Superb Spanish Colonial Silver Stove Kettle

This is an especially refined version of a small silver water kettle with an inbuilt stove that is peculiar to 18th century Spanish colonial Peru. Such kettles were used to keep water warm for use in making mate, the ubiquitous tea-like South American hot beverage.

This example is in the form of a realistically-modelled steer with prominent horns. Most versions are more utilitarian in form but more elaborate versions were cast as animals such as a lion, a turkey or a sheep. This is the first steer we have seen, published or otherwise.

The vessel is unexpectedly heavy – no silver was spared in its production, and yet the body is hollow. Water is poured into the vessel through the flower-like aperture towards the rear of the steer. A separate cavity reached through the large round cover on the steer’s back is to hold hot coals. A vent in the side of the steer permitted air in so that the coals would keep burning.

The covers are connected with silver chains. The cover over the coal chamber is engraved with a floral design and surmounted by a solid-cast finial in the form of a dog.

The solid-cast silver handle is robust and heavy, and decorated with rococo-like leafy flourishes.

Luxury items such as this were intended to impress and to flaunt its owner’s wealth – something of an obligation in the social hierarchy of 18th century Spanish colonial South America.

The Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained what is today Peru and most of Spain’s other colonial holdings in South America. Lima was the Viceroyalty of Peru’s capital. Stately homes were built in Lima by the local Spanish aristocracy and their splendid interiors were decorated with grand items of Spanish-influenced furniture and silverware. This helped to make Lima the most Spanish city in all of South America. Buildings, both secular and ecclesiastic, were based on 17th century European classicism. Silver mined from the Potosi mines – among the most important silver mines the world has seen – funded much of this and was used locally too by local silversmiths. The shipping port of Seville connected Spain to Viceroyalty of Peru and to Manila and Mexico. The trade was known as the Galleon Trade which saw the distribution of luxury goods across the world. The flow was not one way, but complex and multi-dimensional. The Viceroyalty of Peru lasted until 1824, although over its history it went through various territorial changes. The vessel here very much is a small reminder of the grandeur from this period.

This is an excellent example, is excellent condition.

 

Above: An engraving from the colonial era showing a lady drinking mate through a straw and with an oven kettle, like the example here, on the ground before her.