AN ITALIAN ROYAL GILT-COPPER, SILVER AND LAPIS LAZULI-MOUNTED HOLY WATER STOUP

The power of the Roman Baroque style was such that it would eventually be disseminated around Italy and beyond. However, with its lavish use of materials, the harmonious blending of decorative elements and the physiognomy of the putti, this stoup probably was produced in Rome itself. Another stoup, also inlaid with lapis lazuli and centred by a silver relief of the Virgin and Child, has been attributed to Giovanni Giardini, and provides a close stylistic comparable, J. Montagu, Gold, Silver and Bronze - Metal Sculpture of the Roman Baroque, New Haven and London, 1996, pl v.