From the website of the Royal Castle, Warsaw
Antwerp’s Splendour – a show of chosen Antwerp jewellery and goldsmithery objects from the collections of two Antwerp museums – Provinciaal Museum Sterckshof – Zilvercentrum and Provinciaal Diamantmuseum.
The exposition contains 70 objects – silver and jewellery of Antwerp and other goldsmithery centres of the Southern Netherlands and later Belgium, and also (especially in the case of jewellery) of other European countries, created throughout five centuries – from the 16th century until the present. The youngest of displayed objects – silver by Siegfried de Buck and Max Gielis, are works which have been created last year. Of particular interest is beautiful Antwerp silver – a unique cup in the form of a windmill from 1603-4, a masterly repoussé jug with a handle in the form of a beautiful mermaid and brim decorated with an expressive mask (1656-7), elegant Neo-classical table silver, lastly Brussels Art Nouveau silver decorated with floral motifs of fluid, sophisticated line, and presently very fashionable silver of the Art Deco style.
In Antwerp, famous for its exquisite diamond cutting workshops, there were many jewellery workshops setting the beautifully cut diamonds. In the exhibition the few preserved examples of this once enormous production, and also jewellery originating from other important European centres: Portugal, Spain, England, will be shown. One work – a bishop’s ring from c. 1820-30 will represent Polish jewellery.
The exhibition is organised by the financial means of the Province of Antwerp and Small Poland Voivodship, with a significant contribution of two museums – The Royal Castle in Warsaw and the National Museum in Cracow, which offered their rooms, provided the scholarly and professional service, and participated in its promotion. It will be presented in the Cracow armoury from April 20 till May 25, and in the Royal Castle in Warsaw from June 9 till July 22, in the historic Castle cellars.
The exhibition will be accompanied by lectures by Polish and Antwerp specialists, describing the history and development of the presented branches of Antwerp craftsmanship and the collections of the participating Antwerp museums.
Publication
Splendor Antwerpii: wystawa diamentów i sreber z Antwerpii = The splendor of Antwerp : the exhibition of diamonds and silver from Antwerp
Sabine Denissen and Leo de Ren
Catalog of an exhibition held in 2001 in Kraków (Czartoryski Museum Arsenal) and Warsaw (Royal Castle)
126 pp., 27 cm., in Polish and English
[Antwerp] The Government of the Province of Antwerp, [2001?]
No ISBN