Giardini (Giovanni) & Limpach (Maximilian Joseph)

Promptuarium artis argentariae ex quo, centum exquisito studio inventis, delineates…, second edition, 2 parts in one, 2 title pages, 101 engraved plates (including engraved dedication), large engraved vignette on both title pages (repeated), drawing by the author, engraving by Maximilian Joseph Limpack, occasional spotting, small wormtrail affecting gutter of first few leaves at gutter, and 6 pages of the second part, small stain on inner margin, contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt, spine and part of both covers restored, rubbed, a.e.r., folio, Fausto Amidei, Rome, 1750.

*** First published in 1714 in Prague under the title ‘Disegni diversi’. This work is considered the finest 18th-century collection of patterns for silversmiths. Giovanni Giardini, a master silversmith, was appointed in 1698 bronze-founder for the papacy. The first part of the present work includes ecclesiastic objects, such as censers, candlesticks, and chalices, while the second one depicts secular items, like vases, tables, centrepieces, globes, clocks, candelabras, etc. His designs were influenced by late Italian Baroque art, especially by the works of the sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini and of the architect Francesco Borromini. The engravings, by the Czech engraver Maximilian Joseph Limpach, after design by Giovanni Giardini, were made for the first edition and used again for the present one.