Set of blotter, inkwell and pen holder in bronze with coral inlays forming floral motifs. Trapani, Sicily, 18th ...

Set of blotter, inkwell and pen holder in bronze with coral inlays forming floral motifs. Trapani, Sicily, 18th century. 6 x 5 x 5 cm. With faults. The use of coral as a decorative object in southern Italy dates back to the classical world and reached its peak during the centuries of the Modern Age. The main production centers were Genoa, Palermo, Naples and Trapani. But it was especially in Sicily, especially in Trapani, where its use for the creation of artistic pieces, not just jewelery, acquired an important dimension throughout the 16th century. The masters of Trapani specialized in the creation of various figures carved in coral, with the most varied iconographies, taking advantage of the natural forms of the coral trunks, and in pieces of silver, in bronze and the richest in gilt silver, with coral inlaid decorations. With the use of this organic material with a strong chromatic and aesthetic load, in its variety of intense red color, very rich manufactures were made with highly appreciated plastic values ​​outside of what was done in the autochthonous workshops. The production included pieces for religious and civil use, such as chalices, monstrances or cruets, crucifixes, rosaries, reliquaries, the capezzali, called in Spain head images, frames, boxes, salvillas or aguabenditeras, etc.