Lot Essay
Incorporating features of both a tankard and an ewer, the curious form of the present lot suggests that it was likely intended for display - a dynamic signifier of the owner’s wealth and sophistication. If designed as an ewer, the vessel was likely originally made with a matching basin. An example of a comparable possible basin from Gdansk can be found in the collection of the Kremlin and features bold sweeping lobes (room MZ-170). In his catalogue of the Zilkha collection, Timothy Schroder suggests that the unusual shape may be based on comparable works executed in other media, such as turned ivory (Schroder, 2012, p. 182). The form of the present ewer or tankard is reminiscent of a peculiar quatrefoil tankard by Benedict Clausen and Nathaniel Schlaubitz, Gdansk, 1689-1699, also in the collection of the Kremlin, illustrated in W blasku srebra... Srebra z XVI- XIX w. z ziem Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów i współczesnej Polski ze zbiorów muzeów rosyjskich, Warsaw, 2006, pp. 105-106, which is thought to be derived from contemporary stoneware examples from Raeren, Belgium. While both vessels are chased with bold lobes and feature hinged domed covers with bifurcated scroll thumbpieces, the Clausen example is remarkable for its openwork body formed of four ovoid receptacles centered by a figure of Cupid.
A group of 19th century electrotypes after 17th century Polish originals in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York were given to the museum by philanthropist and art collector, Henry G. Marquand (1819-1902), in 1883. Included in this group is an electrotype copy of the Clausen and Schlaubitz tankard and a nearly identical electrotype copy of the present lot. Also with maker’s mark SO, the Met’s electrotype example has been on long term loan to Marble House in Newport, Rhode Island since 1962 (83.18.39). Both works are thought to have been in the Chéréméteff collection, St. Petersburg, at the time of reproduction.
Goldsmith Siegfried Oernster was born in Halle, near Leipzig. He became a master of the goldsmiths’ guild in Danzig in 1691 and died in 1735 (Schroder, 2012, p. 182).
We would like to thank Dr. Anna Frackowska for her assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.
A group of 19th century electrotypes after 17th century Polish originals in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York were given to the museum by philanthropist and art collector, Henry G. Marquand (1819-1902), in 1883. Included in this group is an electrotype copy of the Clausen and Schlaubitz tankard and a nearly identical electrotype copy of the present lot. Also with maker’s mark SO, the Met’s electrotype example has been on long term loan to Marble House in Newport, Rhode Island since 1962 (83.18.39). Both works are thought to have been in the Chéréméteff collection, St. Petersburg, at the time of reproduction.
Goldsmith Siegfried Oernster was born in Halle, near Leipzig. He became a master of the goldsmiths’ guild in Danzig in 1691 and died in 1735 (Schroder, 2012, p. 182).
We would like to thank Dr. Anna Frackowska for her assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.