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The van Vianen Family of Silversmiths The appearance in a single private collection of silver by Paul, Adam and Christian van Vianen is a remarkable, if not unique, occurrence. It is a testament to the skill of the late Dr Dreesmann as a collector that he managed to obtain examples of the work of these three leading members of what is, without doubt, the most important family of Dutch, if not European, silversmiths whose influence was felt across Europe and particularly in Germany and England throughout the mid-seventeenth century and later. Paul van Vianen (b. Utrecht c. 1570- d. Prague, 1613) was the most successful and perhaps the most versatile of the family. He was apprenticed to Ellardsz. van Leyenberch and probably then worked for his brother Cornelis. During the 1590's he embarked on a series of journeys across Europe. After visiting France, he was employed from 1596 to 1601 in the Bavarian court in Munich. Following that, he moved to Salzburg to work for the Archbishop, Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau. His best known and important appointment occurred in 1603, when he became the court goldsmith to Rudolph II in Prague. Here, under that extraordinary patron of the arts, he would have known his fellow Dutchmen, the sculptor Adriaen de Vries as well as many of the most talented artists of Europe. It was during his time in Prague that he made his finest surviving works, including the superb gold-mounted jasper ewer of 1608 (Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum) and the wonderful ewer and dish chased with scenes of Diana and Actaeon and Calisto of 1613 (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum). His repoussé and chased plaquettes, such as the signed and dated example in this sale, were particularly renowned and appear to have been based on his own sketches drawn from nature. The artist von Sandart wrote of him that 'with hammer alone he could paint whole pictures'. Paul's brother, Adam (b. Utrecht, 1569- d. Utrecht 1627) was probably also apprenticed to Ellardsz. van Leyenberch. However, he does not appear to have travelled far from home. He was trained as an engraver but it was in the art of hand raising and chasing objects that he excelled. It was he that really fully developed the auricular style, the ultimate expression of which is found in the silver-gilt ewer commissioned by the Amsterdam Silversmith's Guild in memory of his brother in 1614 (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum). The Rijksmuseum acquired this masterpiece following its sale at Christie's, Amsterdam on 19 October 1976 when it fetched 700.000 guilders, a price for Dutch silver which has never yet been exeeded at auction. The ewer, which is entirely hand-raised, is chased with the most extraordinary fluid scrolls and grotesque masks and was so celebrated in its day that it appears in a dozen or so 17th century Dutch paintings. The fine auricular dish with Bacchus, Ceres, Venus and Cupid, signed and dated 1622, in the Dreesmann Collection (lot 1132) is a perfect example of Adam van Vianen's work. Adam's son, and thus Paul's nephew, Christian (b. Utrecht, c.1600 - d. London, 1667) was apprenticed to his father, becoming a master in 1628, after Adam's death. By 1632 he was in the service of King Charles I of England. While his Royal commissions do not appear to have survived a magnificent ewer and basin, originally owned by Johan van der Haar and subsequently by the Duke of Sussex, is in the Al-Tajir Collection, London. A wonderful basin with dolphin border, signed and dated 1636 is also extant (London, Victoria and Albert Museum). In 1643, during the English Civil War he returned to Utrecht and in 1650 published the influental Modelles Artificiels which contained many of his father's designs. He returned to London in 1660 at the time of the English Restoration and became court goldsmith. He was in partnership with Michiel de Bruyn van Berendrecht and was succeeded by his son-in-law, John Cooqus, as court goldsmith. The bowl (lot 1130) is a perfect example of the work of Christian in continuing to develop his father's style.

An important Dutch silver bowl on foot

MARK OF CHRISTIAN VAN VIANEN, UTRECHT, 1628

Details

An important Dutch silver bowl on foot
Mark of Christian van Vianen, Utrecht, 1628
On shaped spreading oval foot and grotesque croutching monster stem chased with fluid scrolls, the border repoussé and chased in high relief with a drunken infant Bacchanal wearing a vine wreath, holding a goblet and leaning against a barrel, his right arm draped around a goat, the reverse of the figure chased with vine leaves, the bowl repoussé and chased with fluid scrolls and grotesque masks, with plain lip, marked on lip
17.5 cm. (6 7/8 in.) wide
287 gr. (9 oz.)

