A pair of gilt filigree cruets

The present parcel-gilt silver and silver filigree altar cruets were conceived for using in Christian liturgical ceremonies, and produced in pairs, one destined to hold holy water and the other wine. Both feature unidentified and part worn hallmarks.

Characterised by rosette shaped stands and hemispherical feet fixed to the body by wire thread, the vessels are cylindrical, and rounded in their lower sections, and exhibit protruding spouts, S shaped handles and hinged covers of stepped flower shaped pommels and cast openwork thumbpieces.

Of double walls, the cruets have a plain double-faced gilt silver inner lining and an outer silver filigree openwork structure of flattened twisted thread, featuring horizontal bands of large, eight petalled rosettes, and narrow serpentine friezes, as well as other floral elements, to the feet, spouts, covers and handles. Cast and gilt silver quatrefoils, fixed to the white silver structure, decorate both cruets’ feet, bodies and covers.

The size of such liturgical vessels reflects the small quantity of wine they were destined to hold, most probably in a wealthy merchant or aristocratic private chapel context. Manufactured in Asia for exporting to Europe, their shape seems to derive from widely circulated, and lower priced, pewter made prototypes. A pair of identically shaped pewter cruets, made in the Netherlands during the early 18th century, belongs to the Victoria & Albert Museum collection, in London (M.548-1926). Another pair of closely related containers, but with their original stand, is recorded in a private collection. Unlike the present pair, they feature filigree ‘V’ and ‘A’ initials, for vinum and aqua, Latin terms for wine and water, surmounting the respective thumbpieces.

Following earlier and more traditional approaches regarding Asian filigree production centres in the Modern Era, our pair of cruets has been published as being made in Portuguese ruled Goa[1]. Subsequent documental and archaeological research suggests The Philippines as the likely origin for these containers, as well as for other objects of identical filigree, shape and decorative elements[2]. However, even considering the differences in liturgy, the possibility of a Dutch Batavian production, present day Jakarta, cannot be completely excluded[3].