The transmission of the art. Unpublished families of silversmiths from Santiago de Compostela

The Sándhez (18th and 19th centuries)

Abstract

Despite the enormous importance that the guild of silversmiths had in the city of Compostela since its foundation in the ninth century and throughout its history, artistic literature has been little interested in this sumptuary art, being still a pending subject of historiography. In this text we present some news about a family of silversmiths from Compostela, the Sánchez, that had special relevance between the eighteenth and nineteenth century, because one of its members was a marker of the city and two of them official silversmiths of the cathedral of Santiago. This charge of contrast materialized in the existence of many pieces today that bear the “SAN/CHEZ” mark. Thanks to the consistory and administrative documents of the City Council and the Cathedral, we have approximated the chronology of action of each of the members, as well as the analysis of the pieces that we have known.