Guccio di Mannaia (Malnaia; Malnaggia; Manaie; Mannaie) was an Italian goldsmith from Siena, Italy active from 1288 to 1322. He is best known for a 13th-century decorated gold-plated chalice which contains the first documented use of translucent enamels using the technique known as

basse-taille ''Basse-taille'' (bahss-tah-ee) is an enamelling technique in which the artist creates a low-relief pattern in metal, usually silver or gold, by engraving or chasing. The entire pattern is created in such a way that its highest point is lower ...

Biographical details

Little is known about the life of Guccio di Mannaia, and very few works are attributed to him with certainty. He came from a family of

Sienese Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...

s, with his brother (Pino) as well as his three sons (Montigiano, Mannaia, and Jacopo) working in the same trade. He was influenced by Pace di Valentino who was the first Sienese goldsmith working for the

papal court The papal household or pontifical household (usually not capitalized in the media and other nonofficial use, ), called until 1968 the Papal Court (''Aula Pontificia''), consists of dignitaries who assist the pope in carrying out particular ceremoni ...

(under popes Nicholas III, Martin IV, Honorius IV, and Boniface VIII). In addition, he seems to have been familiar with northern European artworks, such as the Westminster retable in England and the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts of the Parisian Master Honoré, to which the human figures in his work are often compared. It is certain that he was actively working until 1322 though he was dead by 1329.

Works

Guccio di Mannaia engraved four seals from 1292 to 1318 for which receipts of payment exist, and although one of these works is now lost the other three survive. He was well known in Siena, his city of origin, and received numerous official commissions; it is likely that the number of seals produced under his direction was vast.

Chalice of Nicholas IV

Guccio di Mannaia's only signed work is a

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'mug', borrowed from Ancient Greek () 'cup') or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink. In religious practice, a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning. R ...

"of extraordinary importance and quality" made in 1288-1292 at the request of

Pope Nicholas IV Pope Nicholas IV ( la, Nicolaus IV; 30 September 1227 – 4 April 1292), born Girolamo Masci, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1288 to his death on 4 April 1292. He was the first Franciscan to be ele ...

for the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. The base and knop were made of gold-plated silver using the lost-wax method, while the cup, made of the same material, was created through embossing. It contains technical details including finely wrought repoussé leaves with other metalwork features that mark it as "Tuscan Gothic"; both its form and technique were widely copied. In addition, the chalice is decorated with ninety-six translucent and semi-translucent enamels. The enamels depict images of the crucifixion, the Virgin and child, symbols of the evangelists, several Franciscan saints (Saints Francis, Clare, and Anthony), Pope Nicholas himself, as well as angels, apostles, and prophets. The range of enamel colors includes azure, violet, yellow-gold, green, brown, and blue, and in various places the chiselling and engraving of the metalwork reveals the silver underneath the gold plating. His signature (''Guccius Mannaie de Senis fecit'') as well as the name of the commissioning Pope (''Niccholaus Papa quartus'') are contained in sixteen of the enamels that circumscribe the chalice’s stem. Commissioned by the first Franciscan pope, the chalice with its imagery is part of the vast decorative project that includes the frescoes and stained glass windows of the Basilica. An inventory from 1430 of the Basilica, where the chalice is still kept, contains a reference to a

paten A paten or diskos is a small plate, used during the Mass. It is generally used during the liturgy itself, while the reserved sacrament are stored in the tabernacle in a ciborium. Western usage In many Western liturgical denominations, the p ...

, now lost, that was decorated with a scene of the Last Supper, similar in style to the chalice. Other works attributed to him are done so based only on comparison to the chalice rather than other documentary evidence, and can be found in museums in Florence, Siena, Paris, and Berlin. Chalice Assisi Guccio di Mannaia 1 Entire Chalice

Chalice Assisi Guccio di Mannaia 1 Entire Chalice

Chalice Assisi Guccio di Mannaia 2 Detail Knop

Chalice Assisi Guccio di Mannaia 3 Detail Name

Chalice Assisi Guccio di Mannaia 4 Detail Christ

Chalice Assisi Guccio di Mannaia 5 Detail St

Artistic legacy

Guccio di Mannaia's work would influence many other goldsmiths of the era, and his chalice would become a "fundamental model for the production of chalices in the decades to come." Tondino di Guerrino, another goldsmith from Siena, most likely studied under him as an apprentice. An image from one of Guccio's seals, that of the rulers of Siena known as the ''Signori Nove'', was reproduced by

Simone Martini Simone Martini ( – 1344) was an Italian painter born in Siena. He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style. It is thought that Martini was a pupil ...

in his grand Maesta, a fresco that covers an entire wall in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena. Other imagery from this same seal, specifically the orb held by the Madonna and child, can be found also in the gilded-glass panel of a wooden reliquary from about 1347. The gilded glass panel is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, while the wooden frame is in the Cleveland Museum of Art. In addition, his work would anticipate that of Pietro and

Ambrogio Lorenzetti Ambrogio Lorenzetti (; – 9 June 1348) or Ambruogio Laurati was an Italian painter of the Sienese school. He was active from approximately 1317 to 1348. He painted '' The Allegory of Good and Bad Government'' in the Sala dei Nove (Salon of Nin ...

References

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