MAKER'S MARK OF TYMEN SUYK, AMSTERDAM, 1732

The present basket was made by the Amsterdam silversmith Tymen Suyk in 1732. Suyk was one of the best Amsterdam silversmiths of his era. He produced works in a pure Louis XIV-style. He was clearly influenced by French architect Daniel Marot who stayed in The Netherlands regularly between 1686 and 17521.
The ovally shaped basket is gilt on the inside. The upper part of the body is openworked with scrolls, lilies and rhomb motives. On the bottom the initials JPS are engraved.
Tymen Suyk was born in 1699 in Harderwijk. He became a master in Amsterdam in 1723. In the same year he married Geertruy Hilberts. His death in 1754 is commemorated by the cronicler of the city of Amsterdam Jacob Bicker Raye2.
The present basket is in the shape of a large wine cooler, which were popular all over Western-Europe in that period. A wine cooler of this type is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It was made in 1731 by Amsterdam silversmith Alger Mensma. The cooler was presented by the Admiralty of Amsterdam to captain Cornelis Schrijver in gratitude for the capture of a Maroccan privateer in 17303. It has been suggested that the tiny wine cooler shaped baskets were used for candy or dried fruit4.

Comparative literature:
1Catalogus van goud en zilverwerken, benevens zilveren, loden en bronzen plaquetten, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1952, p. xxvi
Verbeek, J., Nederlands Zilver 1725-1780, Lochem, 1988, p.18
2Lorm, J.R. de, Amsterdams Goud en Zilver, Zwolle, 1999, p.517
3Exh.Cat., Nederlands Zilver/Dutch silver 1580-1830, Amsterdam-Rijksmuseum, Toledo - The Toledo Musuem of Art, Boston - Museum of Fine Arts, 1979/1980. p.232
4Molen, J.R. ter, Zilver. Catalogus van de voorwerpen van edelmetaal in de collectie van het Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1994, no.95-96
Lorm, J.R. de, Amsterdams Goud en Zilver, Zwolle, 1999, p.146


See illustration