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Lot Essay
During the 18th Century the Van Straatsburg family brought forth many silversmiths. One of them was Cornelis Johannes van Straatsburg (1723-1803). In 1741 he was apprenticed to his older brother Pieter, who had become a master in 1740. Eight years later Cornelis entered the silversmith's guild. According to a list of working masters, dated 29 December 1800, Cornelis was no longer working as a silversmith.
Van Straatsburg may be reckoned amongst the most skilful Utrecht masters of the second half of the 18th Century. Although he was not an innovative artist, he adopted new styles quickly and produced works according to the latest fashion. Besides he was capable of manufacturing works which express a strong foreign character. It is assumed that Van Straatsburg made these latter objects in commission. Amongst these 'foreign' works are two sauceboats in the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. The decoration of these boats shows close resemblance to Southern-Netherlandish or Northern-French examples. In their turn these were inspired by the Paris silversmith Thomas Germain (1720-1748), whose designs were published in the 1730s [1].
In the case of the present basket Cornelis van Straatsburg was influenced by masters from the artistic centre Amsterdam. It was executed in the fashionable Louis XV-style simultaneously with the baskets of the leading Amsterdam silversmith Reynier Brandt (c. 1707-1788). The large number of surviving Louis-XV baskets by Brandt and other masters indicate that these baskets must have been very popular then [2].
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
[1] Mus. Cat. Edele en onedele metalen, Utrecht, Centraal Museum, 1997, No. 158; p.105-107
[2] Lorm, J.R. de, Amsterdams Goud en Zilver, Zwolle, 2000, p.150. Cat. tent. Meesterwerken in zilver, Amsterdams zilver 1520-1820, No. 139, 142, 158, 165
See illustration
Van Straatsburg may be reckoned amongst the most skilful Utrecht masters of the second half of the 18th Century. Although he was not an innovative artist, he adopted new styles quickly and produced works according to the latest fashion. Besides he was capable of manufacturing works which express a strong foreign character. It is assumed that Van Straatsburg made these latter objects in commission. Amongst these 'foreign' works are two sauceboats in the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. The decoration of these boats shows close resemblance to Southern-Netherlandish or Northern-French examples. In their turn these were inspired by the Paris silversmith Thomas Germain (1720-1748), whose designs were published in the 1730s [1].
In the case of the present basket Cornelis van Straatsburg was influenced by masters from the artistic centre Amsterdam. It was executed in the fashionable Louis XV-style simultaneously with the baskets of the leading Amsterdam silversmith Reynier Brandt (c. 1707-1788). The large number of surviving Louis-XV baskets by Brandt and other masters indicate that these baskets must have been very popular then [2].
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
[1] Mus. Cat. Edele en onedele metalen, Utrecht, Centraal Museum, 1997, No. 158; p.105-107
[2] Lorm, J.R. de, Amsterdams Goud en Zilver, Zwolle, 2000, p.150. Cat. tent. Meesterwerken in zilver, Amsterdams zilver 1520-1820, No. 139, 142, 158, 165
See illustration