Provenance

The Duke of Hamilton; Christie's, London, 4 November 1919, lot 115 (then catalogued as being by Adam van Vianen).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 25 October 1973, lot 125.
With Premsela & Hamburger, Amsterdam, 1984.
Joseph R. Ritman; Sotheby's, Geneva, 16 May 1995, lot 61.
With Pieter Hoogendijk, Baarn, 1998, acquired by
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. G-133).

Literature

Ian Finlay, The Connoisseur CXXIV, 124 (1949), p. 81, illustrated. J.W. Frederiks, Dutch Silver, vol. I, The Hague, 1952, no. 174, illustrated.
K.H. Hering, Silberschmiedegefässe auf niederländischen Stilleben des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts, diss. Berlin, 1955, p. 68-69, 112-113.
A.L. den Blaauwen, Adam, Paulus en Christiaen van Vianen: Leven en Werk, doctoral thesis, Leiden, 1957, p. 31.
A.M. van Graevenitz, Das niederländische Ohrmuschel-Ornament; Phänomen und Entwicklung dargestellt an den Werken und Entwürfen der Goldschmiedefamilien van Vianen und Lutma, diss. München, 1973, p. 181, 186.
L. Grisebach, Willem Kalf 1619-1693 Berlin, 1974, p. 125, no. 85-86, 91
J.F. Hayward, Virtuoso Goldsmiths and the Triumph of Mannerism, 1540-1620, London, 1976, p. 291.
J.R. ter Molen, 'Adam van Vianen's silverware in relation to seventeenth century Dutch painting', Apollo vol. 110, 1979, p. 448.
J.R. ter Molen, Van Vianen, vol. I, Rotterdam, 1984, p. 35-40.
J.R. ter Molen, Van Vianen, vol. II, Rotterdam, 1984, no. 606.

Exhibited

London, South Kensington Museum, Special Exhibition of Art of the Medieval, Renaissance and more recent periods, 1863, no. 6324.
On loan to the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, circa 1952.
The Hague, Haags Gemeente Museum, Vier Eeuwen Nederlands Zilver, 18 July 15 September 1952, no. 485.
Utrecht, Centraal Museum, Zeldzaam Zilver uit de Gouden Eeuw, 14 December 1984 10 February 1985, no. 85, illustrated.

Special notice

Christie's charges a Buyer's premium calculated at 20.825% of the hammer price for each lot with a value up to €90,000. If the hammer price of a lot exceeds €90,000 then the premium for the lot is calculated at 20.825% of the first €90,000 plus 11.9% of any amount in excess of €90,000. Buyer's Premium is calculated on this basis for each lot individually.

Lot Essay

The present bowl on foot is clearly based on a type of bowl designed by Christian van Vianen's father, Adam, of which a fine example dated 1622 is included in the present sale (see lot 1132). Another example without foot, either by father or son, is illustrated in a still life by Willem Kalf (1619-1693), presently in a German collection.
Although unproven it is possible that this dish was owned by the great English early 19th century collector, William Beckford (1751-1844), who built Fonthill Abbey. He is thought to have owned other examples of silver by the van Vianen family.
Beckford's great grandson, William Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, 12th Duke of Hamilton, was born in London in 1845 and married Mary, first daughter of the 7th Duke of Manchester, in 1873. He is perhaps best remembered for ordering the sale of the magnificent contents of Hamilton Palace by Christie's in 1882. The total for the sale, which took place over seventeen days, was about £400.000. The sale included pictures, furniture and works of art, many of which were inherited from William Beckford. A further sale of the works of art from the Hamilton collection took place at Christie's in 1919.

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