Object Description
For sale is this snake dish by Giacinto Melillo. The snake has inset green stone eyes with a gilt or gold ring around the neck. This piece is of an exceptionally heavy gauge of silver which is typical of Melillo’s work. Dating to around 1900.
Giacinto Melillo was Castellani’s workshop manager from 1865 and attributed with making many of his finest pieces of jewellery. Around 1885 Melillo established his own independent business in Naples making similar revivalist classical pieces. The design of this dish is probably based on an original Etruscan or Roman piece in bronze or pottery.