurious object was a present of the count to one of the churches located within its domains.

The task is to investigate the genesis and implementation of Art Nouveau in the works by the world-famous jewelry firm of Fabergé. Actuality of the problem is caused by appearance and accumulation of a huge amount of Faberge articles in antique market and in collections, the need for theoretical reasoning of stylistic features, elimination of differences in terminology between foreign and domestic researchers, differentiation of definitions of modern style and solution of the problem of genesis of Neo-Russian style in the work of artists and masters of the firm of Faberge. Main monographs and catalogues of exhibitions for more than 60 years have been studied, masters of the firm who worked in modern style have been determined, biographies of jeweler Victor Aarne who was named «our Lalique» and Moscow enamel master Fyodor Ryukert are specified. It is established that in general the share of items made in Art Nouveau and Neo-Russian style is at least 5%, but for the diamond group – at least 25%, in the work of V. Aarne – not less than 20% and in the production of Fyodor Ryukert's workshop – at least 30%. The artists-composers (designers) who created the designs in these styles were determined, and period of their active functioning for branches in Saint Petersburg and Moscow was defined. This period does not coincide with periodization of architectural modern in both capitals. The influence of customers from privileged classes on creative decisions of designers was revealed. Items in the newest styles were not subject to replication. The article is intended for historians of jewelry art, antique dealers and art lovers.



Поставлена задача исследовать генезис и реализацию стиля модерн в продукции всемирно известной ювелирной фирмы Фаберже. Актуальность проблемы обусловлена появлением и накоплением громадного массива изделий Фаберже на антикварном рынке и в коллекциях, необходимостью теоретического обоснования стилистических признаков, устранения разногласий в терминологии зарубежных и отечественных исследователей, дифференциации определений модерна и решения проблемы генезиса неорусского стиля в творчестве художников и мастеров фирмы Фаберже. Проработаны основные монографии и каталоги выставок за период более чем 60 лет, определены мастера формы, работавшие в стиле модерн, уточнены биографии ювелира Виктора Аарне, которого в фирме называли «наш Лалик» и московского мастера – живописца по эмали Федора Рюкерта. Установлено, что в целом доля изделий в стиле модерн и неорусском стиле составляет не менее 5%, но по бриллиантовой группе – не менее 25%, в творчестве В. Аарне не менее 20%, а в продукции мастерской Федора Рюкерта – не менее 30%. Определены художники-композиторы (дизайнеры), создававшие проекты в этих стилях, и определены временные границы активного функционирования для петербургского и московского отделений во времени. Эти границы не совпадают с периодизацией архитектурного модерна в обеих столицах. Выявлено влияние заказчиков-клиентов из привилегированных классов на творческие решения дизайнеров. Изделия в новейшем стиле не предполагали тиражности. Статья предназначена историкам ювелирного искусства, антикварам и любителям искусства.

La conquista romana del Mediterráneo oriental y de Egipto amplió los horizontes de los mercaderes ítalo-romanos como nunca antes. A los pocos años de ocupar el territorio, eran cientos las caravanas y barcos que partían anualmente hacia la India y el lejano Oriente desde las ciudades y puertos ubicados en los límites del Imperio romano. Será con Augusto cuando se sienten las bases de un mercado cada vez más globalizado, permitiendo la libre circulación de los productos más deseados por las élites urbanas de la metrópolis romana.
Esta investigación aborda mediante el análisis epigráfico de más de doscientas inscripciones funerarias quienes fueron los personajes ligados al comercio y fabricación de joyas, vestidos, tintes y ungüentos en la ciudad de Roma. Estos productos se comercializaron entre la élite de la capital y entre los consumidores selectivos que emulaban la conducta de la aristocracia romana. El marco cronológico de estudio comprende la etapa que va desde finales del periodo republicano a finales del siglo tercero d.C. Y es precisamente el momento
relacionado con el cambio de era y el primer siglo d.C. cuando se ha podido relacionar cronológicamente un mayor número de inscripciones. A su vez, poder identificar la localización de sus tiendas o talleres nos ha permitido conocer de primera mano los diversos cambios en la topografía urbana de la ciudad.
Asimismo, con el objetivo de conocer los lugares de producción o extracción de estos bienes de carácter suntuarios se han descrito las diferentes rutas intercontinentales de aprovisionamiento de estos productos. En este punto, el análisis de los diferentes agentes
implicados en este comercio permite conocer las diferentes áreas de actuación, cuáles fueron los mercados más visitados y cuál fue el rol que jugó cada una de las potencias implicadas en este intercambio. Para ello se ha estudiado cuál fue el marco común de entendimiento para establecer estas relaciones.
Los resultados obtenidos han permitido ampliar la descripción tenida hasta ahora sobre un comercio tan selecto, así como proponer nuevas hipótesis interpretativas del tema.

