The Museo degli Argenti (Silver Museum) displays the Medici Treasure, the jewels and the most precious objects once belonged to the Lords of Florence.
The museum, opened in the late 19th C., is located on the ground floor of Pitti Palace, in the summer apartments of the Medici court, sumptuously decorated with baroque frescoes. It shows the huge collection of precious objects once belonged to the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, with later additions coming from the ancient Gems Cabinet of the Uffizi, from the collection of jewels belonged to Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, from the Treasure of the prince-bishops of Salzburg and from the Treasure of San Lorenzo in Florence.
Collections:
The core of the collection is a group of sixteen vases in semi-precious stones once belonged to Lorenzo the Magnificent, products of classical, Byzantine, Venetian and even Persian workshops, with gilded silver frames made by Florentine goldsmiths of the 15th C. The rooms on the ground floor house pieces of furniture in semi-precious stones, reliquaries, vases in semi-precious stones and rock crystal, ambers and ivories. The mezzanine rooms display silverware, cameos and above all jewels, as well as curious objects such as ostrich eggs, shells and coconuts.
Masterpieces:
Vase in lapis-lazuli with gilded frame, by Bernardo Buontalenti, late 16th C.
Small “Putto” on horseback, pearl, gold and enamels, Flemish Art, 16th C.
Vase in red jasper, gilded and enamelled silver frame, Venetian and Florentine workshops, 13th-15th C.
“Stipo di Alemagna” (German Cabinet), ebony and semi-precious stones, Hapsburg workshops, 1628
Ex-voto (votive offering) of Cosimo II, semi-precious stones inlay, 1617-24
Jade mask, Mexican Art, 3th-7th C.
Openings:
Every day from 8.15 to 16.30 in November, December, January and February
Every day from 8.15 to 17.30 in March
Every day from 8.15 to 18.30 in April, May, September and October
Every day from 8.15 to 19.30 in June, July and August
Closed on:
1° and last Monday of each month
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