FIG. 79.—BRASS EWER WITH ARTISTIC HANDLE.
CHAPTER XVI
CONTINENTAL COPPER AND BRASS
Italian bronzes—French art—Dutch brasswork—German metal-work.
The Italian renaissance in art exercised such a wide influence upon manufactured goods in this and other countries that the collector of antiques naturally turns to the achievements of the artists in metal who worked in Florence and Rome for the highest ideals he can seek. In this he is not disappointed, for just as the connoisseur of ancient art finds his delight in the bronzes of Greece and Rome, the collector of more modern art sees grace and beauty combined with skilful grouping in Italian craftsmanship. European influence has been brought to bear upon the metal-work of the world at different times, but it has not always come from the same country. At different periods the metal-workers of certain localities appear to have made their peculiar characteristics take precedence of others. In most of the European countries quite distinct styles and even unique treatment of metals have been noticeable; so much so that our museums to-day contain groups of metal-work having little or no affinity to one another, although coming, perhaps, from towns not far removed in point of geographical position. The collector recognizes as distinct the bronzes of Italy; the screens, candlesticks, and ecclesiastical metal-work of Spain; the beaten bronze, champlevé enamels, and the decorative brass of the Empire period of France; the eighteenth-century Dutch brasswork; the metal forged and cast in Germany, and the decorative copper and brass of Turkey showing such distinctly Oriental influence in Saracenic touch. To study all these rival styles at their best the collector, however large his private collection, must perforce visit either one of the more important Continental museums or the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington, where so many cases are filled with Continental works of art in gold, silver, and the baser metals. Local museums rarely possess a selection large enough for comparative purposes. The loan exhibits from the national collection, carefully selected as representative specimens, are very helpful, and many such loan cases strengthen local exhibits and add interest to them. In the United States of America public museums are well arranged with the view of showing the metal-work of different countries at varied periods, and many of them are peculiarly rich in exhibits of domestic metal-work which was taken over in the early days from Europe.
As a guide to curators and others wishful to secure the right kind of exhibits it may be useful to mention the contents of a case on view at a South coast town public library recently. There were some beautiful Italian bronzes of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a damascened candlestick from Venice, a Florentine statuette, a handsome cabinet handle chased with foliated ornament, a bronze mask of Pan, a table lamp stand with winged lions at the base, and a handsome ewer, the body of which was ornamented with foliage, around it figures representing the triumph of Bacchus, a typical seventeenth-century specimen. Among the minor objects in that case were vases from many countries, door knockers, and a few examples of Dutch metal-work, decorative and artistic.