AUGSBURG, 1716, MAKER'S MARK M OVER W

Details

A GERMAN SILVER-GILT MODEL OF A STAG
Augsburg, 1716, maker's mark M over W
On elongated octagonal base, the raised border repoussé and chased with band of pendant tassels and lobes on matted ground, with shells at the angles, the centre repoussé and chased with rockwork and foliage, the animal trippant with realistically chased hide and with detachable head, engraved beneath with initials 'ISP', marked on base, body and cover
87/8 in. (22.5 cm.) high
Weight 20 oz. (618 gr.)

Provenance

(Probably) Graf Emanuel Andrássy, Budapest, 1884.
Sir Julius Wernher, 1st Bt. (1850-1912), Bath House, London, in the Red Room, by whom bequeathed, with a life interest to his widow, Alice, Lady Wernher, subsequently Lady Ludlow (1862-1945), to their son
Sir Harold Wernher, 3rd Bt., G.C.V.O. (1893-1973), Bath House, London, and from 1948, Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire, and by descent.

Literature

1913 Bath House Inventory, p. 30, no. 159, in the Red Room, in the 'large glazed case near door - Middle Division'.
1914 Wernher Inventory, p. 30, no. 151.
M. Rosenberg Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen, Frankfurt 1922, III, no. 726, e. (probably), attributing this maker's mark to either Mattheus or Markus Wolff giving working dates of 1685 to 1716.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The maker's mark M over W is identified by H. Seling (Die Kunst der Augsburger Goldschmiede 1529-1868, Munich, III, no. 1671) as that of Marx Weinold, who died in 1700. Seling lists a number of animals including models of a cockerel, hare, and bear (op.cit., II, figs. 453, 457 and 458), all of which appear to date from the very end of this maker's life. A very similar mark, but with a pellet above and to the right of the M, is recorded on a beaker of 1710-12 and attributed to Marcus Wolf (Seling, op.cit. Supplement to III, no. 1817).

Stag-form cups, of all the various Augsburg animal form cups, appear to have continued to be the most popular well into the mid-eighteenth century (e.g. an example by Johann Wilhelm Dammann, 1749-1751, illustrated by Seling, op. cit., II, no. 996).

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