拍品專文
Nuestra Senora de Esperanza, a Spanish galleon of 650 tons, captained by Luis de Porras and owned by Don Pedro Arias Maldonado of Seville, carried 24 bronze and 24 iron cannons. In 1655 she formed part of the treasure fleet sailing to the New World, first to Cartagena on the coast of what is now Colombia, then to Porto Bello on the Isthmus of Panama. Here the ships were loaded with the gold and silver from the Pacific galleons from Lima and the Far East which had been hauled slowly across the isthmus by mule. Then the fleet returned to Cartagena where they picked up Colombian emeralds and pearls from the fisheries along the shores of present-day Venezuela. As the fleet left Cartagena harbor en route for Havana, the Nuestra Senora de Esperanza ran aground at the entrance and the fleet sailed on without her. Stranded on a sandbank, her guns, cargo and ballast were removed and with great difficuly she was towed off and returned to port. After repairs, her departure was again delayed by the Governor of Cartagena who had learnt that Jamaica had just been captured by the English, whose fleet was said to be lying off the coast of Cuba.
It was not until May 8, 1658 that it was deemed safe enough for the galleon to set sail for Spain, her hold crammed full of treasure. She was said to be carrying in excess of one million pesos in gold and silver bullion and specie, in addition to worked objects, chests of emeralds, pearls and other precious stones. Her crew numbered 116 seamen and soldiers to which were added over 160 passengers.
The first week was uneventful but during the night of May 15 the ship suddenly struck bottom, snapping her main- and fore-mast, causing great damage to her hull and killing a number of sailors. At first light the Captain and 22 seamen set off in the ship's only longboat for the Isle of Pines to organize a rescue party. The ship was still fairly intact and the seas calm. Before departing the Captain established his position. The longboat reached the its destination in less than a day but more than a week elapsed before rescue vessels were loctaed, provisioned and crewed. For two long weeks they searched in vain for the lost ship. Finally all attempts to locate the ship were abandoned and the Nuestra Senora de Esperanza lay in oblivion in her watery grave.
Throughout Europe during the sixteenth and well into the seventeenth century, chains were worn by both sexes, often in addition to more elaborate enamel and gem-set necklaces. Their presence in so many portraitsoften with a badge or medal of office, suggests that their use was often ceremonial, while their use with marriage medals or on their own shows that they were also merely a conspicuous deisplay of wealth. In the portrait of William Brooke, 10th Lord Cobham and his family at Longleat, even some of the children are depicted wearing several strands of gold chains. Moreove, the custom of giving gold chains as diplomatic gifts continued well into the seventeenth century; in 1623 Endymion Porter had received a gold chain while in Madrid, "the prettiest I ever saw" - possibly of Oriental origin, as were many referred to in contemporary accounts.
The 1619 inventory of Emperor Matthias's collections lists a number of chains, all lost: "1049, A ducat-gold chain with twisted elements, weighing 67 ducats; 1050, A knitted chain with 6 lengths, weighing 67 1/2 crowns; 1051, a curb chain one width long, weighing 72 1/2 crowns; 1052, A "muzzle" chain, weighing together with the golden lamb 11 1/2 crowns; 1053, A rectaÿgular wirework chain, weighing together with the golden fleece 88 1/2 crowns ..."
Gold chains are found in numerous contemporary portraits such as the 1623 portrait of George IV by Johann Kreuzfelder and the portrait of Margareta Bronsen, probably in her wedding garments, by Michael Conrad Hirt, 1641, now in the St. Anna Church, Lubeck. The delightful pair of marriage portraits of Maria van Voerst van Doorwerth and Johan van Wassenaer van Duyvenvoorde of 1608 (now in the Kasteel Duyvenvoorde) show chains formed of numerous strands, worn around the neck. Diego Velasquez's portrait of the Infanta Margarita Maria of Spain (now in the Prado), dating from 1659, shows a siimilar chain, also worn around the neck. A more elaborate example is found in the portrait of Margaretha van Nispen of 1570, now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. In this painting the sitter is shown with a massive gold chain which appears to be worn around the waist with the weight taken on the hips. The chain joins at the front, comprizes groups of approximately twelve oval large moulded links with open-work lozenge-shaped links at intervals.
