Giovanni Raspini: the ‘Panthère Noire’ exhibition arrives in Rome

There are three stages of the project, in three Italian capitals of beauty and art: Milan, Rome and Florence. In Milan the inauguration event was held on Thursday 21 May in the elegant spaces of the Residenza Vignale: the exhibition then remained open to the public free of charge from 22 to 31 May. The Coffee House of Palazzo Colonna will host the Roman stage: inauguration on Thursday 11 June and free access to the public from the 12th to the 14th of the same month. Giovanni Raspini’s flagship location, Loggia Rucellai, was chosen for Florence. Here Panthère Noire will be inaugurated on Thursday 24 September and will remain open from 25 September to 4 October, with free admission also in this case. “My animalistic instinct – says Giovanni Raspini – was born while admiring the wonderful jewels that unknown goldsmiths have dedicated to felines over the millennia. I remember very well a Hittite gold bracelet that I saw many years ago at the museum in Ankara, Turkey. Two lion protomes joined by a semicircle: a beauty so simple and effective as to be very modern. And on the other hand, at least since the second millennium BC, jewelery creators in every part of the world have been dealing with mysterious elegance of the felines, almost as if to tame the aggression and extraordinary strength of these elegant animals in a precious artefact which finds its peak in the story of Hercules who defeats the Nemean lion, then wearing its skin as an invincible cloak”.

Among the most significant pieces, the Panthère Noire necklace stands out, an icon of the exhibition, in burnished bronze, black onyx and feathers. Explosion of light for the Snow Leopard necklace, with a snow leopard lying on rock crystal quartzes. The Tiger necklace is impressive, representing the feline in a tropical forest of bronze, quartz and mother-of-pearl. Furthermore, for the first time, two sets inspired by the event, Panthère Mirage Blue and Leopardo Jungle, will be available for sale, creating a bridge between the creativity of the exhibition and the public. To welcome visitors there will be two imposing life-size bronze sculptures of black panthers (160×70 cm for 65 kg), created by the sculptor Lucio Minigrilli based on a design by Raspini. True “guardians” of the exhibition, the two works in turn wear specially created animalier jewels, thus fusing goldsmith’s art with monumental sculpture.