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Lot Essay
Dominikus Saler (d. 1718), became a master in 1696. As well as ecclesiastical silver, he is recorded as making a number of chased cups and beakers with covers including examples in the Kassell Museum, The National Museum, Budapest and The Winter Palace, St. Petersburg.
The figure stem is closely related to the designs of Jean Le Pautre (1618-1682), particularly a design by him for a gueridon torchère or candlestand. While the design shows the figure's head slightly turned, the details of dress, boots and bow and arrow are all found on the silver stem by Saler. Pairs of gueridon torchères, which appear to be Le Pautre's own invention, were made to flank dressing tables or sideboards. He introduced the concept about the time he was elected Dessignateur et Graveur to the French Royal Academy in 1660. His designs were influential, not only in France, but also throughout Europe, particularly in England and Germany.
A pair of Augsburg andirons with figures made by Johannes Kilian circa 1680, now in the Kremlin Museum, Moscow, are similarly attired to the present figure and also clearly after Le Pautre's designs (L. Seelig, Silber und Gold, Augsburger, Goldschmiedekunst für die Höfe Europas, Munich, 1994, pp. 325-326, no. 75). The andiron figures are described as male and female West Indian islanders, the male, as in the present lot, holding a bow and arrow, an attribute of the Americas. It has also been suggested however, that the stem figure may represent a Nubian symbolically bearing the fruits of the sea.
The figure stem is closely related to the designs of Jean Le Pautre (1618-1682), particularly a design by him for a gueridon torchère or candlestand. While the design shows the figure's head slightly turned, the details of dress, boots and bow and arrow are all found on the silver stem by Saler. Pairs of gueridon torchères, which appear to be Le Pautre's own invention, were made to flank dressing tables or sideboards. He introduced the concept about the time he was elected Dessignateur et Graveur to the French Royal Academy in 1660. His designs were influential, not only in France, but also throughout Europe, particularly in England and Germany.
A pair of Augsburg andirons with figures made by Johannes Kilian circa 1680, now in the Kremlin Museum, Moscow, are similarly attired to the present figure and also clearly after Le Pautre's designs (L. Seelig, Silber und Gold, Augsburger, Goldschmiedekunst für die Höfe Europas, Munich, 1994, pp. 325-326, no. 75). The andiron figures are described as male and female West Indian islanders, the male, as in the present lot, holding a bow and arrow, an attribute of the Americas. It has also been suggested however, that the stem figure may represent a Nubian symbolically bearing the fruits of the sea.