Title

Chalice

Anónimo procedente de Castilla y León

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

This exquisite piece, typical of the silver work of the first half of the 16th century, offers traces of its possible origin in Castile and Leon. Although it is not known who the master assayer was, Ada Marshall Johnson (1944) maintains that the silversmith came from Segovia, since the mark on the chalice shows a small aqueduct next to the letter "C", an initial, perhaps alluding to the name of the master. It is unknown when the piece may have left Segovia, but it ended up in the hands of the Russian ambassador Dimitri Schevitch at the end of the 19th century. During his stay as ambassador in Madrid, Schevitz became friends with very prominent figures of the time, such as the Count of Valencia de Don Juan. Undoubtedly, one of the hobbies they had in common was their facet as collectors.

Schevitch acquired numerous pieces of Spanish art between 1896-1905. Thanks to his diplomatic contacts he was able to acquire works of great value, such as this chalice. However, in 1905 he had to leave Madrid for St. Petersburg. His wife and daughter decided to move to Versailles, where Schevitch went in 1906 to sell his collection. It was sold at the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris on April 4-7, 1906. We know that the chalice was auctioned at this time, as it is mentioned in the gallery's catalog(no. 88): "Calice, argent repoussé, ciselé et doré. Art espagnol, première moitié du XVI siècle". The chalice aroused the interest of Etienne Bourgey, who had an auction house in Paris. There is no doubt that Bourgey had the necessary contacts to sell this piece at a higher price, as it happened. That same year, in 1906, the chalice was purchased by Archer M. Huntington. In 1930 the chalice entered the collection of the Hispanic Society of America.

Description

This chalice was made at a time of transition. It combines Gothic elements such as the architecture of the shaft and the vegetal motifs of the conical cup, typical of the Renaissance. The hexalobulated base of the chalice presents different decorative motifs such as the Virgin and Child, St. Andrew and St. Francis exhibiting the stigmata, as well as vegetal motifs and masks.

Locations

• Mid XVI^th c. - XIX^th c.

  province

  Possible origin in the province of Segovia, Segovia (Spain)

• XIX^th c. - ca. 1906

  private collection

  Dimitri Schevitch, Madrid (Spain) *

• 1906

  dealer/antiquarian

  Galerie Georges Petit, Paris (France) *

• 1906

  dealer/antiquarian

  Étienne Bourgey, Paris (France) *

• 1906 - 1930

  private collection

  Archer Milton Huntington, New York (United States) *

• 1930 - 2025

  museum

  The Hispanic Society of America, New York (United States)