A GERMAN PARCEL-GILT SARGSCHILD (Guild's funeral plaque)

Details
A GERMAN PARCEL-GILT SARGSCHILD (Guild's funeral plaque)
Hamburg 1665, maker's mark of Daniel I von Flethen

Oval, the border embossed with winged cherubs' heads and flowers and two vacant cartouches, at top and bottom, the centre with laurel wreath enclosing a plain field on which are applied the masons tools: compass, square, hammer and hoe with embossed inscription DADML (Das Amt der Maurer Leute) and date 1665, marked on reverse - 20 cm (8 in) high, 16 cm (6¼ in) wide
255 grs.
Literature
Schliemann, Die Goldschmiede Hamburgs, 1985, vol. II, p. 162

Lot Essay

Sargschilder were lent by the Guild to be used at the Members' funerals. They usually came in sets: the present example is numbered 5 and another example, numbered 4, is in the Hamburg Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte; it is complete with trowel at top, skull and crossed bones at bottom. A third example is in the same museum, identical but bearing the mark of Franz II von Dort.

More from Important European Silver

View All
View All