Lot Essay
The coat-of-arms is that of Ernst August I, Duke of Braunschweig and Lüneburg, Prince Elector of Hannover and Bishop of Osnabrück (1629-1698). He married Sophie, Princess of Palatinat (1630-1714). They were the parents of George 1st of England.
This wine-cooler is a typical Augsburg creation of the grandest style, very much under the influence of the court art of Versailles. All the monumental pieces ordered by Louis XIV were melted down in the last years of the 17th century, while some of the German pieces survived in the German princely collections.
The elegant form is decorated with scrolls, fleurons, lattice-work and arabesques in the manner of Jean Bérain. The gadroons on the base and upper rim are typical of the French style of that period. Lorenz I Biller and his son Lorenz II both worked often under the influence of Paul Decker the older, a famous Augsburg engraver.
Cf: Seling, Die Kunst der Augsburger Goldschmiede 1529-1868, Münich, 1980, vol. III, nr 126 p. 22 and nr 1524 p. 192.
Cf: R. Berliner und G. Egger, Ornementale Vorlageblätter, Münich, 1981, nr 1213.
This wine-cooler is a typical Augsburg creation of the grandest style, very much under the influence of the court art of Versailles. All the monumental pieces ordered by Louis XIV were melted down in the last years of the 17th century, while some of the German pieces survived in the German princely collections.
The elegant form is decorated with scrolls, fleurons, lattice-work and arabesques in the manner of Jean Bérain. The gadroons on the base and upper rim are typical of the French style of that period. Lorenz I Biller and his son Lorenz II both worked often under the influence of Paul Decker the older, a famous Augsburg engraver.
Cf: Seling, Die Kunst der Augsburger Goldschmiede 1529-1868, Münich, 1980, vol. III, nr 126 p. 22 and nr 1524 p. 192.
Cf: R. Berliner und G. Egger, Ornementale Vorlageblätter, Münich, 1981, nr 1213.