While filigree was an established tradition in the Deccan in the middle ages, with the cultural presence of the Portuguese in the 16th century, Deccani craftsmen were exposed to a new wave of objects, which were imported from Europe. Finely drawn wires of gold and silver filigree were shaped into a variety of scrolling forms, including the buta, or flame motif, which even is present on the ornamented interior of this object. The lid of this box contains a secret compartment which slides open to hide a prized object, possibly the key.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Filigree Casket with Sliding Top
Date:17th century
Geography:Made in India, probably Goa
Medium:Silver filigree; parcel-gilt
Dimensions:H. 5. 1/8 in. (13 cm) W. 5 1/8 in. (13 cm) D. 3 9/16 in. (9 cm)
Classification:Metal
Credit Line:Purchase, Friends of Islamic Art Gifts, 2014
Accession Number:2014.253
Two filigree caskets: MMA (2014.253) and Hispanic Society of America, New York (LR 2321/1)
From at least the late sixteenth century, the so-called Golden Goa was a major center for the introduction, production, and trade of precious objects and rarities, including new animals and plants, styles of music, European engravings, fine furniture, gemstones, and goldworking. Many imported goods were presented as diplomatic gifts to the Mughal and Deccani courts, while others stimulated the local production of new designs to suit Portuguese taste. Fine objects were regularly made for the palaces, churches, and forts of the viceroys. For example, the Fortaleza Palace in Goa was refurbished with new textiles and carved and inlaid wood furniture for every viceroy, and the old furnishings were sent off to Lisbon.[1] Precious objects, such as embellished boxes and jewels, thus moved easily between courtly worlds and farther-flung centers. Deccani craftsmen were exposed to objects through trade, and documentary evidence indicates exchange among craftsmen in Portugal and India. Raul Xamtin, son of a famous Goan jeweler, was recorded to have enjoyed a long stay in Lisbon during the reign of Manuel I (1495–1521).[2]
In Goa, advances in techniques were made in gold- and silverwork, notably in objects with gold filigree, in both open and closed styles. One spectacular filigree casket from Goa was commissioned by Viceroy Matias de Albuquerque around 1597, while a group of silver-filigree objects in Saint Petersburg show the same technique still in use in the mid-seventeenth century.[3]
The technique of filigree involves drawing wires through a series of holes in a steel plate, which gradually diminish in diameter. The use of wire lengths of differing thickness and the alternation of plain wires with twisted ones enable craftsmen to vary the designs of scrolling palmettes and buti or buta (flame or feather) motifs.[4] This art form was transmitted to craftsmen across the Deccan, and filigree came to be made in such centers as Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh and Cuttack in Orissa, as well as Goa, where these two caskets were likely produced.[5] Filigree objects produced in India were held in the same esteem as examples produced in Europe.[6]
The filigree technique seen on these boxes also spread throughout Europe and across the globe, with similar high-quality pieces produced in Italy, Spain, China, Malta, South America, Persia, and other centers.[7] Filigree became especially popular in England toward the end of the seventeenth century, following the marriage of Charles II (reigned 1660–85) to the Portuguese Catherine of Braganza in 1662. As part of her dowry, Catherine brought many precious objects from India to England, including caskets such as these, and jewelry made of silver and gilt-silver filigree.[8] These objects undoubtedly influenced the English production of filigree.[9] Navina Najat Haidar and Courtney Stewart in (Haidar and Sardar 2015)
Footnotes:
1- Dias, Pedro, "The Palace of the Viceroys in Goa." In Goa and the Great Mughal, edited by Jorge Flores and Nuno Vassallo e Silva, pp. 68–97, 204–6. Exh. cat. Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon. London: Scala. 2004, p. 68.
2- Mughal Silver Magnificence (XVI–XIXth C.)/Magnificence de l’argenterie moghole (XVIeme–XIXeme s.) Exh. cat. Brussels: Antalga, 1987, p. 153, no. 227.
3- Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Exh. cat. edited by Jay A. Levenson. With contributions by Diogo R. Curto and Jack Turner. Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution2007, pp. 260, 264, 265, nos. I-28, I-32, I-33.
4- Mughal Silver Magnificence (XVI–XIXth C.)/Magnificence de l’argenterie moghole (XVIeme–XIXeme s.) Exh. cat. Brussels: Antalga, 1987, p. 101, nos. 127, 128.
5- Zebrowski, Mark, Gold, Silver & Bronze from Mughal India. London: Alexandria Press, in association with Laurence King. 1997, p. 49.
6- George Birdwood, quoted in Watt, George, Indian Art at Delhi, 1903: Being the Official Catalogue of the Delhi Exhibition, 1902–1903. Exh. cat. Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing, 1903, pp. 37–38: "The silver filigrain work, in which the people of Cuttack in Orissa have attained such surprising skill and delicacy, is identical in character with that of Arabia, Malta, Genoa, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and with the filigrain work of ancient Greece, Byzantium and Etruria."
7- A comparable casket with elements similar to both the Metropolitan Museum and the Hispanic Society caskets is attributed to Venice; see Art of Filigree, Iskusstvo skani / The Art of Filigree. With an essay by, M. M. Postnikova-Loseva. Moscow: Gosudarstvennyi, Istoricheskii Muzei, 1990, n.p. (collection of the Order of Lenin State History Museum [now the State Historical Museum], Moscow). For a comparable casket made in China, see Silver Wonders from the East: Filigree of the Tsars., Exh. cat. Zwolle: Waanders; Amsterdam: Hermitage Amsterdam, 2006, pp. 44, 102, no. 1. A filigree casket with very similar shape and feet to the example in the Hispanic Society (cat. 185) is in the collection of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon (384); Mughal Silver Magnificence 1987, p. 153, no. 227. Another is in the collection of Pádua Ramos, Matosinhos; Nuno Vassallo e Silva in Heritage of Rauluchantim, A heranca de Rauluchantim / The Heritage of, Rauluchantim. Exh. cat. edited by Nuno Vassallo e Silva., Lisbon: Museu de Sao Roque, 1996, p. 214, no. 27.
8- Mughal Silver Magnificence, Mughal Silver Magnificence (XVI–XIXth C.)/Magnificence de l’argenterie moghole (XVIeme–XIXeme s.) Exh. cat. Brussels: Antalga, 1987, p. 152, no. 225.
9- For comparable seventeenth-century English filigree examples, see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1974.28.157, .158); Impey, Oliver R., The Cecil Family Collects Four Centuries of Decorative, Arts from Burghley House. Exh. cat. Cincinnati Art, Museum and other institutions; 1998–2000, Alexandria, Va.: Art Services International. 1998, pp. 119, 120, nos. 34a, b, 35a, b.
Private Collection, The Netherlands; [ Alexis Renard, Paris, until 2014; sold to MMA]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sultans of Deccan India, 1500–1700: Opulence and Fantasy," April 20–July 26, 2015, no. 184.
Haidar, Navina, and Marika Sardar. "Opulence and Fantasy." In Sultans of Deccan India 1500–1700. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015. no. 184, p. 313, ill. (color).
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's collection of Islamic art is one of the most comprehensive in the world and ranges in date from the seventh to the twenty-first century. Its more than 15,000 objects reflect the great diversity and range of the cultural traditions from Spain to Indonesia.
