BUCCELLATI Art in Gold, Silver and Gems - Book Review

GREG ARBUTINE
3 days ago
4 min read

Book Review:

BUCCELLATI Art in Gold, Silver and Gems

If you are interested in the art of creating fine silver, gold and gem encrusted object of virtu as well amazing pieces of jewelry, then this book is for you. You will learn about the rich history of the Italian Buccellati Family of Bolgna, Italy. They are revered as perhaps one of the greatest jewelry and silversmiths that have ever existed.

Their book BUCCELLATI Art in Gold, Silver and Gems was released in conjunction with their premiere exhibition that was at The Smithsonian Instituation as well having toured many other cities as well. I was fortunate enough to have seen the exhibition in person in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was a pretty incredible exhibition to say the least.

The books is still readily available on Ebay and on other 3rd party shopping websites. If you are a collector of fine antiques, jewelry, silver, gold or gems - this may be a book you want to add to your print library.

BUCCELLATI Art in Gold, Silver and Gems - Mario Buccellati, Company Founder

Excerpt from the book about The Buccellati Family:

The Buccellati Style:

The Creation of Beauty

The works of art produced by three generations of the Buccellati family can be compared to the Renaissance tradition of craftsmanship innate in the workshops of Venice,

Florence, Rome and Milan. In truth every city in medieval Europe had many families of artisans, and it was the accumulation of their knowledge and experience that gave rise to exceptional artists like Benvenuto Cellini, the enamel masters of Limoges or the tapestry weavers at Goblins.

The history of the Buccellati family is especially interesting because both Gianmaria and his son, Andrea, have continued to work in the tradition of the company's founder and Gianmaria's father, Mario. The combination of idea or concept, design and the specialized craftsmen who execute the pieces, capable of exploring as they create, is a perfect one. Furthermore, of Mario's many children, only Gianmaria had a designer's temperament, and of his three children, Andrea was the only one to inherit his father's creative ability.

There are some things in this world which will never change, even with more advanced technologies and the evolution of new economies. These things exist on a plane above ideologies, where

"modernity" is something permanent and where beauty exists, first and foremost, in the mystery of the process of shaping an object from a drawing and only afterwards in the aesthetics of the work. Beauty can be interpreted in many ways, but beyond the vagaries of changing fashions, beauty has but one form which is universally recognized by the human soul.

The Buccellati family has had a dialogue with beauty since the eighteenth century, although it has only officially been in the business of creating objects for three generations. For them, the beauty of precious metals and stones has always worked to serve the finished piece. Beauty is the challenge between the idea of it, human hands and the possibility of realizing it. An object signed by Mario, Gianmaria or Andrea Buccellati radiates the inestimable value of past eras which gave form to it and the extraordinary play of solids and voids and of gemstones and metal which give the viewer a sense of pure magic.

Every inch of each piece has been carefully worked. The time spent is absolutely necessary to make the separate elements of the work — the chasing or the set stones — come to life as the craftsman creates the individual piece.

Important human creations are never made in a hurry, and thus the value of quality does not change over the centuries. It is not by chance that the temples of ancient times majestically dominate, in the silence of centuries, the underlying chaos that originally surrounded them. Gianmaria Buccellati might spend twenty years finishing one object knowing that with the next the struggle over every detail will arise again. He knows that poetry clashes with the material and that the challenge rolls, wave after wave, from problem to solution and towards workmanship that is ever more intricate and results that are always more delicate. Complexity disappears in the lightness of the jewelry and assumes harmonious gravity in pieces such as the rock crystal amphora, or the cups and the boxes.

-Finito-

Buy the book to learn more!

Please Sell Your Buccellati Silver to The Silver Museum

We want to purchase all your antique sterling silver especially any pieces that have elaborate decorative work or that have any unusual themes. We love buying entire collections.

Always fair and competitive quotes given.

We also buy common grade and scrap quality silver as well.

If you have items that you'd like to sell,

or even just want to get an idea on valuation

please click the email us button for a quote.

Email Us:

Please send us photos, measurements and item descriptions.

Thanks,

Greg Arbutine

Silver Museum Owner