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Lot Essay
In scale and quality, this dish relates to diplomatic gifts commissioned from Augsburg silversmiths by various European courts.
A number of similar scenic dishes were presented to the Russian Tsars in this period and remain today in the Armoury Museum at the Kremlin. Schwestermüller made one of these dishes, a gift to Tsar Alexis from Queen Christina of Sweden in 1647 (Helmut Seling, Die Kunst der Augsburger Goldschmiede, 1980, cat. 349). Also in the Kremlin by Schwestermüller is a silver equestrian figure of King Charles I of England, circa 1645 (Lorenz Seelig, Silber und Gold: Augsburger Goldschmiedekunst für die Höfe Europas, 1994, fig. 16, pp. 167-168).
Schwestermüller was a leading goldsmith in the Augsburg guild who made silver furniture as well as other large-scale objects such as the present dish and the Kremlin example. He is most famous for his magnificent silver table of 1659, with central scene depicting the Judgement of Paris. In 1664, the Hapsburg rulers considered sending the table to the Ottoman Court a part of a tribute payment, but the subject was deemed inappropriate, and it was instead acquired by Count Paul Esterházy in 1665 (Catherine Arminjon, ed., Quand Versailles était meublé d'argent, 2007, fig. 169, pp. 175-177). Schwestermüller also made a pair of silver throne chairs for Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg, now at Schloss Köpenick in Berlin (Lorenz Seelig, op. cit., fig. 77, pp. 326-329).
The iconography of the present dish, while representing the Four Continents, probably also alludes to the Ottoman-Hapsburg Wars, a series of long-standing conflicts that continued to erupt in Central Europe throughout the 17th century. The figure of Asia is depicted very literally in Turkish dress and holds a scepter with the Turkish crescent. The fact that armor has been laid to rest in the foreground between this figure and that of Europe (whose insignia closely resemble those of the Holy Roman Emperors) suggests that this dish commemorates a period of peace between the struggles. The subject of Hungarian and Turkish conflict was depicted very literally on a similar silver dish of 1654, when Count Paul Esterházy, owner of the Schwestermüller table, commissioned another Augsburg silversmith to portray the Hungarian victory at the Battle of Vezekény in 1652 (C. Arminjon, ed., op. cit., fig. 167, p. 172). After a tentative period of peace beginning in 1664, conflicts renewed until the Ottomans faced major defeats at the Second Siege of Vienna in 1683 and the Battle of Mohács of 1687; both events were commemorated in Augsburg silver (see dish, 'Captive Turks before Emperor Leopold I' in B. Shifman and G. Walton, eds., Gifts to the Tsars, 1500-1700: Treasures from the Kremlin, 2001, fig. 54, pp. 225-226).
A number of similar scenic dishes were presented to the Russian Tsars in this period and remain today in the Armoury Museum at the Kremlin. Schwestermüller made one of these dishes, a gift to Tsar Alexis from Queen Christina of Sweden in 1647 (Helmut Seling, Die Kunst der Augsburger Goldschmiede, 1980, cat. 349). Also in the Kremlin by Schwestermüller is a silver equestrian figure of King Charles I of England, circa 1645 (Lorenz Seelig, Silber und Gold: Augsburger Goldschmiedekunst für die Höfe Europas, 1994, fig. 16, pp. 167-168).
Schwestermüller was a leading goldsmith in the Augsburg guild who made silver furniture as well as other large-scale objects such as the present dish and the Kremlin example. He is most famous for his magnificent silver table of 1659, with central scene depicting the Judgement of Paris. In 1664, the Hapsburg rulers considered sending the table to the Ottoman Court a part of a tribute payment, but the subject was deemed inappropriate, and it was instead acquired by Count Paul Esterházy in 1665 (Catherine Arminjon, ed., Quand Versailles était meublé d'argent, 2007, fig. 169, pp. 175-177). Schwestermüller also made a pair of silver throne chairs for Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg, now at Schloss Köpenick in Berlin (Lorenz Seelig, op. cit., fig. 77, pp. 326-329).
The iconography of the present dish, while representing the Four Continents, probably also alludes to the Ottoman-Hapsburg Wars, a series of long-standing conflicts that continued to erupt in Central Europe throughout the 17th century. The figure of Asia is depicted very literally in Turkish dress and holds a scepter with the Turkish crescent. The fact that armor has been laid to rest in the foreground between this figure and that of Europe (whose insignia closely resemble those of the Holy Roman Emperors) suggests that this dish commemorates a period of peace between the struggles. The subject of Hungarian and Turkish conflict was depicted very literally on a similar silver dish of 1654, when Count Paul Esterházy, owner of the Schwestermüller table, commissioned another Augsburg silversmith to portray the Hungarian victory at the Battle of Vezekény in 1652 (C. Arminjon, ed., op. cit., fig. 167, p. 172). After a tentative period of peace beginning in 1664, conflicts renewed until the Ottomans faced major defeats at the Second Siege of Vienna in 1683 and the Battle of Mohács of 1687; both events were commemorated in Augsburg silver (see dish, 'Captive Turks before Emperor Leopold I' in B. Shifman and G. Walton, eds., Gifts to the Tsars, 1500-1700: Treasures from the Kremlin, 2001, fig. 54, pp. 225-226).