English:
nunc patimur longae pacis mala, saevior armis
luxuria incubuit victumque ulciscitur orbem
(JUVENAL. SAT. II, 6, 292-297)

With these words the Roman author Juvenal evokes the evils associated with unbridled lust which had pushed Rome after the conquest of the so far known world. In this sense, the conquest of the Eastern Mediterranean and the annexation of Egypt under direct control by Rome resulted in the restoration and improvement of trade routes to the East, place of origin of most luxury goods markets as valued in Rome.
As part of our thesis about the luxury trade in the city of Rome during the Early Roman Empire, where we look specifically at luxury products, we wish to introduce how new access to these goods sparked a change in Roman society. In this respect, thanks to the study of lapidary inscriptions related with actors linked to the development and sale of
exotic products can be examined a series of changes that occurred from the new Roman state-run establishment under the principality of Augustus. The classical tradition will oppose a new order marked by the Roman elites demand for expensive products, creating fashions and customs unexplored to date, trying to slow it down with the
enactment of laws against excess and access.
These changes will be accompanied by other observable also in this work, highlighting, the emergence of new commercial characters and their existential increase in Rome: margaritarii, coronarii, vascularii, vestiarii, etc. In this process, indirectly new terms will be minted for defining new jobs and others will vary depending on use. Also, there
is a growing desire to show the life and personal work on the tombstones, making clear a new cultural fashion. Finally, this cultural transformation will extend to an urban modification of the Urbs, lifting exclusive spaces for the purchase and sale of these products

Il presente lavoro, incentrato sulla storia del lavoro e dei lavoratori nel mondo romano, si propone di ricostruire, attraverso l'epigrafia monumentale, l'identità e il profilo socio-economico di alcuni individui vissuti a Mutina o nel suo ager in età tardorepubblicana e altoimperiale. Si tratta di alcuni uomini e una donna le cui iscrizioni, di natura prevalentemente funeraria, ricordano diverse figure professionali: un aurifex, un copo,  un medicus, un negotians lanarius, un praeceptor, un tonsor, diversi vestiarii, un vicesimarius, un possibile unctor e una vilica. Nel testo si formulano inoltre alcune ipotesi in merito alle funzioni esercitate in ambito domestico dai cosiddetti "delicia" o "pueri delicati"; vengono infine analizzati i tre gentilizi di derivazione professionale finora attestati nel Modenese: Aerarius, Aurarius e Purpurarius. Quest'ultimo nome, in particolare, fino a oggi sembrerebbe attestato esclusivamente nella colonia di Mutina e nel suo ager.

Tra i materiali recuperati dalle rovine della città romana di Emona, situata sulla riva sinistra del fiume Ljubljanica nel luogo dell'odierna Ljubljana in Slovenia centrale, appare un curioso oggetto in bronzo, finora inedito ( . Esso è conservato nel Museo Nazionale della Slovenia a Ljubljana (n. inv. R 10731) ed è composto da due parti. Una placca leggermente concava di dimensioni 3,2 x 3,1 cm è appoggiata su una parte verticale. La placca ha forma quadrangolare con i lati concavi e gli angoli a forma di foglia. La parte verticale, massiccia e di forma ovale, reca al centro un foro irregolare. Il suo perimetro è piano nella parte opposta alla placca quadrangolare, mentre a sinistra e a destra dell'appiattimento è scanalato.

This article is concerned with a conspicuous number of reliquaries and other liturgical vessels produced in Venice during the 14th and 15th century. It aims to show the importance of the ornamental apparatus for fully understanding this type of medieval goldsmith's works. Several decorative patterns and techniques are taken into consideration, such as filigree, openwork, opus punctile, and filigree enamel. The study of these elements can shed light on artefact's technical, material and symbolic aspects as well as help tracing analogies and relationships between different pieces of goldsmithwork, and between precious artefacts and other artistic media, especially painting and sculpture. This article deals also with workshop's practices, and presents factual and documentary evidence about commissioning and making reliquaries and liturgical vessels, among these the Reliquary of St Stephen in the church of Santo Stefano, a chalice and the Reliquary of St Pantaleon in the homonym church in Venice, and objects generally described as opus duplex.

