Attilio Codognato Signed 800 Silver & Red Coral Holly Tree Objet D'Art, Ca. 1990

Details

Description

A remarkable vintage decorative sculpture in the tradition of the Italian albero in vaso — a naturalistic tree rendered entirely … Read more A remarkable vintage decorative sculpture in the tradition of the Italian albero in vaso — a naturalistic tree rendered entirely in silver and set within a formal cachepot, Circa 1990. The holly branches are worked in oxidized silver, deliberately darkened to evoke real bark, with the gnarled, textured surface of living wood. Spreading from the trunk, polished silver leaves are rendered with botanical precision: each one shaped with the characteristic spiky lobed edges of Ilex aquifolium, the European holly, veins pressed finely into the metal.
Three vivid berries of Mediterranean red coral punctuate the branches — their deep vermillion a startling counterpoint to the cool silver. Holly, evergreen in winter and bearing berries bright as blood, has been a symbol of life persisting through darkness for centuries. In Codognato's hands, it becomes something more: a small, silent meditation on beauty and mortality alike.
The pot is a classically proportioned fluted cachepot with vertical reeding and a gadrooned pie-crust rim — restrained and architectural, grounding the wild organic energy of the tree above it. Substantial in hand at 120.7 grams, with a presence that commands any surface it inhabits.

Hallmarks & Authentication
The base bears two struck marks. The maker's cartouche — CODOGNATO — punched cleanly into the silver, confirms authentic provenance. The purity mark 800 denotes 80% fine silver, the traditional Italian and Continental European silversmithing standard.
The choice of 800 silver is not a compromise but a declaration. Preferred for generations by Venetian craftsmen, it is slightly more ductile than British sterling (925), ideal for the fine naturalistic modeling of the leaves and branches. Its higher copper content also means it oxidizes more expressively — producing exactly the rich, warm darkening so deliberate in the trunk of this piece. For Codognato, who refused to adapt to international commercial convention in any aspect of his work, using the Continental standard was entirely consistent: a quiet, firm assertion of Italian identity.
About the House
Attilio Codognato (1938–2023) was one of the most singular figures in the history of decorative arts — a fourth-generation Venetian jeweler who operated a single room near Piazza San Marco and refused, on principle, to open a second. Founded in the mid-19th century by his great-grandfather Simeone, Casa Codognato became under Attilio's stewardship a destination not merely for jewelry but for a complete aesthetic worldview: Byzantine, Roman, and Renaissance influences distilled into objects steeped in Venetian history, the memento mori tradition, and an unflinching beauty drawn from darkness.
His signature vocabulary — micro-skulls, coiling serpents, poison rings, coral, and enamel — attracted a clientele of mythological proportions: the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Jackie Kennedy, Maria Callas, Andy Warhol, Diana Vreeland, and Luchino Visconti, who visited during the filming of Death in Venice and bought a piece as a gift every single day. More recently, Alessandro Michele, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Cindy Sherman, and Jeff Koons counted themselves devoted collectors.
When asked to open an exact replica of his shop in New York — with full financial backing — Codognato declined. His best work, he said, was the fruit of a direct dialogue between maker and client, both present in the same room. The shop on Calle II dell'Ascensione remains, to this day, the sole authorized point of sale in the world.
A Collector's Note
Signed Codognato objects — particularly decorative sculptures in silver — appear rarely at auction or in the secondary market. The house operated with deliberate scarcity, producing work in limited quantities for a private clientele who seldom parted with what they acquired. A signed, hallmarked piece of this scale, combining 800 silver craftsmanship with natural coral in excellent condition, represents a significant opportunity for the serious collector of Italian decorative arts or 20th-century Venetian objects.

Details:
Weight: 120.7 grams
Height: 7 "
Widest point: 5.5 "
Pot Width: Approx 2.5"

Condition: Excellent overall, with no visible wear or damage to the silver or coral. Four empty settings are present among the branches, indicating that the piece originally bore additional coral berries — suggesting the tree was once even more richly appointed than it appears today. The three remaining berries retain full color and are firmly set. For the right collector, the empty settings could be restored with period-appropriate Mediterranean coral; equally, they read as a kind of natural attrition, entirely in keeping with the house's memento mori sensibility. See less