Cardinal Orsini Mass Service

This extraordinary gilt-silver mass service was made for Cardinal Domenico Orsini d’Aragona (1719–1789) for use in his private chapel in the family palazzo in Rome. Each piece is decorated with the Orsini family coat of arms. Probably after the cardinal’s death, it reached the Cathedral of Muro Lucano, in the south of Italy, since Cardinal Orsini, who had many titles, was Count of Muro Lucano. This ensemble is a rare example of ecclesiastical silverwork from eighteenth-century Rome.