Although the presence of gold and silver smiths at central places is revealed by drops of metal, crucibles, etc., actual workshops are difficult to identify. This is partly due to the large size of the sites, of which just small areas have been excavated, and partly due to the fact that only preliminary results have yet been published. Possible workshops have been identified at Gudme and Lundeborg, while ‘Grubenhäuser’ (pit houses) with positive evidence of workshop activities have been found at smaller sites like Kværndrup and Torstorp Vesterby. Smiths who worked with gold and silver were most likely also skilled in working with bronze and iron.

plete, grazie alla quale «on pouvait étudier [...] les phases principales du grand art de l'émaillerie» 79 , e lo stesso collezionista aveva generosamente contribuito con una vasta scelta di opere anche alla mostra Musée retrospectif di Parigi del 1865 80 , dove figurarono due smalti de plique. Si trattava di una «plaque quadrilobée représentant des fleurons de couleur sur fond vert. Émail cloisonné en or» 81 e di un «chapeau d'orfèvrerie, soit pour garnir un chef reliquaire, soit un bonnet. Émaux translucides et pierreries montées sur des chatons polylobés. Argent doré. Travail italien (?)» 82. Entrambe le opere dovettero impressionare i visitatori per la loro rarità tanto che Darcel scriveva: Les émaux translucides, cloisonnés en or, furent fabriqués en Occident pendant tout le moyen âge, comme nous le prouve une petite plaque à quatre lobes appartenant à M. Germeau, décorée de fleurons symétriques formés de feuilles bleues, rouges ou vertes, épanouies à l'extrémité de longues tiges d'or sur un fond vert. Or le dessin de ces feuilles est celui qu'affectionnait notre XIII e siècle. D'autres petits émaux sertis dans les hauts chatons coniques d'un chapeau d'orfèvrerie, que nous trouvons dans la même collection, nous semblent appartenir au XIV e siècle 83 .

A study on the last phase of Giuseppe Valadier's activity, through the analysis of the baptismal font and the Custody of the Sacred Cradle of the papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

Sante Guido, " L'ultimo Valadier: il fonte battesimale della Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore e annotazioni sulla «Custodia della Sacra Culla", OADI - Rivista dell'Osservatorio per le Arti Decorative in Italia, n°21, giugno 2020.
https://www1.unipa.it/oadi/oadiriv/
Uno studio sull’ultima fase dell’attività di Giuseppe Valadier, attraverso l’analisi del fonte battesimale e della Custodia della Sacra Culla della Basilica papale di Santa Maria Maggiore a Roma.

The article deals with an unpublished reliquary of St George the New Martyr of Sofia, which belonged to the collection of Kremikovtsi Мonastery. It is mentioned in several publications from the late 19th century until the middle of the 20th century, which, however, were focused mostly on the history of the monastery itself, rather than on the object or relics. These publications provide a brief information on the form of the reliquary, but not very precise. It is described as either a gilded silver reliquary from the end of 16th century, which was renovated in the beginning of 19th century, or a wooden box covered with leather binding like a book, in which is placed the reliquary from the 16th century covered with silver plaque from the 19th century. They also reveal that the reliquary contains a fragment from the arm of the saint. In fact, the reliquary of St George the New Martyr of Sofia does not contain a fragment from the arm, but from the upper part of the femur. The relics are enclosed in wooden rectangular box covered with blind-stamped leather binding, which could be dated to the 18th century. Another uncommon point in the decoration is the decorative paper glued to the bottom of the wooden box. On the inner side of the lid of the box is glued an engraving of St George Slaying the Dragon. This engraving probably belongs to the Russian graphic art from 17th–19th century, known as lubok. A small silver reliquary dated to 1593 is attached to the bone of the St George the New Martyr of Sofia thus continuing the Byzantine and Late Byzantine tradition. The bone and its simple reliquary are covered by gilded silver plaque from 1804. According to the features of the different parts of the reliquary, it seems that it is assembled at the beginning of 19th century by the abbot of Kremikovtsi Monastery named Christopher. The form of reliquary box as a book is very rare in Bulgaria. There are known just few similar reliquaries from the collection of Rila Monastery, but they were used as taxidiotе boxes. The formal similarities do not allow to define the reliquary of St George the New Martyr of Sofia as an example for such a taxidiotе box. Inscriptions placed on the present reliquary have the essential role in providing crucial information about its possible function. They play major part in the “decorative program” of reliquary, i.e. they have underlined its representative function. On the contrary, the inscriptions attached to the so-called taxidiotе boxes have a secondary place.

