MARK OF ESIAS ZUR LINDEN, NUREMBERG, CIRCA 1620

Details

A German parcel-gilt nef
Mark of Esias zur Linden, Nuremberg, circa 1620
The ship supported on an openwork stem with grotesques and foliage above a waisted oval foot chased with sea-monsters and waves and applied with scrolls and sea-horses, the hull chased with sea-monsters amid the waves, the serpent mask figurehead forming a spout, the three masts with billowing sails, rigging and pennants and with figures aloft in the upper cages and rigging, the fore and aft decks applied with armed sailors and cannon, a bell at each end, the base engraved with a Latin inscription, marked on body
22in. (55.5cm.) high
40oz. (1,248gr.)
The inscriptions read, 'Nauita Erythroeum paulrus qui amniyat equor; Tintimmobolo so fonito proegrandia Cete; In prore et poppis fummo refonontro pendet; Balenos et Monstro marinn o nouribus arret', which may be translated as, 'The timorous mariner who sails the Erithraean sea hangs resonant bells at the highest points of stern and prow; by this sound he drives whales and huge sea monsters away from the ships.'

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Geneva, 13 May 1986, lot 61

Literature

Sotheby's Art at Auction, 1986
The Glory of the Goldsmith, Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, Christie's, London, 1989, no.7, p.17

Exhibited

London, Christie's, The Glory of the Goldsmith, Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, 1989, no.7

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

Sale room notice

Please note this lot is marked on the foot and body.

Lot Essay

Esaias zur Linden specialised in making nefs or ship models. M. Rosenberg, Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen, Frankfurt am Main, 1925, vol. III, no. 4135, lists some 30 such pieces by this maker including examples in the collections of Baron Karl von Rothschild, A. Pringsheim, J. Pierpont Morgan, The Armoury, Moscow, and the Czartoryski Museum, Cracow.

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