Spanish Colonial Peruvian Silver Mug | Paneled Body, Engraved Vine Leaves

South America, Peru, Spanish Colonial. A hand-raised silver drinking mug, tested at about 86% fineness. The body tapers gently from the mouth down to the foot. Shallow vertical panels with arched tops run up the walls, so the surface ripples with light as the cup turns. Above each arch the silversmith engraved a single vine leaf, its veins cut crisply and its lobes curled back with a quick, sure line. Another leaf is engraved inside, just below the lip, where only the drinker would see it. A band of tiny leaves runs around the rim and is repeated on the slightly flared foot. A slender scroll handle ends in a curled thumb rest. A worn mark on the interior may read "de plata" ("of silver"), though it is too rubbed to read with confidence. Peru was the silver capital of the Spanish empire. Ore from Potosi in Upper Peru (now Bolivia) and from many smaller Andean mines supplied the royal mints and also a large community of silversmiths, or plateros, in Lima, Cuzco, Arequipa, and the provincial towns. In homes of even modest wealth in the viceroyalty, silver was everyday tableware, not just display plate. Mugs, beakers, bowls, and basins were made in quantity and used daily. By law, worked silver had to be assayed and taxed, with the king's share known as the quinto real, and then struck with official marks. In practice much Peruvian silver escaped the assay office and carries no mark at all. Pieces that are marked often bear informal or local stamps rather than the full official set, so a worn interior inscription like the one on this cup belongs to that irregular, very Andean practice. The fineness of about 86% also falls somewhat below the official Spanish standard for worked silver (11 dineros, roughly 91.7%). Variable alloys like this are common in colonial Peruvian silver that never passed through an official assay. The form itself is European: a tapering mug with a scroll handle and bands of foliate ornament at rim and foot. The single engraved leaf set above each arched panel, however, has the open, freehand quality that sets Andean workshop engraving apart from the denser ornament of contemporary Iberian silver. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 205501

Estimation:€536.52

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