SILVER INCENSE BOAT. WITH HALLMARKS. SANZ DE VELASCO, JUAN ANTONIO (1720-1778). VALLADOLID, SPAIN, 18TH CENTURY.

Naveta. Silver. SANZ DE VELASCO, Juan Antonio (1720-1778). Valladolid, Spain, 18th century. With contrast markings. Navete with a circular base raised towards the foot by a succession of stepped moldings that presents its body decorated with a cresting on the edge and an engraved composition based on vegetal elements and volutes (on a polished polished background, a finish that is also combined in decorative motifs) and a gallon element on one side and a scroll at the opening end. The contrast marks on the base place the creation of the piece in Valladolid (note that it is the so-called “cut mark”, which some experts place in time until the appointment of Antonio González Téllez as a faithful contrast). The other punch present is by Juan Antonio Sanz de Velasco (1720-1778), who served as a faithful contrast in the city between 1743 and 1774/8. Apart from other works preserved with hallmarks by the master (many in private Spanish collections), we must highlight the silver altar frontal of the Virgen del Sagrario (Valladolid Cathedral) by the Valladolid silversmiths Juan Antonio Sanz de Velasco and Miguel Fernández Yáñez de Vega, who finished in the last third of the 18th century a work begun in 1693 by the silversmith José de Aranda. The shape of the piece is the usual one for this type of container to store incense (in fact, the name naveta comes from “ship”) since the Middle Ages (naveta from the chapel of the Constables of the Cathedral of Burgos de Juan of Valladolid from the 15th century), with variations in shape and decorative elements depending on their belonging to a center, style, etc. Compare the present piece with works preserved, for example, in the Diocesan and Cathedral Museum of Valladolid, another from the Museum of Navarra from Mexico and dated between 1634 and 1666, another from the 18th century in silver in its color from the Cathedral of Tuy ( with a very different foot), etc. Weight: 347 grams.

· Size: 16x11x9 cms.