The study shows a list of marks used in XIX century by the goldsmiths of Como and its district. Marks have been collected from documents delivered to local administration and, until now, have been found only on little objects reserved to a widespread trade.
This catalogue of marks will allow us to ascribe precious artifacts to their makers, so we’ll can better understand and describe the work of local workshops.

The Crux Vaticana or Cross of Justin II
The Crux Vaticana and ‘Byzantine’ Rome
The Crux Vaticana, the reliquary-cross of the passion of Our Lord, is as much a celebrated object as it is an enigmatic one. Its long-awaited restoration has finally allowed us to obtain a clear idea of its original state and subsequent alterations. Evidently a work of imperial patronage - from its ostentatious text which records the pious gift of the emperor Justin and his consort, as well as their images (significantly in the gesture of prayer) - we can consequently date the object (565-578) and define its place (Constantinople). It is a key work of reference among the silver objects produced in Byzantium in the 6th c., especially in the context of their often controversial attribution to Costantinople or Syria. Even if some of its iconographic choices (e.g. the duplication of the image of Christ, or the imperial garb) and stylistic comparisons with this work may still cause controversy, its genuine nature can no longer be denied.
The Cross was sent by the imperial couple to Rome, the city of the martyrs, whose most recent works of religious patronage had aligned it appropriately with the empire’s new capital. These monuments and the Crux Vaticana still testify powerfully today both to the links between Rome and Costantinople and to the faith of this pious emperor and of his wife.
The Crux Vaticana or Cross of Justin II
New data and technical observations emerging from restoration operations

The Crux Vaticana, a prestigious testimony to the skills of the Byzantine goldsmiths kept in the Treasury Museum of Saint Peter’s Basilica, represents a rare example of imperial patronage still in existence. Thanks to the preliminary phase of studies and to the subsequent works of recent restoration, the lively debate over its original consistency and the authenticity of the cross is today met by convincing responses and new certainties about its modification and substitution. Furthermore, on the basis of prime documents and images and following valuations of the materials that constitute the cross and its decorative elements, it has been possible to reattach the lost crown of pearls around the reliquary and add once again single pearls on its front, in an act of partial restoration. Whilst respecting the balance between original appearance and historical manipulation, this act helps us to better perceive the harmonious composition of the significant sequence of gemstones which are placed in a precisely alternating chromatic sequence.
The Crux Vaticana or Cross of Justin II
A Latin inscription carved in Constantinople

The inscription on the Crux Vatican qualifies the object as a donation to the city of Rome from the emperor Justin II and his wife Sophia, rightly mentioned as partner. The use of the Latin language, known in Constantinople well into the period of late antiquity, and the uncial style of writing “of type b”, adopted for the legendary Byzantine coin, prove the substantial authenticity of the cross, which, before becoming part of the Treasury of Saint Peters, was perhaps kept at least initially in the church of Santa Maria Antiqua, a palatine chapel in Rome dating to the time of the Byzantine duchy.

This paper deals with two unpublished reliquaries from the Troyan monastery collection, which contain the relics of St. Januarius and St. Theodore Stratelates. They both are hand-shaped, which makes them extremely rare among the other reliquaries in the context of sacral goldsmithing in Balkans. Many questions, however, on their origin, penetration, development and function in the Balkans remain unanswered and every new material would shed more light on the matter. Hand- or arm-shaped reliquaries are determined as an emblem of Western Medieval period because of their popularity in Catholic Europe, but also in territories under high Catholic influence. On the Balkans, those are the cities on the Adriatic coast, where arm reliquaries are kept, dated to the end of 11th and first decades of 12th century. The earliest known arm reliquaries in Orthodox sphere are produced by Wallahian goldsmiths in 17th century. During the 18th and 19th century the hand-shaped reliquaries reproduced most often the shape of votive hands, are found in monasteries in Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo, as well as the monasteries of Athos. The latter, however, are the place, where western catholic tradition was transformed and from where distributed in the central Balkans.