Ivana Lemcool, University of Belgrade

The National Museum of Serbia houses a large number of silver bowls made in the Balkan area. Among them, those made between the last decades of the fifteenth and the end of the seventeenth century display distinctive features, such as the presence of small figurines attached to the center of the vessel and, even more commonly, ornamental designs showing concurrently motifs of Western European and Islamic origin. While Islamization of existing local forms has been noted in earlier scholarship, the adoption of Western models evident in the silver bowls made in the Balkan peninsula between 1500 and 1700 has not been sufficiently investigated. In this paper, we will further examine the influx of decorative elements from the West that will provide a better understanding of stylistic developments evident in the metalwork of this region. To that end, we will consider the material found in other museums, particularly those of former Yugoslav republics, as well as those in Hungary and Bulgaria. By presenting it alongside some of the most paradigmatic specimens from our collection, we aim to elucidate the pathways of interaction between the centers of production in the early modern period that led to the confluence of styles characteristic of this group of artifacts.

Ivana Lemcool is an art historian specializing in the art of the Middle Ages. She received her doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, and the title of Honorary Research Associate at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, University of Belgrade. She has published several papers dealing with pre-modern astral imagery, the history of astral sciences, and Serbian medieval and early modern works of applied arts. Currently, she is engaged as an associate in the preparation of the forthcoming exhibition on the metal vessels from the medieval and early modern collections of the National Museum of Serbia.

with input from Branka Ivanić, who is an art historian specializing in Byzantine and Serbian medieval and early modern art. She received her magister’s degree from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, and the title of museum advisor at the National Museum of Serbia, where she was appointed curator of the medieval collection and, later, early modern and post-byzantine collection. She has organized a number of exhibitions at home and abroad, and she has published several books, catalogues, and papers dealing with material from the Museum’s collections and Serbian art within the broader European context. Currently, she is preparing an exhibition on medieval and early modern metal vessels from the collections of the National Museum of Serbia.