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The Splendor of Silver: Masterworks of a Spectacular Argentine Collection
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14481 |
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THE ARTS
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| Issue
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3 / 1988 |
1,895 Words |
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John Stringer
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Prodigious exploitation of Latin America's abundant precious minerals began five centuries ago with the Spanish Conquest. It not only changed the economic balance of the world, but also led to a brilliant artistic flowering. From the time of Cellini onward, European craftsmen relied in particular upon gold and silver from the New World. The splendid artifacts they produced during the Renaissance and into the nineteenth century are justifiably famous and universally treasured. What is relatively unknown by comparison, however, is the extraordinary explosion of fine metalworking that was flourishing simultaneously within the Americas.
Spanish colonists in the New World made use of architecture, painting, and the applied arts to express religious beliefs and social behavior in their new life. It is thus not surprising that American artifacts often conform closely to European prototypes. Nevertheless, certain factors account for significant differences from European tradition. To begin with, technology was less developed and sophisticated in the colonies, so most pieces are hammered, and they rarely carry makers' marks. Secondly, certain types of objects--such as mate (pronounced mä-tā) cups used for drinking herbal mate tea--simply do not exist in Europe. And finally, there are variations in decoration exclusive to Latin America.
Especially in the Andes, precious metals have a long association with religion and ritual. Awesome quantities of gold and silver lined the walls of the Temple of the Sun in Peru until the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro ransacked this spiritual capital of the Incas. After the raid, the Spanish military added the silver as extravagant ornamentation to its weaponry.
Wealth of Silver
Masses of silver plaques in different designs and dimensions covered church interiors in profusion. Ornaments were commonly produced in pairs to make symmetrical groups harmonious with ecclesiastical architecture, although close scrutiny reveals variations in detail that show objects are rarely identical. This fact indicates that pieces were seldom cast, but almost invariably crafted individually by hand. To raise such delicate objects out of a piece of silver is an extremely laborious process, proving that New World artisans more than compensated in skill for what they lacked in technology. The silver sheet must be constantly annealed (heated, then cooled in a solution of water and acid) to keep it malleable, and to avoid cracking. It is shaped by hammering, then refined with repoussé by beating from behind. Fretwork pieces are cut away; then the object is finished in detail through engraving, chasing, and polishing.
In numerous pieces, the abundance of plant motifs reflects the enormous significance of indigenous American fruit, crops, and vegetables. It is difficult for us today to realize that such staples as the potato and tomato were simply unknown in Europe before the sixteenth century. A popular form of decoration features the "green figure," based on human/plant mutations. Though this motif was common during the Renaissance, its survival into the eighteenth century shows how designs were frequently continued in the colonies long after their vogue had passed in Europe. Plants and leaves are often generalized and rarely illustrate specific varieties. Lush tropical profusion combined with naked native bodies gives a mestizo flavor that distinguishes many plaques from European
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