The Treasury of the Grand Dukes—still sometimes referred to as the Museo degli Argenti, or Silver Museum—in Palazzo Pitti includes the many objets d’art commissioned or purchased by the Medici during their centuries as Florence’s preeminent family.
Pitti’s treasury is home to an incredible diversity of curious, experimental, and finely executed objects. Perhaps the most quintessential examples of this small-scale creativity, however, are found in the Medici’s collection of baroque pearls.
Generally speaking, “baroque pearls” are simply pearls of irregular shape. During the Renaissance, Mannerist, and Baroque periods, such pearls were prized by European jewelers who used them to form the bodies of human, animal, mythological, or grotesque figures.
Information on the Pitti’s collection of pearls was scarce, but most of the pieces were probably made in the late 16th century or 17th century. They may have entered the Medici collection around that time, and seem at least to have been among Anna Maria Luisa de’Medici’s prized possessions in the 18th century.
Neither Josh nor I are certain who took these pictures, so we are both credited in the captions.