The citizenship safe, given to the Royal Prince Luís Filipe (1887-1908) in 1907 by representatives of Angolan agriculture, commerce and industry, on the occasion of his visit to the Portuguese colonies in Africa on a tour that lasted around three months. It was the first time that a member of the royal family had visited the colonies. The trip took place on the Africa through South Africa, Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Cape Verde. The trip was widely publicized in the Portuguese and Angolan press at the time.
It was manufactured in the Leitão e Irmão workshops in Lisbon's Bairro Alto by two Portuguese masters: Júlio Rodrigues, the head of the workshop, and the promising young João da Silva. Magnificently crafted in chiseled silver, the chest has four figures on the edges representing people from the original peoples of Angola, its weight is supported by four rhinoceroses and at the top four ivory tusks are joined in the center by the Royal Crown.
Throughout the ages, diplomacy has played a decisive role in relations between states, as well as between entities. Like treaties and agreements, diplomatic gifts are part of and an expression of these relationships, with their own load of meaning and symbolism.
The safe bears the title of jewelers of the Portuguese Crown “LEITÃO & IRMÃO - JOALHEIROS DA CORÔA - LISBOA”, the reference to the Angolan cities “CIDADE DE BENGUELLA”; “CIDADE DE MOSSAMEDES”; “LABOR OMNIA VINCET”; “VISTA PANORAMICA DA CIDADE DE LOANDA” and the reference to the gift “OFFERED TO HIS ALTEZA THE PRINCE D. LUIZ FILIPPE / BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF AGRICULTURE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY / OF THE PROVINCE OF ANGOLA AS A SOUVENIR OF THE VISIT MADE / BY THE SAME SERENE LORD TO THE SAID PROVINCE IN AUGUST 1907”
Text written by the Royal Treasury Museum.
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