A fine ewer and basin in Portuguese silver from the first half of the 18th century, in a design of the master silversmith Luis Goncalves circa 1551. The ewer has smooth body in baluster form, slender at the top and developing the pear-shape below. It has a large mouth finished with an elegant spout, and the handle is in rocaille style, in the shape of an inverted ‘s’ ending in a double scroll. The basin is circular with a raised border, and the base confines the ewer in an elevated central moulding.
Made by the great master silversmith Manuel Roque Ferrão,in Lisbon, it bears his maker’s mark, with noteable and unusual proportions and the elegant simplicity of the older models. This Italo-Germanic style of ewer and basin was in great demand from the 16th to the 18th century as much in Portugal as in Spain. They were known in Spain as ‘Flamenga’ or Flemish, although they were made in Portugal from the middle of the 16thcentury in the reign of D. João lll to reign of D. José in the middle of the 18th century.
Identical examples:
— In the Royal Chapel at Coimbra University (the work of Luis Goncalves mentioned above, ca. 1551 and bearing the Royal Coat of Arms, included in the Exhibitionof Portuguese and French Jewellery, at the Ricardo Espírito Santo Silva Foundation in 1955).
— In the Museum of Abade de Baçal, in Bragança, bearing the episcopal Arms of Frei João de Cruz.— In the Cathedral of Angra de Heroismo, in the Azores.
— An identical example from the collection of Dom Pedro Coutinho was sold at Sotheby’s 30th October 2008, lot 177.
vd. ALMEIDA, Fernando Moitinho, Marcas de Pratas Portuguesas e Brasileiras (Século XV a 1887), IN-CM, 1995, L24 et L249.
Certificate of Authenticity by Sofia Ruival and Henrique Braga.