Large Silver Alloy Tray with Open-Work Edge

Large Silver Alloy Tray with Open-Work Edge

Riau or Singapore

circa 1900

length: 49cm, width: 41cm, weight: 660g

This oblong platter or tray is of beaten silver-copper alloy that has been chased with intricate leaf and petal motifs around a central cartouche of a long kris crossed with its sheaf. Unusually, the rococo-style edge has open-work and is reinforced with carefully-shaped soldered silver-copper strips.

This type of silver-work is said to come from Riau, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and was exported to Malay and related Islamic communities in Singapore, Malaysia and in the rest of Indonesia during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It might also have been produced in Singapore in a Malay style.

This tray is an unusually large and fine example.

Provenance

UK art market

Inventory no.: 1225

SOLD