LATE 19TH CENTURY

Details

A German silver-mounted carved ivory ewer and charger**
Late 19th Century
The ewer with scrolled and everted lip supported by a pair of bacchantes and centred by a Bacchic mask, above the ovoid body with upper band carved with reclining bacchantes picking fruit from swags, above a central band carved in high relief with Bacchus's leopard-drawn chariot followed by a procession of merry-making satyrs, bacchantes and putti, the lower band carved with grotesque masks and winged female busts, with scrolled handle carved with a bacchante supporting a putto on her shoulder and with a grape-squeezing putto astride a Bacchic head to the front, the stem carved as three winged and hooved females, on repoussé foot; the circular charger carved to the centre with a roundel depicting a reclining bacchante and putto, surrounded by a continuous band carved in high relief depicting Bacchic revelry, with foliate-carved border interspersed with gilt female masks, the underside of the foot with German hallmark and stamped 925
The ewer: 21 in. (53.5 cm.) high; The charger: 19 7/8 in. (50.5 cm.) diameter (2)

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

Lot Essay

A very similar charger and ewer were part of the George A. Hearn collection and are illustrated in the George A. Hearn Collection of Carved Ivories, New York, 1908, p. 215.

There is a virtually identical suite on display at temple Newsam House House, Leeds (see All That Glistens, Treasures of a Victorian Banker - James Walker Oxley, Nos. 57 & 58, Leeds City Art Gallery).

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