Lidded compote
This impressive silver and enamel lidded compote was made by Boston-area silversmith Vincent Ferrini in 1964. Born in Brockton, Ferrini studied silversmithing with Joseph L. Sharrock at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (graduating with honors in 1955), then pursued graduate work with Hans Christensen at the Rochester Institute of Technology's legendary School for American Craftsman (graduating in 1964). Ferrini then taught at Boston University's School of Arts for 20 years before opening Goldsmiths 3 in Concord, Massachusetts in 1983 in partnership with fellow silversmith John Reynolds and Bob Fairbanks.
The lidded compote was made as part of Ferrini's graduate thesis work at RIT in 1964 in which he explored "Enameling on Silver" as a direct challenge to his mentor, Christensen, who felt that it could not be done successfully. Ferrini proved otherwise, combining Christensen's sleek Danish aesthetic with his own tendency towards baroque opulence and rich, textured surfaces. Ferrini skillfully featured two different enameling techniques on the piece: champlevé and plique-a-jour.
The MFA owns no works by this important local silversmith, His work in enamel expands the MFA's collection of Boston enamels, long tradition that dating back to the Arts and Crafts movement of the turn of the 20th century, including works by Frank Gardner Hale, Elizabeth Copeland, Rebecca Cauman, and others.
NOTE: Vincent Ferrini created this object for his thesis project at Rochester Institute of Technology in 1964. He lent it to that institution from 1964 until 2011, after which he housed it in his collection in Scituate, MA.
