MAKER'S MARK OF DIRK EVERT GRAVE, AMSTERDAM, 1772

The present pair of sugar casters was made in 1772 and is struck with the maker's mark of Dirk Evert Grave from Amsterdam. Grave was baptised in Amsterdam on 13 February 1735 and became a master in 1765. He died in 1795. Grave produced objects in an extremely pure Louis XVI-style. These casters are early examples of the classical style in Dutch silver and show familiar elements from other examples by the same master. We find identical feet in a pair of casters depicted in: Meesterwerken in Zilver, the engraved band directly below the lid was applied by Grave in a pair of casters which were in the Verbeek-Schuttelaar collection (illustrated in the 1997 catalogue of the Breda Arts and Antiques Fair, p.114). All three pairs are struck with the date letter 'N' for 1772.
The present lot is further struck with a lion with a three-pointed crown within the outlines of the mark, instead of the common crown with pearls outside the contours. However this mark seems to have been used regularly since 1735, for both gold and silver objects. Voet mentions two salts from the collection Van Tuyll (1762) and a fish trowel in the collection Six (1763). But the most convincing example can be found in the recent publication Amsterdams Goud en Silver, by J.R. de Lorm where two candlesticks, dated 1772, are depicted together with their marks.
Comparative literature:
Citroen, K.A. et al., Meesterwerken in zilver, Amsterdams zilver 1520-1820, p.147.
Lorm, J.R., Amsterdams Goud en Zilver, Zwolle, 1999, p.177.
Voet, Jr. E., Merken van Amsterdamsche goud- en zilversmeden, Den Haag, 1912.