Heraldic silver cruet, circa 1600

Very nice Spanish non-marked silver cruet.
The coat of arms, incised twice on the body, on both sides of the handle, represents the Order of Discalced Carmelites. This important Catholic order was founded in 1568 by Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) and Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591). The Discalced Carmelites reached its peak from the very first decades with the founding of numerous convents and monasteries mostly in Castille, afterwards strongly expanding its presence in Italy, under Pope Gregory VIII, and then in France, Germany, Low Countries, Poland...

The beautiful sinuous handle heightens the elegance of this object, whose shape and proportions are distinctive features of the last decades of the XVIth century and the early XVIIth century, the early period of the order, whose silver works examples are extremely rare.

Condition: slight dents on the body. Old restoration in the junction between the foot and the body.