Filigree : a migrant metal practice
Date
2011
Authors
Briceno, Ximena Natanya
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Abstract
In the context of visual arts, more specifically, gold and silversmithing, this Sub thesis discusses and contextualizes, silver filigree objects and jewellery produced in Peru from the 18th to early 21st century. There is an assumption that silver filigree developed in Peru was a consequence of Spanish colonisation; however this research demonstrates the origins of filigree in Asia and Europe, and how it was disseminated before coming to the Americas. The purpose of this research is to find how filigree was grafted onto and further developed in Peruvian metalsmithing, what other decorative objects informs this practice, and if there is a distinctive Peruvian filigree style. Through an examination of complex global trade routes in Asia and Europe during the 16th-18th centuries and close visual analyses, this sub thesis proposes an alternative theory on how Asian decorative objects informed filigree objects produced in Peru from the 18th century onwards. In addition, it discusses a commercial edict issued by the Spanish government which affected the labelling and provenance of Asian imports including filigree. It is with the introduction of decorative objects and silver filigree jewellery, from Asia and Europe, that filigree manifested in a distinctive figurative form reflected in the objects and jewellery of Peru. The results were hybrid figurative forms, which became a new cottage industry in Peru. Close visual analyses of filigree objects housed in public and private collections in Europe and the Americas provide the context for this research. It is the identification of other filigree objects crafted in China, India and Italy that have helped identify what is unique about the silver filigree objects made in Peru. The introduction of objects and forms through trade and migration has constituted the development and history of Peruvian filigree.
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Thesis (PhD)
Thesis (PhD) - Exegesis
Thesis (PhD) - Exegesis
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Open Access
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Vol. 1 Thesis
Vol. 2 Exegesis