Title

Chalice of Bishop Andrés de Bustamante Bustamante

Espetillo, Andrés Francisco (Active in Palencia between 1750 and 1779)

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Inscriptions / Marks

'ESPE/TILLO' (author's punch: Andrés Francisco Espetillo)

Object history

This chalice was originally commissioned by Andrés de Bustamante, Bishop of Palencia (1750–1764), as evidenced by his coat of arms (a heart-shaped escutcheon divided per pale; 1^st, or, thirteenth hurts; 2^nd, gules, bend or held by two dragons' heads sinople; chief, azure, three fleurs-de-lis or; episcopal cross, cap and strings). It was part of a set of sacred vessels commissioned by him for his personal use as Bishop of Palencia. This set of sacred vessels included, in addition to the chalice, a paten, a set of cruets with an altar bell (these pieces were placed on a fitted tray), and a ciborium. Upon the death of Bishop Andrés de Bustamante in 1764, the objects were transferred to Palencia Cathedral as part of his espolio (joint of goods remained after a bishop's death) and are listed in the cathedral’s inventories of 1772 and 1783. Currently, of all these items, the Palencia Cathedral preserves the cruets placed on their fitted tray and the ciborium (though not the paten or the altar bell, both of which were made of silver-gilt), while the chalice—identified and brought to light by Fernando Gutiérrez Baños in 1998—is housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

According to the documentation held by the museum, the chalice was purchased in San Sebastián in 1923 by the American collector Walter Leo Hildburgh (1876–1955). We have no precise information about how it left Palencia Cathedral, but the date coincides with a broad period spanning from the late 19^th century to the first third of the 20th century, during which Palencia Cathedral itself sold off a large number of works of art, as documented by María José Martínez Ruiz.

Hildburgh, who visited the V&A in the second decade of the 20^th century, was fascinated by its collection and, over the following decades, devoted himself to building a collection of Spanish and Portuguese plate with the intention of bequeathing it to the museum upon his death, as it was donde in 1955.

Description

The chalice features the characteristic and recurring structure of this liturgical vessel: a base, a stem with a knob for a secure grip, and a bowl. Except for the upper part of the bowl, which is smooth, the chalice is covered with a variegated embossed Rococo decoration that includes, in addition to the coat of arms of Bishop Andrés de Bustamante, several iconographic elements. Thus, the base features four medallions bearing the effigies of St Antoninus (or Antolín: patron saint of the cathedral and the city of Palencia), St Andrew (the bishop’s patron saint), St Thomas Aquinas (perhaps to highlight the bishop’s status as member of the body of preachers of His Majesty), and St Peter (perhaps to allude to the apostolic succession represented by bishops in their sees). The knob is decorated with cherubs, and the lower part of the cup is decorated with Eucharistic motifs, including ears of wheat and grapes alluding to the Eucharistic species, and the pelican, which symbolises Christ’s redemptive sacrifice, which is made present anew in every celebration of the Eucharist.

The piece bears the mark 'ESPE/TILLO', corresponding to the Madrid-born silversmith of Italian descent Andrés Francisco Espetillo, who settled successively in Valladolid and Palencia. In Palencia he lived from 1754 until his death in 1779 and was considered the 'official silversmith of this diocese'. Espetillo, a representative of a refined Rococo aesthetic, participated in several of the most ambitious projects undertaken at Palencia Cathedral during the episcopate of Andrés de Bustamante: the creation of the triumphal float to house the cathedral’s monstrance each year during the Corpus Christi procession (this triumphal float was a baldachin-like structure that carried on a wheeled platform) and the creation of the silver coating for the high altar. In the context of these works, he likely crafted the chalice for Bishop Andrés de Bustamante c. 1756–57.

Locations

• Mid XVIII^th c. - 1764

  Andrés de Bustamante, Palencia (Spain)

• 1764 - Early XX^th c.

  cathedral

  Palencia Cathedral, Palencia (Spain)

• 1923

  dealer/antiquarian

  Art Market, San Sebastián, San Sebastián (Spain) *

• 1923 - 1955

  private collection

  Walter Leo Hildburgh, London (United Kingdom) *

• 1956 - present

  museum

  Victoria & Albert Museum, London (United Kingdom)