Recipient with a globular, ovoid body with a bulbous shape on which a vertical edge is raised in the shape of a ring. Side handles in the shape of the number seven and a dome-shaped lid, with a concave-convex curved outline. It is rounded off with a small inverted truncated cone cupola, covered by an overhanging, semi-spherical segmented cap and a spiral scalloped dial on top. A square-shaped base s a cylindrical plinth. A truncated cone ring is set against another upper body with a similar, but inverted, profile, both separated by a neck with a torus crowned with a scalloped top similar to that of the lid finish.
It is a notable piece that reproduces a typology of which there are few examples. The model, inspired by the ancient Greco-Roman cups, became popular among craftsmen who worked in the capital during the nineteenth century, which at the same time reflected the French and Adam-style designs with their characteristic ornamentation. Vessel pieces were made with the same shape for different uses and sizes according to the "Tolsa style" (sauce boats, spice racks, dessert dishes, sugar bowls and salt shakers), as well as burners to hold incense in the liturgical silverware[1], similar to the decoration of kraters, amphoras and censers displayed on the contemporary civil and religious furniture. The handle cast at an angle, unlike the typified curved linear models, distinguishes this tureen, as does its decoration, which sets it apart from the clean and unadorned nature of other pieces of the same type. Taken from the classic ancient times, its ornamental repertoire includes original themes that, as well as the segmented eaves, displays meander borders or edges with intertwined circles and roses engraved in the bottom edges and on the edge of the recipient, as well as lanceolate leaves in a circular arrangement on the base, in the lower third of the tureen and distributed in two orders, separated by a line of pearls on the lid.
This hammered work is of extra interest because of its unique marking. With the exception of the artist's stamp (the absence of which prevents us from recognizing its crafter), it presents, as well as the corresponding engravings on the inside of the base and lid, three obligatory marks of the assayer Jose Joaquin Davila, grouped on the base and lid: his personal mark in the center (DVLA) accompanied by his location mark on the right (o/M within his own profile) and tax stamp on the left. This last mark differs from the stamp he used for the same purpose in the pieces for which he was known (lion rampant), using instead the eagle in a semicircular coffer that must have been first used by his successor Buitron, still without turning the head towards the left, a variation introduced since the Independence. The location mark also appears here, for the first time, according to the expression without crown that identifies the republican period, abolished by its monarchical and colonial connotations[2]. Although it is thought that the assayer Cayetano Buitron (1823-1843) was the first to assume this change as a result of the proclamation of the republic in 1824[3], the piece from the Amparo Museum is of special interest as it shows that it had already been used by his predecessor some years earlier. As Jose Joaquin Davila held his position between 1819 and 1823, the chronology of the work is set in specific years, from 1821, when the Independence was consummated, until the end of his role in 1823.
[1]. Cf. Valle-Arizpe, 1941: fig. 118. I, 124. II; Anderson, 1941, II: fig. 30, 47, 49, 50 and 132; Esteras Martin, 1986: page 114, nº 61; 1992: pages 265-267, nº 104; 284-285, nº 115, and pages 292-293, nº 121; and 1993-1994: pages 50-51; and AA VV, 1994: page 80, nº 170, page 103, nº 218, and page 214, nº 253; and New Spain silverware, 1994: pages 52-53.
[2]. In the other work that are known to be marked by the same assayer, Davila uses the New Spain location stamp with the royal crown accompanies by the rampant lion as a tax stamp. Cf. Esteras Martin, 1992a: page 84, nº 214-216.
[3]. Anderson, 1941, I: page 341-342 and 348-349; and Esteras Martin, 1992ª: page XXIII and 85-90, nº 217-233.
Sources:
AA VV, La Plateria Mexicana, Mexico, INAH, 1994.
Anderson, Lawrence, El arte de la plateria en Mexico, 1519-1936, New York, Oxford University, 1941.
Esteras Martin, Cristina, Orfebreria hispanoamericana. Siglos XVI-XIX. Obras civiles y religiosas en templos, museos y colecciones españolas, Madrid, Instituto de Cooperacion Iberoamericana, 1986.
_____, La plateria del Museo Franz Mayer. Obras escogidas. Siglos XVI-XIX. Mexico, Franz Meyer Museum, 1992.
_____, “Plata labrada mexicana en España. Arte, devoción y triunfo social” in Tesoros de Mexico en España, Artes de Mexico, nº 22, Mexico, 1993-1994, pages 40-51.
_____, Marcas de plateria hispanoamericana. Siglos XVI-XX, Madrid, Ediciones Tuero, 1992a.
Plateria novohispana (1600-1830), Madrid, Arte Europeo Exposiciones, 1994.
Valle Arizpe, Artemio de, Notas de Plateria, Mexico, Polis, 1941.
