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Lot Essay
The present lot is embossed and chased to depict a banquet of the gods with Vulcan, Minerva, Bacchus, Juno, Zeus, Ceres, Mercury, possibly Hestia, Hercules and Venus seated at a table in the Heavens.
The pierced holes around the rim and the iconography of a table suggest that this plaquette may have been the central part of such a piece of furniture.
Silver, ebony furniture-like cabinets and mirror frames were a specialty in Augsburg in the 17th century, especially the workshop of Matthias Wallbaum. The production was continued in the late 17th and early 18th century including chairs, candlestands, fire-dogs, fire-screens, tables and even beds.
The Biller family were significant in this field: Albrecht's nephews Johannes and Ludwig II made two tables and four gueridons for the suite of furniture ordered by Duke Anton Ulrich von Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. One of the fire-screens made by Albrecht Biller for Schloss Moritzburg near Dresden was depicting the scene of Volcano in front of his furnace. The central part of one of his tables can be admired in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
The pierced holes around the rim and the iconography of a table suggest that this plaquette may have been the central part of such a piece of furniture.
Silver, ebony furniture-like cabinets and mirror frames were a specialty in Augsburg in the 17th century, especially the workshop of Matthias Wallbaum. The production was continued in the late 17th and early 18th century including chairs, candlestands, fire-dogs, fire-screens, tables and even beds.
The Biller family were significant in this field: Albrecht's nephews Johannes and Ludwig II made two tables and four gueridons for the suite of furniture ordered by Duke Anton Ulrich von Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. One of the fire-screens made by Albrecht Biller for Schloss Moritzburg near Dresden was depicting the scene of Volcano in front of his furnace. The central part of one of his tables can be admired in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.