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Santa Margarita
Auction Catalog
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Tuesday, June 14 and
Wednesday, June 15, 1988
Christie's New York
www.christies.com
INTRODUCTION
Spain and the New World
The King of Spain, whose dominions (are full one third of the known world,
whose
treasures in his western dominions are rich and durable mines of gold and
silver
from whence flows the wealth of Spain early sends... mighty ships of Spain
into
America, which moving road brings him home his annual treasures of gold and
silver. John Taylor, a captain’s clerk in William Philips’s fleet.
No one has successfully calculated the amount of wealth that Spain extracted
from its New World empire. Even at the time, it proved impossible to assess
exactly how much gold and silver flowed eastwards across the Atlantic, that
‘moving road’ of treasures—’we cannot value or esteem the quantity of gold
that is brought from the Indies, but we may well say that it is much more
than that which Pliny reports was brought yearly from Spain to Rome’ wrote
Joaquin Acosta with a note of irony in 1604.’ Yet it was a bounty that Spain
squandered. Very little of it remained there, hut instead went immediately
to finance the costly wars she was fighting in northern Europe and into the
coffers of the Fuggers,
Philip IV (1605-1665) by Velazquez, oil on canvas. The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913
INDIANS SURRENDERING GOLD TO THE SPANISH, ENGRAVING FROM DE BRY'S GREAT VOYAGES, FRANKFURT AM MAIN, 1591.
MEL FISHER (LEFT) CONFERS WITH DUNCAN
MATHEWSON, HIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIRECTOR, OVER CHARTS OF THE ATOCHA'S HULL
TIMBERS.
PHOTO BY DON KINCAID
A GOLD BAR
RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK OP NUESTRA SENORA DE ATOCHA IN 1985
Of slender form, one end sheared off, struck seven times with traces of
Royal tax stamp, three
times with karat stamp XXI and one dot ( ¼) and once with mint stamp SARGOSA
over
P—77/sin. (20cm.) long
21.25 karats, 16.49 oz. (513 grammes)
Listed on the manifest of the .4tocIw, p. 3. item 16, as a bar and a small
piece’ both of 21.25 karats
A GOLD BAR
RECOVERED) FROM THE WRECK OF NUESTRA SENORA DE ATOCHA IN 1985
Oblong, with slight encrustation, struck six times with traces of Royal tax
stamp, three times
with karat stamp XXI and one dot (= ¼) and once with mint stamp AVN over
CIBAI—
75/sin. (19.3cm.) long
21.25 karats, 30.67 oz. (954 grammes)
A GOLD BAR
RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK OF NUESTRA SENORA DE ATOCHA IN 1985
Finger-form, one end sheared off, struck five times with traces of the Royal
tax stamp, three
times with karat stamp XXI and two dots (= ½), and once with mint stamp
stamp FL
conjoined and EN conjoined over RADA—6’/4n. (15.9cm.) long
21.5 karats, 10.65 oz. (331.3 grammes)
A similar ‘finger bar’ with the same mint stamp is illustrated in Mathewson,
1986. plate C-6, and discussed
pp. 127-128. The present bar, prior to conservation, is illustrated ibid.
pl. C-7.
258 Pages Of Gold and Silver Plus Artifacts Recovered From
The Atocha
THE FIRST ATOCHA SILVER BAR
RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK OF NUESTR.4 SENORA DE
ATOCHA IN 1986
NATURAL UNCUT EMERALDS
A CABOCHON EMERALD
RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK OF NUESTR.4 SENORA DE ATOCHA IN 1986
GOLD CHAIN
RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK OF NUESTRA SENORA DE ATOCHA IN 1986
A GOLD CHAIN
RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK OF NUESTRA SENORA DE
ATOCHA IN 1975
Comprising two hundred fifteen fine plain oval links—
253/sin. (64.2 cm.) long
RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK OF NUESTRA SENORA DE
ATOCHA IN 1985
With triangular shank and plain slightly taperin1
rectangular box bezel with moulded base
These Atocha Relics Are Not For
Sale
A HIGHLY IMPORTANT EMERALD AND GOLD RING
RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK OF NUESTR.4 SENORA DE ATOCHA IN 1986
The faceted slightly tapering shank engraved with short
scrolls with remains of black enamel, the deep rectangular box bezel
engraved underneath with panels of scrolls enclosing a cross of four
lozenges, also with traces of black enamelling, the bombe sides with similar
decoration below a hand of arcading enamelled in black, set with a
rectangular table-cut emerald of light yellowish-green color and fine
clarity.
Similar rings appear scattered in the foreground of Jan Brucghel the
Younger’s painting, Still-life with Jewelry, early 17th century, in the
Musee Royale des Beaux Arts, Brussels (illustrated in Hackenbroch, p. 260,
no. 709). The Form of the ring is type 59 mentioned in Taylor and
Scarisbrick,
The emerald itself shows quite clearly a three-phase inclusion (a
liquid-filled cavity, a carbon dioxide gas bubble and a microscopic crystal
of halite) thus pointing definitely to a Colombian origin.
Equally, the color and absence of pyrite suggests that without doubt it is a
product of the Muzo mine (see Introduction, p. 44).
A FINE CORAL AND GOLD ROSARY
RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK OF NUESTRA SENORA DE ATOCHA TN 1973
Formed of five decades of Coral beads with five fluted gold paternosters
between, the gaud depending from a further three coral beads in the form of
a Cross with baluster arms, Chased in the Center with a sunburst (originally
enamelled), the lower arm applied with a ring—overall
length 26½in. (57.5 cm.)
Throughout Europe, but especially in Spain, coral was held to have great
amuletic powers, offering protection against magic spells. The roots of this
tradition can be traced back through the Middle Ages to its source in Greek
mythology, which asserted that coral originated as the spurts of blood that
gushed forth when Medusa’s head was cut off by Perseus.
