This sterling silver rabbit is the work of Mario Buccellati of Milan, modeled crouching with its ears laid back and rendered lifelike in the textured, hand-engraved fur that is the unmistakable signature of the house. Every surface is worked, the coat drawn out in countless fine strokes that catch and scatter the light, while the eyes, nose, and paws are finished smooth, a contrast that gives the creature its startling presence. Few silversmiths have ever captured an animal with such tactility.
Mario Buccellati founded his house in Milan in 1919 and brought to silver an artistry drawn from Renaissance goldsmiths, reviving engraving techniques that had fallen out of use and making them his own. His naturalistic animals, worked in this manner, are among the most admired objects in twentieth-century Italian silver. The present rabbit shows the hand of the workshop at its finest, the modeling assured, and the texture carried over the whole without a passage left flat.
The underside is marked M. Buccellati and stamped 925 for sterling silver, the mark used by Mario Buccellati's own workshop. The rabbit dates from the 1950s.
An object such as this sits beyond the ordinary run of silver, a piece to be handled and set where it can be seen closely. Buccellati animals are sought by collectors the world over, and a rabbit of this character, modeled with such life, is a rare thing to come by.
This sterling silver rabbit is the work of Mario Buccellati of Milan, modeled crouching with its ears laid back and rendered lifelike in the textured, hand-engraved fur that is the unmistakable signature of the house. Every surface is worked, the coat drawn out in countless fine strokes that catch and scatter the light, while the eyes, nose, and paws are finished smooth, a contrast that gives the creature its startling presence. Few silversmiths have ever captured an animal with such tactility.
Mario Buccellati founded his house in Milan in 1919 and brought to silver an artistry drawn from Renaissance goldsmiths, reviving engraving techniques that had fallen out of use and making them his own. His naturalistic animals, worked in this manner, are among the most admired objects in twentieth-century Italian silver. The present rabbit shows the hand of the workshop at its finest, the modeling assured, and the texture carried over the whole without a passage left flat.
The underside is marked M. Buccellati and stamped 925 for sterling silver, the mark used by Mario Buccellati's own workshop. The rabbit dates from the 1950s.
An object such as this sits beyond the ordinary run of silver, a piece to be handled and set where it can be seen closely. Buccellati animals are sought by collectors the world over, and a rabbit of this character, modeled with such life, is a rare thing to come by.
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