Large Monstrance (custodia) In Solid Silver And Partially Gilded, Spain Circa 1600

Excellent solid silver monstrance (2.8 kg, unidentified import hallmark on the base) and partially gilded (Virgin and Child, lunette and glory, and crucifix at the top). This architecturally designed monstrance, known as a custodia torre, is made of cast, hammered, chased, and openwork silver, with fire-gilded highlights. The overall design features a slender, vertical composition reminiscent of a multi-tiered Gothic tower. The polylobed base is richly decorated with scrolling foliage in relief. The baluster stem leads to a finely pierced gallery adorned with pinnacles, crockets, arcades, and tracery elements of late Gothic inspiration. The circular lunette, intended to hold the host, is surrounded by a radiant, gilded, solar-type glory. Above the lunette, a gilded figure of the Virgin and Child is depicted within a radiant mandorla, emphasizing the Marian dimension. of the Eucharist. Small statuettes, probably saints or angels, punctuate the different architectural levels. The whole is crowned with a cross. Through its typology and decorative vocabulary, the work belongs to the Spanish tradition of 16th-century reliquaries, particularly developed in Castile and Andalusia. It evokes, on a smaller scale, the large processional reliquaries made in the circle of Enrique de Arfe at the beginning of the 16th century. In the absence of visible hallmarks, a definitive attribution remains open to examination. The quality of the openwork, the stylistic coherence, and the rich iconography, however, argue in favor of a production in the ancient Iberian tradition. Further technical analysis is recommended to confirm the dating. Condition: slight wear and minor deformations consistent with age; occasional traces of oxidation; gilding partially faded.