APPARENTLY UNMARKED, CIRCA 1680

Filigree, from the Latin words filum (thread) and granum (grain), is the art of drawing out of metal, usually silver, into increasingly fine threads that can then be rolled, bent or braided into intricate openwork patterns. In a recent exhibition devoted to the subject held in Amsterdam, Silver: Wonders of the East, Filigree of the Tsars, 2006, the filigree objects from the Russian Imperial collections were re-assembled from the different Russian museums and storerooms to which they had been dispersed over the years to regain a sense of the importance and magnificence of filigree objects in European royal and princely collections.

The use of filigree in wrought silver objects was widespread in Europe in the 17th century with examples known from France, for example a pair of candlesticks and a mirror, (M. Bimbenet-Privat, Les orfévres et L'orfévrerie de Paris au XVIIe Siécle, Paris, 2002, vol. II, p. 18 and 82 respectively) and Sweden, for example a cup and cover (Christie's, London, 25 November 2008, lot 141). The shape of the present candlesticks could be compared to a pair hallmarked for London, 1683 (C. Oman, Carolean Silver, London, 1970, no. 62A).