DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1397#0230
PLATE 69.
DAMASCENED WORK,
BY ZULOAGA, OF MADRID.
TINT the art of embossing and damascening metals, Spain, thanks to the ability and good taste
of M. Zuloaga, more than sustained her ancient reputation. It is not too much to say
that, in this peculiar branch of industrial art, M. Zuloaga stands pre-eminent. He obtained a
prize medal in 1851, and now again receives the highest award, together with the marked
approbation of the Jury. His process consists mainly in the inlay of gold and silver on iron
or oxydized steel, combined with embossed and chased ornament. His very beautiful clock,
belonging to the Queen of Spain, in the Eenaissance style, was about 3 feet 2 inches high, and
was made of iron inlaid with gold and silver arabesques, &c. Every part of it was well designed
and carefully carried out, and, to the very figures on the dial, was characterized by artistic
merit. The small vase and the shield were each perfect in style and execution; and the mirror,
of which we have shown one angle, evinced the capabilities of the art for the largest-sized
works; the mirror being about 6 feet high. Besides these there were other pieces equally note-
worthy. A magnificent album-cover, with open-worked panels and raised knops; a beautifully
designed inkstand, 2 feet 6 inches long; coffrets, exquisitely ornamented in the Moorish style,
and bracelets in the same manner; swords, pistols, and a variety of objects in the Eenaissance
and Moorish styles, the last of which M. Zuloaga has taken up, adapted, and rendered quite
characteristic of modern Spanish ornament.
This beautiful art, which was carried to great perfection by the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and
Indians, and by the Arabs during the" Middle Ages, appears to have been introduced from the
East through that great emporium of Oriental art and commerce, Venice, some time in the
loth century. Certain it is that the art was developed and brought to an extraordinary degree
of perfection in Northern Italy during that and the following century. Venice and Milan were the
two great centres of the manufacture, producing not only small ornamental pieces and inlaid
armour, but articles of furniture, executed in iron, and most elaborately damascened. Besides a very
remarkable collection of Eastern mediaeval damascened work exhibited at the Loan Museum,
South Kensington, there wrere to be seen also iron tables and cabinets of Milanese manufacture,
lent by the Duke of Hamilton, Sir A. Rothschild, and others, which were of extraordinary beauty;
but unfortunately, in the whole collection, no one maker's name could be found.
Early in the 16th century, Paolo, surnamed Azzimino, of Venice, is stated by Labarte to
have been the first artist of note in this style, which Cicognara says was called "lavoro all' azzimina,"
because principally used in ornamenting armour. Eioravanti mentions Paolo Rizzo, a Venetian
goldsmith, who had invented exquisite damascenings. Milan had, at the same epoch, G. P. Figino,
B. Piatti, P. Pellizone, and M. Ghinello, celebrated in the art. Others who employed damascening
in their respective arts were Carlo Sovico, goldsmith; F. Bellino and P. Turcone, workers in iron;
G. Ambrogio, a turner of great merit; Filippo Negroli, the celebrated armourer, spoken of by
Vasari as the best chaser and damascener of his day; A. Biancardi; B. Civo; and the Piccinini
family, who made- wonderful armour for the Farnesi; Romero, who executed some surpassingly
fine for Alfonso II., Duke of Ferrara; and Cellini, who states that in his youth he exercised
the art, and cites the Lombards, Tuscans, and Romans, as all remarkable for specialities of
style in it.
Of the magnificent suits of armour, and other objects, preserved at St. Petersburg, Vienna,
Paris, Madrid, Munich, Berlin, London, etc., it is most disappointing not to be able to discover
the artists' names. A good work of art should always be signed and dated by the maker, if
only for the use of after-ages. M. Zuloaga's name will always take a high place in the modern
history of the art.*
* For further notice of damascened works, see Plate 14.
DAMASCENED WORK,
BY ZULOAGA, OF MADRID.
TINT the art of embossing and damascening metals, Spain, thanks to the ability and good taste
of M. Zuloaga, more than sustained her ancient reputation. It is not too much to say
that, in this peculiar branch of industrial art, M. Zuloaga stands pre-eminent. He obtained a
prize medal in 1851, and now again receives the highest award, together with the marked
approbation of the Jury. His process consists mainly in the inlay of gold and silver on iron
or oxydized steel, combined with embossed and chased ornament. His very beautiful clock,
belonging to the Queen of Spain, in the Eenaissance style, was about 3 feet 2 inches high, and
was made of iron inlaid with gold and silver arabesques, &c. Every part of it was well designed
and carefully carried out, and, to the very figures on the dial, was characterized by artistic
merit. The small vase and the shield were each perfect in style and execution; and the mirror,
of which we have shown one angle, evinced the capabilities of the art for the largest-sized
works; the mirror being about 6 feet high. Besides these there were other pieces equally note-
worthy. A magnificent album-cover, with open-worked panels and raised knops; a beautifully
designed inkstand, 2 feet 6 inches long; coffrets, exquisitely ornamented in the Moorish style,
and bracelets in the same manner; swords, pistols, and a variety of objects in the Eenaissance
and Moorish styles, the last of which M. Zuloaga has taken up, adapted, and rendered quite
characteristic of modern Spanish ornament.
This beautiful art, which was carried to great perfection by the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and
Indians, and by the Arabs during the" Middle Ages, appears to have been introduced from the
East through that great emporium of Oriental art and commerce, Venice, some time in the
loth century. Certain it is that the art was developed and brought to an extraordinary degree
of perfection in Northern Italy during that and the following century. Venice and Milan were the
two great centres of the manufacture, producing not only small ornamental pieces and inlaid
armour, but articles of furniture, executed in iron, and most elaborately damascened. Besides a very
remarkable collection of Eastern mediaeval damascened work exhibited at the Loan Museum,
South Kensington, there wrere to be seen also iron tables and cabinets of Milanese manufacture,
lent by the Duke of Hamilton, Sir A. Rothschild, and others, which were of extraordinary beauty;
but unfortunately, in the whole collection, no one maker's name could be found.
Early in the 16th century, Paolo, surnamed Azzimino, of Venice, is stated by Labarte to
have been the first artist of note in this style, which Cicognara says was called "lavoro all' azzimina,"
because principally used in ornamenting armour. Eioravanti mentions Paolo Rizzo, a Venetian
goldsmith, who had invented exquisite damascenings. Milan had, at the same epoch, G. P. Figino,
B. Piatti, P. Pellizone, and M. Ghinello, celebrated in the art. Others who employed damascening
in their respective arts were Carlo Sovico, goldsmith; F. Bellino and P. Turcone, workers in iron;
G. Ambrogio, a turner of great merit; Filippo Negroli, the celebrated armourer, spoken of by
Vasari as the best chaser and damascener of his day; A. Biancardi; B. Civo; and the Piccinini
family, who made- wonderful armour for the Farnesi; Romero, who executed some surpassingly
fine for Alfonso II., Duke of Ferrara; and Cellini, who states that in his youth he exercised
the art, and cites the Lombards, Tuscans, and Romans, as all remarkable for specialities of
style in it.
Of the magnificent suits of armour, and other objects, preserved at St. Petersburg, Vienna,
Paris, Madrid, Munich, Berlin, London, etc., it is most disappointing not to be able to discover
the artists' names. A good work of art should always be signed and dated by the maker, if
only for the use of after-ages. M. Zuloaga's name will always take a high place in the modern
history of the art.*
* For further notice of damascened works, see Plate 14.