In Spain, restrictions limiting male ornamentation to hat badges and chains meant that chains became a very important feature of fashion during the seventeenth century. Worn by men loosely over the shoulders (fanfarrones) or by women either over the shoulders or at midriff (cintas), many such as the present example were monumentally heavy and costly. The delicacy of the present lot suggests that it may have been intended to be worn by a woman, and may indeed be of Oriental origin. It is known that finished jewelry was shipped by the Manila galleons across the Pacific to New Spain and Peru in the seventeenth century, and there were colonies of Chinese goldsmiths and jewellers working in Mexico City and in Lima by mid-century. Needless to say, being the most vulnerable to the melting pot, practically none of these chains has survived.
It was not until May 8, 1658 that it was deemed safe enough for the galleon to set sail for Spain, her hold crammed full of treasure. She was said to be carrying in excess of one million pesos in gold and silver bullion and specie, in addition to worked objects, chests of emeralds, pearls and other precious stones. Her crew numbered 116 seamen and soldiers to which were added over 160 passengers.
The first week was uneventful but during the night of May 15 the ship suddenly struck bottom, snapping her main- and fore-mast, causing great damage to her hull and killing a number of sailors. At first light the Captain and 22 seamen set off in the ship's only longboat for the Isle of Pines to organize a rescue party. The ship was still fairly intact and the seas calm. Before departing the Captain established his position. The longboat reached the its destination in less than a day but more than a week elapsed before rescue vessels were loctaed, provisioned and crewed. For two long weeks they searched in vain for the lost ship. Finally all attempts to locate the ship were abandoned and the Nuestra Senora de Esperanza lay in oblivion in her watery grave.
Throughout Europe during the sixteenth and well into the seventeenth century, chains were worn by both sexes, often in addition to more elaborate enamel and gem-set necklaces. Their presence in so many portraitsoften with a badge or medal of office, suggests that their use was often ceremonial, while their use with marriage medals or on their own shows that they were also merely a conspicuous deisplay of wealth. In the portrait of William Brooke, 10th Lord Cobham and his family at Longleat, even some of the children are depicted wearing several strands of gold chains. Moreove, the custom of giving gold chains as diplomatic gifts continued well into the seventeenth century; in 1623 Endymion Porter had received a gold chain while in Madrid, "the prettiest I ever saw" - possibly of Oriental origin, as were many referred to in contemporary accounts.
The 1619 inventory of Emperor Matthias's collections lists a number of chains, all lost: "1049, A ducat-gold chain with twisted elements, weighing 67 ducats; 1050, A knitted chain with 6 lengths, weighing 67 1/2 crowns; 1051, a curb chain one width long, weighing 72 1/2 crowns; 1052, A "muzzle" chain, weighing together with the golden lamb 11 1/2 crowns; 1053, A rectaÿgular wirework chain, weighing together with the golden fleece 88 1/2 crowns ..."
Gold chains are found in numerous contemporary portraits such as the 1623 portrait of George IV by Johann Kreuzfelder and the portrait of Margareta Bronsen, probably in her wedding garments, by Michael Conrad Hirt, 1641, now in the St. Anna Church, Lubeck. The delightful pair of marriage portraits of Maria van Voerst van Doorwerth and Johan van Wassenaer van Duyvenvoorde of 1608 (now in the Kasteel Duyvenvoorde) show chains formed of numerous strands, worn around the neck. Diego Velasquez's portrait of the Infanta Margarita Maria of Spain (now in the Prado), dating from 1659, shows a siimilar chain, also worn around the neck. A more elaborate example is found in the portrait of Margaretha van Nispen of 1570, now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. In this painting the sitter is shown with a massive gold chain which appears to be worn around the waist with the weight taken on the hips. The chain joins at the front, comprizes groups of approximately twelve oval large moulded links with open-work lozenge-shaped links at intervals.
In Spain, restrictions limiting male ornamentation to hat badges and chains meant that chains became a very important feature of fashion during the seventeenth century. Worn by men loosely over the shoulders (fanfarrones) or by women either over the shoulders or at midriff (cintas), many such as the present example were monumentally heavy and costly. The delicacy of the present lot suggests that it may have been intended to be worn by a woman, and may indeed be of Oriental origin. It is known that finished jewelry was shipped by the Manila galleons across the Pacific to New Spain and Peru in the seventeenth century, and there were colonies of Chinese goldsmiths and jewellers working in Mexico City and in Lima by mid-century. Needless to say, being the most vulnerable to the melting pot, practically none of these chains has survived.