Coral rosaries were especially popular in Spain. Several are listed in the
inventory of jewels owned by
Juana Ia Loca, including one with a small gold pendant in the form of an urn
(probably a holy water vial).
Another Spanish coral and gold example, but with filigree paternosters and
gaud, was formerly in the collection of Thomas F. Flannery, Jr., of Chicago.
A MAGNIFICENT AND HIGHLY IMPORTANT
RENAISSANCE GOLD
CHAIN
RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK OF THE SANTA MARGARITA IN 1980
Comprising one hundred thirty-six oval links Continuously formed of
Cross-form cross-section,
alternately twisted and with serrated edges—length of each link 7/sin.
(2.3cm); overall length
61 15/16in. (157.5 cm.)
Throughout Europe during the sixteenth century and well into the seventeenth
century. chains like the present example were worn by both sexes, often in
addition to more elaborate enamelled and gem-set
necklaces, Their presence in so many portraits, worn with a badge or medal
of office or a wedding medal,
suggests that their use was either ceremonial or merely a conspicuous
display of wealth. In the portrait of
William Brooke, 10th Lord Cobham and his family at Longleat (illustrated on
p. 178), even some of the
children are depicted wearing several strands of gold chains1. Moreover, the
custom of giving gold chains
as diplomatic gifts continued through the seventeenth century; in 1623
Endymion Porter received a gold
chain while in Madrid, ‘the prettiest making that I ever saw—possibly of
Oriental origin, as were many
referred to in contemporary accounts2.
The 1619 inventory of Emperor Mathias’s collections lists a number of
chains, all lost: -1049, A ducat-gold
chain with twisted elements, weighing 67 ducats; 1050, A knitted chain with
6 lengths, weighing 67½
crowns; 1051, A curb chain one width long, weighing 72½ crowns; 1052, A
‘muzzle” chain, weighing
together with the golden lamb 11½ crowns: 1053, A rectangular wirework
chain, weighing together with
the golden fleece 88½ crowns ,
Chains identical in form to the present example are found in several
contemporary portraits, such as the
1623 portrait of Georg IV by Johann Kreuzfelder4 and the portrait of
Margareta Bronsen, probably in her
wedding garments, by Michael Conrad Hirt, 1641,now in the St. Anna Church,
Lubeck, illustrated here5.
Similar links appear in a portrait of Margaretha van Nispen of 1570, new in
the Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam6 and illustrated on p. 174. In this painting the sitter is shown
with a massive gold chain which
appears to be worn around the waist with the weight taken on the hips. The
chain joins at the front.
comprises groups of approximately twelve oval large molded links with
openwork lozenge-shaped links
(cf. lots 168, 169) at intervals, and suspends a pomander which is held in
the hand. Two versions of
Velazquez’s full length portrait of the young Philip IV in black illustrated
as the frontispiece show him
wearing a similar chain over one shoulder’.
These Atocha Relics Are Not For
Sale
A SUPERB SILVER-GILT TWO-HANDLED CUP
RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK NUESTRA SENORA DE ATOCHA IN 1985
Of extremely heavy gauge, on plain spool foot, the sides raised into ten
lobes, the exterior incised with plain ruled borders, the center with
circular boss rising to a point, engraved with continuous scrolls (probably
originally enamelled), with two upright ‘question-mark’ handles, struck
twice in Bowl with pomegranate and crown within a headed circular
punch—length over handles 6 5/8in. (16.9cm.)
A very similar fluted cup, appears in Juan Bautista de Espinosa’s Still Life
With Silver-gilt Salvers illustrated and discussed on p. 27. Another of the
same form, described as a catavinos. halLmarked for
Zaragoza, is illustrated in Fernandez et al,. p. 132. p1. 1543.
The significance of the boss in the interior of the
present example is unclear. Brilliantly enamelled, it might
have served, along with the bright convex flutes of the sides, to show the
clarity of the wine, much in the same way the raised boss in the bottom of a
traditional wine taster does. Yet its presence as the centerpiece of
Espinoza’s painting suggests perhaps another function. Assuming that the
picture depicts all the components of a hipocras. or alcoholic punch, then
it is possible that the raised boss acted in much the same way as a modern
orange juicer the presence of an orange directly in front of the cup the
small
size typical of the period—would seem to bear this out. Equally though, a
fig, commonly used at this period to sweeten water, could be spiked on it.
Nonetheless these raised bosses must be seen ultimately to derive from the
often elaborate cage-type bosses intended to hold a bezoar stone in the
so-called 'poison-cups’ of the Renaissance period. One such
is the gold cup recovered from the wreck of Atocha in 1973 and now the
property of the Maritime
Historical Society.
The present cup was featured in the National Geographic Societys television
special. Atocha: Quest for
Treasure.
A SILVER TWO-HANDLED BOWL
RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK NUESTRA SENORA DE ATOCHA IN 1985
Plain circular with tapering sides and applied at the rim with two "question
mark" handles.
Length over handles 6 5/8in.
(16.9cm.)
Still Life Chocolate Service, attributed to Zurbaran, oil on canvas. Mus'ee des Beaux-Art, Besancon.
A SILVER BELL
RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK NUESTRA SENORA DE ATOCHA IN 1985
Of typical form, with tri-part pierced handle and iron clapper-14in.
(35.5cm.) high.
The soft nature of the silver and lack of any wear on the inside of the bell
make it unlikely that this was intended for use. Additionally, the roughness
of the casting suggests that it could possibly have been contraband silver
and its true composition disguised on board by patination to resemble
bronze.
These Atocha Relics Are Not For
Sale
Tuesday, June 14 and
Wednesday, June 15, 1988
Christie's New York
www.christies.com
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