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Lot Essay
CAPTION:
Doña Josefa Oribe y Viana de Contucci, recipient of these playing cards from Princess Carlota of Spain Oribe Family Collection
CAPTION:
The Presentation of the Pomeranian Kunstschrank to Duke Philipp II of Pomerania, by Anton Mozart, Augsburg, circa 1616. Michael Frömmer contributed a set of French-suited silver playing cards to this famous princely art cabinet.
Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz Art Resource, NY
CAPTION:
Lot 56 The King, Knight, Knave, and Ace of Batons
CAPTION:
Lot 56 Brass plaque on the case for the cards, circa 1890
CAPTION:
Lot 56 Detail, Knave of Swords, with signature of Michael Frömmer
Documentary evidence shows that silver playing cards were an essential component of the princely kunstschrank, or art cabinet, of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. These cabinets, equipped with both artificialia and naturalia, represented the world in microcosm through an array of objects representing man's artistic and scientific achievements combined with natural rarities from exotic locales. The ambitious purpose of these cabinets - to display the education, sophistication and immense wealth of their owners - perhaps overshadows another function, which was simply to delight, astonish, and entertain. Card games joined board games, trick cups, "fun-house" mirrors and other amusements in a designated area of the cabinet. The celebrated Pomeranian Kunstschrank was fitted with three decks of silver cards in French, German, and Italian suits, conveying the worldliness of the owner by his ability to entertain in three "languages." Michael Frömmer, maker of the present set, contributed the French-suited deck to the Pomeranian Kunstschrank, which like most of the known cabinets of the period, was assembled and supplied by Philipp Hainhofer (1578-1647) financier, diplomat, and art dealer of Augsburg.
Despite their popularity among noble clientele -- records show that Hainhofer had supplied silver cards to the courts of Bavaria, Tuscany, and Brunswick among others -- only five sets of silver playing cards are known to survive today. The present set is the only complete deck in existence, a remarkable survival. The two extant decks from the Pomeranian Kunstschrank are now at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin; one of these, the Italian-suited deck, is virtually identical to the present set but was signed by engraver Paul Göttig in 1613 (missing two cards). The other, a German-suited deck, is unsigned (missing four cards). Michael Frömmer's French-suited deck is now lost, although it was photographed and published in 1905 when it was missing just two cards. A partial set of 29 German-suited cards in the Schroder Collection is thought to be Flemish or German, late 16th century. The only other known set, by Hans Pfleger of Augsburg and signed by the engraver Alexander Mair in 1594, has just 12 cards remaining, and belongs to the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels. (See: Barbara Mundt, Der Pommersche Kunstschrank, 2009, pp.249-255, figs. 31-33; Timothy Schroder, Renaissance Silver from the Schroder Collection, 2007, no. 62, pp. 188-190; Michel Ceuterick, Augsburgs Zilver in België, 1994, no. 43, pp. 102-103. The lost Frömmer set is illustrated with the other two sets from the Pomeranian Kunstschrank in Julius Lessing and Adolf Brüning, Der Pommersche Kunstschrank [im] Kgl. Kunstgewerbe-Museum, 1905, Pls. XXXIX and XL.)
Doña Josefa Oribe y Viana de Contucci, recipient of these playing cards from Princess Carlota of Spain Oribe Family Collection
CAPTION:
The Presentation of the Pomeranian Kunstschrank to Duke Philipp II of Pomerania, by Anton Mozart, Augsburg, circa 1616. Michael Frömmer contributed a set of French-suited silver playing cards to this famous princely art cabinet.
Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz Art Resource, NY
CAPTION:
Lot 56 The King, Knight, Knave, and Ace of Batons
CAPTION:
Lot 56 Brass plaque on the case for the cards, circa 1890
CAPTION:
Lot 56 Detail, Knave of Swords, with signature of Michael Frömmer
Documentary evidence shows that silver playing cards were an essential component of the princely kunstschrank, or art cabinet, of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. These cabinets, equipped with both artificialia and naturalia, represented the world in microcosm through an array of objects representing man's artistic and scientific achievements combined with natural rarities from exotic locales. The ambitious purpose of these cabinets - to display the education, sophistication and immense wealth of their owners - perhaps overshadows another function, which was simply to delight, astonish, and entertain. Card games joined board games, trick cups, "fun-house" mirrors and other amusements in a designated area of the cabinet. The celebrated Pomeranian Kunstschrank was fitted with three decks of silver cards in French, German, and Italian suits, conveying the worldliness of the owner by his ability to entertain in three "languages." Michael Frömmer, maker of the present set, contributed the French-suited deck to the Pomeranian Kunstschrank, which like most of the known cabinets of the period, was assembled and supplied by Philipp Hainhofer (1578-1647) financier, diplomat, and art dealer of Augsburg.
Despite their popularity among noble clientele -- records show that Hainhofer had supplied silver cards to the courts of Bavaria, Tuscany, and Brunswick among others -- only five sets of silver playing cards are known to survive today. The present set is the only complete deck in existence, a remarkable survival. The two extant decks from the Pomeranian Kunstschrank are now at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin; one of these, the Italian-suited deck, is virtually identical to the present set but was signed by engraver Paul Göttig in 1613 (missing two cards). The other, a German-suited deck, is unsigned (missing four cards). Michael Frömmer's French-suited deck is now lost, although it was photographed and published in 1905 when it was missing just two cards. A partial set of 29 German-suited cards in the Schroder Collection is thought to be Flemish or German, late 16th century. The only other known set, by Hans Pfleger of Augsburg and signed by the engraver Alexander Mair in 1594, has just 12 cards remaining, and belongs to the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels. (See: Barbara Mundt, Der Pommersche Kunstschrank, 2009, pp.249-255, figs. 31-33; Timothy Schroder, Renaissance Silver from the Schroder Collection, 2007, no. 62, pp. 188-190; Michel Ceuterick, Augsburgs Zilver in België, 1994, no. 43, pp. 102-103. The lost Frömmer set is illustrated with the other two sets from the Pomeranian Kunstschrank in Julius Lessing and Adolf Brüning, Der Pommersche Kunstschrank [im] Kgl. Kunstgewerbe-Museum, 1905, Pls. XXXIX and XL.)