A 19th century Italian silver chamberstick

Augusto Castellani, Rome circa 1881, designed by Michelangelo Caetani, scratch-engraved to the underside 'Roma, Augusto Castellani, 1865-1881'

Footnotes

Provenance
Woolley & Wallis, 16th April 2013, lot 946.

The Castellani firm of jewellers and silversmiths was founded by Fortunato Pio Castellani (1794-1865) who opened his first workshop in Rome in 1814. Although he started off producing jewellery in the contemporary English, French and Swiss tastes, he went on to gain renown for 'archaeological jewellery' based on originals from the ancient world. He had been encouraged into this venture by his friend Michelangelo Caetani, Duke of Sermoneta and Prince of Teano (1804-1882).
A historian and polymath, Caetani had studied metalwork, drawing and sculpture as a young man, and went on to provide the company with many designs both for jewellery and silver. Perhaps the best-known of his non-jewellery designs is the series of devil and angel paper knives that were produced in wood, ivory and silver. As a scholar and expert on Dante, the imagery in the Divine Comedy made a strong impression and acted as inspiration for the designs of the paper knives and the chamberstick.

In the surviving ledgers from the Castellani archives there is a number of references to 'bugia diavolo' (devil chamberstick), 'portacandele Lucifero' (Lucifer candle holder) and other pieces with similar descriptions. Due to fact the some of these entries may refer to the same object getting carried over in annual stock-takes it is not possible to say accurately how many were made (although the current lot is the only known example). However, a number of details can be gleaned: the first reference appears in 1843 and the last in 1899; one entry includes in brackets 'P[rinci]pe di Teano' (Prince of Teano), identifying him as the designer; two buyers are specifically named next to two of the entries (The King of Italy and a Count Osloufieff).

The dates scratched to the underside of the chamberstick ('1865-1881') seem likely to relate to the period during which Fortunato's son Augusto Castellani was in charge of the business: 1865 being the year his father died, and 1881 presumably being the year in which the chamberstick was made.