MAKER'S MARK OF AGGE JELLES REINALDA, FRANEKER, 1651-1690

From the early seventeenth Century it became a Frisian tradition that a man proposed his beloved to marry him by presenting her with a coin knotted into a costly cloth. This cloth is named knottedoek after the special knot, knotte. If the girl drew the knot tighter, they considered themselves engaged. The knottedoek was later replaced by a sort of small textile bag and in the late seventeenth Century by a silver casket, which by analogy was called a knottekistje. Three types occur, a trunk-shaped, an hexagonal-shaped and a circular-shaped. The most common type is the trunk-shaped on four ball supports with domed cover and swing handle. Frisian marriage caskets are delicately engraved with symbolic scenes concerning love and marriage. Apart from Friesland, they were also made in West-Friesland, the most northern part of Holland and Amsterdam (L. van den Bergh-Hoogterp, 'Trouw moet blinken', Cachet (1999)2/3, pp. 10-13; A.L. Den Blaauwen, Nederlands Zilver 1580-1830, Den Haag, 1979, pp. 19, 372-373; E. Voet jr., Merken van Friese Goud- en Zilversmeden, Den Haag, 1974, pp. 83-84; B.W.G. Wttewaal, Klein Nederlands Zilver, Amsterdam, 1987, pp. 286-287).

Agge Jelles Reinalda (Dronrijp ?-Franeker 1690) was born in Dronrijp in the province of Friesland. In 1638 he became an apprentice of Jan Douwes. From 1653 he was working as a master-silversmith. He is known as maker of beakers and dishes used in churches, tankards and marriage caskets (E. Voet jr., Merken van Friese Goud- en Zilversmeden, Den Haag, 1974, pp. 83-84).

A virtually identical marriage casket is illustrated in J.R. ter Molen, Zilver, catalogus van de voorwerpen van edelmetaal in de collectie van het Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1994, p. 85.

See illustration