Table brazier, without plate, on three legs in cast and chiseled silver. It has a simple rim composed of a circular ring. The body of the recipient for the hot coals, spherical and bulbous in shape, has a concave-convex undulating contour which narrows at its lower part into a truncated cone to finish with a flat and snubbed bottom sinking towards the inside. The cleanness of the ornamentation and the smooth and polished surfaces highlight the elegance of the design (in tune with ornamental contention and purity of forms that are proclaimed by the neoclassical style), whose only adornment is comprised by the s in the form of mermaids or female caryatids, with sectioned arms and tail in the form of opposing, double C-shaped braces.

As mentioned, this tripod brazier model without embellishments became fashionable among Mexican silversmiths in the 1760s. Esteras dates it around 1765, an example from a private collection made by Cristobal Nunez Marradon, and stamped by the assayer Gonzalez de la Cueva [1] with the same type of bowl with a sinuous profile as the brazier of the Amparo Museum. Another incense burner made around 1852 by the silversmith Eduardo L'Enfer in Puebla [2] evidences the longevity of the bowl's design until at least mid-nineteenth century.       

Compared to known models, this type of fantastic , instead of the usual clawed or brace feet, is the element that affords such originality to the piece. Heir of the Hermes, anthropomorphic endings or pilasters of mannerist lineage, this monstrous figure (occasionally called bichas), humanized upper half with a geometric lower half, had great impact and was widely used in the silver foundries of the viceregal capital, as well as in Puebla de los Angeles, starting from the seventeenth century. Originally a holding or ing element, it appears to fulfill the purpose of the handles of ewer jars and tankards, cruet decanters, small silver boxes[3], knots and handles of monstrances, attachment hooks for votive lamps, s for chandeliers, or as anthropomorphic s in the form of feet for dishes, saucers or braziers, as in this case.

A small chisel mark outside the base of the recipient indicates that the piece was tested to check the quality of the metal. Although blurred and indistinct, its triple marking system makes it much easier to estimate the date of execution. Stamped during his incumbency by the great assayer Jose Antonio Lince, who used different personal, location and taxation variants during his term in office (1779-1788), his expression, under the abbreviated form in the first case (LNC ), M under a crown with three points, combined with the initial letter and no columns, for the seal of the place of origin, and an eagle in flight within a sunken with crimped corners as a tax stamp, these coincide with the stamps held by a private Mexican collection dated to 1786 [4], which is why we propose a similar date for this Amparo Museum piece. However, the lack of artist's stamp prevents us from knowing the craftsman's name.

[1]. Cf. Esteras Martin, 1989: pages 294-295, nº 84.

[2]. Cf. Anderson, 1941, II: fig. 167.

[3.] Cf. Esteras Martin, 1989:  pages 260-261, nº 67.

[4]. Esteras Martin, 1992: page 56, nº 149.

Sources:

Anderson, Lawrence, El arte de la plateria en Mexico, 1519-1936, New York, Oxford University, 1941.

Esteras Martin, Cristina, La plateria del Museo Franz Mayer. Obras escogidas.  Siglos XVI-XIX . Mexico, Franz Meyer Museum, 1992.

_____, “Plateria virreinal novohispana. Siglos XVI-XIX”, in El arte de la plateria mexicana. 500 años. Mexico, Cultural Center for Contemporary Art, 1989, pages 79-406.