Openwork Information, history and price guide

Openwork or open-work is a term in art history, architecture and related fields for any technique that produces decoration by creating holes, piercings, or gaps that go right through a solid material such as metal, wood, stone, pottery, cloth, leather, or ivory. Such techniques have been very widely used in a great number of cultures.

The term is rather flexible, and used both for additive techniques that build up the design, as for example most large features in architecture, and those that take a plain material and make cuts or holes in it. Equally techniques such as casting using moulds create the whole design in a single stage, and are common in openwork. Though much openwork relies for its effect on the viewer seeing right through the object, some pieces place a different material behind the openwork as a background. Reference: Wikipedia. Below are some examples of openwork in silver wares.

A pair of Victorian sterling silver vintage-decorated wine bottle coasters marks rubbed, Sheffield, 1840 The sides with openwork fruiting grapevines, border with cast branch and vine, and the foot with a ribbon tied reeded band, with wooden bases, diameter 7in (18cm).

Sold for US$ 2,125 (£ 1,595) inc. premium at Bonhams in 2018

Mount; silver-gilt; rectangular; relief openwork decoration with engraved silver strip between; openwork casing engraved with diamond-shaped flower petals, and with openwork quatrefoils; one end has a hinge, the other (broken) has two rivets.

Reference: © The Trustees of the British Museum

1900 PARIS EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE: AN AMERICAN SILVER AND ENAMEL "POMPEIAN" VASE MARK OF TIFFANY & CO., NEW YORK, 1900, DESIGNED BY PAULDING FARNHAM — 1900 PARIS EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE: AN AMERICAN SILVER AND ENAMEL “POMPEIAN” VASE MARK OF TIFFANY & CO., NEW YORK, 1900, DESIGNED BY PAULDING FARNHAM On spreading circular base with gadrooned rim, rising to a amphora-form body chased with lobes spaced by reeded arches, the shoulders enameled with stylized red lyres and yellow flowers above scrolling green foliage, neck chased with shells and flowering vines, the upswung openwork handles cast with climbing vines and terminating in two swan heads, the handles topped by stylized pierced rosettes, marked on underside, numbered 13899-1120 and with 1900 Paris Exposition mark 18 ½ in. (47 cm.) high 98 oz. 16 dwt. (3,073 gr.)

Sold for USD 31,250 at Christies in 2019

Antique Silver, Gold, Cultured Pearl and Diamond Pendant-Brooch The openwork garland accented by 10 old European-cut diamonds approximately 3.85 cts., set throughout with 112 old-mine cut diamonds approximately 7.50 cts., centering one button pearl approximately 11.85 mm., center pearl and setting not original, approximately 18.5 dwts. With GIA report no. 6192714159 stating that the pearl is bead cultured, saltwater, no indications of treatment.

Sold for $4,375 (includes buyer’s premium) at Doyle New York in 2018

A 20th century Greek sterling silver twin-handled bowl, stamped 925 and with a maker’s mark Of shaped oval form, embossed with fruiting vine, with leaf-capped openwork handles, raised on four openwork feet. Length – 31.5 cm / 12.4 inches Weight – 433 grams / 13.92 ozt

Sold for £130 at Chiswick Auctions in 2019

This candlestick, a fine example of the Parisian goldsmith’s art in the first half of the 17th century, is one of the few known works by François Roberday the elder, goldsmith to the Duke of Orleans. The work was evidently based on the engravings of metalwork designs that goldsmiths used as models. The openwork motifs are typical of the “cosse de pois,” or peapod, style, which was then fashionable among goldsmiths working for the Crown. A candlestick dating from the first half of the 17th century The candlestick has a circular base, made from a sheet of pierced silver, that forms a double openwork rosette of peapod-style ornaments. The central stalk rises from a crown of leaves and is divided into several branches. It terminates in a small handle shaped like a cluster of flowers. On either side are lateral branches that pass through open peapods. Both branches are topped by a candle-ring in the shape of a corolla and a hexagonal candleholder with six petals. Slender tendrils decorated with peapods and peas entwine the main branches. The abundance of leaves and tendrils make this work a typical example of the Parisian goldsmith’s art in the first half of the 17th century.

Reference:The Louvre

Archaeological finds in ancient Mesopotamia indicate that filigree was incorporated into jewelry since 3,000 BC. Specific to the city of Midyat in Mardin Province in upper Mesopotamia, a form of filigree using silver and gold wires, known as “telkari”, was developed in the 15th Century. To this day, expert craftsmen in this region continue to produce fine pieces of telkari.The Egyptian jewelers employed wire, both to lay down on a background and to plait or otherwise arranged jour. But, with the exception of chains, it cannot be said that filigree work was much practiced by them. Their strength lay rather in their cloisonné work and their molded ornaments. Many examples, however, remain of round plaited gold chains of fine wire, such as those that are still made by the filigree workers of India, and known as trichinopoly chains. From some of these are hung smaller chains of finer wire with minute fishes and other pendants fastened to them. Reference: Wikipedia