MARK OF JACOBUS WUESSYM, GRONINGEN, 1646

Details

A DUTCH SILVER BEAKER
MARK OF JACOBUS WUESSYM, GRONINGEN, 1646
Tapering octagonal with flared lip, on spreading domed foot chased with a band of grotesque masks flanked by scrolls, the lower body applied with a band of die-rolled strapwork with a rope-twist band above, the sides engraved with oval cartouches enclosing seven Virtues enclosed by elaborate foliate scroll pendants, the eighth cartouche enclosing vacant accolé coats-of-arms surmounted by a helm, each panel engraved with an animal, hunter, or a monkey amid fruit, marked on base, with assay scrape to underside, lip with later Dutch control mark
7 ¾ in. (19.7 cm.)
12 ozt. 2 dwt. (376 gr.)

Provenance

Acquired from S.J. Phillips Ltd., London, September 1976.

Literature

T. Schroder, Renaissance and Baroque Silver, Mounted Porcelain and Ruby Glass from the Zilkha Collection, London, 2012, cat. no. 38, pp. 176-177.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The form of the present lot is typical of beakers produced in Groningen in the mid-17th century, used for both beer consumption, as well as for communion in the Calvinist Reformed Church. The engraved decoration on the the sides reflects this dichotomy of potential use, with secular themes of hunting around the lower edge, and personifications of the seven virtues, three theological and four cardinal, in the upper cartouches. The maker of this beaker, Jacobus Wuessym, became a master in Groningen in 1642, and died circa 1675.

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