Large Reliquary In Double-sided Silver Filigree From The End Of The 17th Century In Spain

Of Etruscan birth, the art of filigree spread throughout the Mediterranean basin and even became a specialty among the Baoulé in Africa: it involves thin silver or gold threads, twisted, rolled up and welded together to create a fine lace likely to constitute an adornment, here, a devotional object to adorn a sanctuary (support ring) or travel in a case. The work is admirable and so is its content: on one side a bouquet of lilies and flower buds surrounded by a wreath of colored stones around a small parchment marked "philum VM", on the other a wreath of paperolles of flowers of lilies and windings which framed a virgin with the child, missing but whose silhouette is still visible. Spanish work from the end of the 17th century in good condition, given the age and finesse of the work; gross weight 202 g.