Shining Moments in Italian Silver Design

The Italian Embassy's atrium looks serene now, but the breathtaking exhibition of silver installed there in recent days came together with all the creative chaos of an Italian opera.

In diva-like fashion, the precious objects arrived late. The stage managers -- in this case, the Italian Cultural Institute staff, which had just moved from offices downtown -- lacked phones. Display cases were shipped from Canada. Opening day was moved back by a week. And once the crates of silver finally made their way through customs, the shimmering pitchers, baskets, vases, goblets, trays and other finery had to be pulled from protective Bubble Wrap and polished.

Opening night was set for Wednesday, the same day a broken water main sent a torrent down Massachusetts Avenue, depriving the embassy of potable water. The party had to be called off, but the director, Rita Venturelli, soldiered on, working to transform the Tuscan red atrium into a jewel box of contemporary silver design. (The biggest objects, including a monumental basket-weave bowl by Franco Albini, awaited placement on gray cubes, and labels had yet to be written.)

The official opening day is now Tuesday, and the exhibition, "Italian Silverware of the 20th Century," is nearly 100 pieces strong.

The show comes from the Sartirana Arte Foundation in Pavia, which owns extraordinary works conceived by Italy's most revered architects, industrial designers and silver artists. Cardboard boxes in Venturelli's office bore names such as Vignelli, Piva, Scarpa, Sottsass, and Mangiarotti -- which is to say, the Lamborghinis, Maseratis and Bugattis of silver design.

The incomparable highlight is a set of silver plates and goblets designed from 1967 to 1969 by Olga Finci in Milan. There is no price tag, but the pattern is said to be one used by the last Iranian empress, Farah Diba, when she and Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi entertained before their reign's end in 1979.

Visitors to the embassy might want to swallow hard while absorbing the concept of silver dinner and salad plates. The soup cup comes with handles embellished with semiprecious stones. Matching silver goblets are shaped like tall tea glasses. All the surfaces are mottled, as if the metal surface had been etched over eons by desert sands. Because of the sunlight -- or perhaps it was the reflected glow of the embassy's yellow walls -- the plates and vessels glowed like gold.

This exhibition was assembled for the Museo Franz Mayer in Mexico City, where it was on display last summer. A few objects will be displayed at the Design Within Reach store in Adams Morgan.

The embassy's array provides one of the most exotic spreads of contemporary silver in recent memory. (The Renwick Gallery last year staged a bigger survey of 20th-century American silver from the Dallas Museum of Art. Keith Lipert's Georgetown gallery featured very grand pieces of modern British silver in 2001, including a pencil-shaped, lapis lazuli-tipped box made by a craftsman who supplied the Sultan of Brunei. And Lipert brought 75 pieces from Italy in 1999, including a rarely seen, limited-edition tea-and-coffee set from a legendary 1983 commission by the Alessi housewares company, whose prices hovered around $20,000 a set. The shah's silver matches that rare viewing experience.)

At the embassy, cases hold a short course in stylistic evolution from art nouveau through postmodernism. Silver accommodated the shift from curves to angles more gracefully than many materials did. The earliest object, a matte-finish sauceboat that's as graceful as a flower, dates from 1936 but still looks fresh. A whimsical collection of 1980s pieces by the group called Memphis shines like iconoclasts of a distant age. Among them is an object by architect Matteo Thun that is described as a fruit basket. Thun took its form from a deck chair whose armrests would have kept apples from spilling onto the table. The Memphis objects are the most unusual, but that burst of radical postmodern design dated fast.

By contrast, a 1982 pitcher by Gabriele De Vecchi has a timeless quality, not to mention a dramatic red handle that gives it cachet as a Ferrari of the table. Wine won't pour any faster, but the design could make the heart race.

Most unusual in the display is an electric lamp from 1972, designed by De Vecchi with Corinna Morandi. The lighting mechanics are encased in a flawlessly smooth tube of silver that resembles a large piece of macaroni.

Silver objects such as those will not lose their luster. But the luxurious metal has suffered from changing lifestyles, the decline of formality and, especially, a lack of servants to keep the finery gleaming. It is a tribute to Italian design that while De Vecchi and Morandi were creating their silver lamp, others were dreaming up smooth, curved lamps in plastic, which are just as iconic and far more affordable.

Italian Silverware of the 20th Century is open by appointment from Tuesday to Oct. 19 at the Italian Embassy, 3000 Whitehaven St. NW. Hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Call 202-518-0998 (Ext. 27) to register.