NAPLES, 1695, MAKER'S MARK F.D.?, ASSAY MASTER'S MARK OF STEFANO DE VIETRI

This fully marked ewer is one from a select group of related Neapolitan ewers all dating from the late 17th or very early 18th century. The ewer offered here would appear to be the earliest marked example. It is struck with the maker's mark F.D.? which has been suggested in D. Goethals de Mude and P. Cambier, Magie de l'orfèvrerie, Antwerp, 2004, vol. 2, p. 229 to be the maker's mark FDP. This is now attributed to the Neapolitan silversmith Ferrante de Palma. Of the five other examples, one of 1696 was in the collection Rosebery Rothschild Collection and was sold Sotheby's, London, 1 February 1999, lot 33, the maker of which is now identified as Macrantonio di Benedetto (Goethals and Cambier, op. cit, p. 229). A second example from the British Rail Pension Fund Collection, which is unmarked, was sold, Sotheby's, Geneva 14 November 1988. A third in a Milanese private collection is dated 1695. A fourth cited in a Roman private collection is dated 1703. The fifth example which can be found in the collection of the Duomo of Amalfi is struck with the assay master's mark of Giagio Guariniello only. He was assay master in 1695, 1698, 1703, 1705 and finally from 1709 to 1710.