Lot 67. A German parcel-gilt silver tankard, Passau, circa 1580, unidentified maker's mark CR; 6 ⅝ in. (16.8 cm.) high, 12 oz. 19 dwt. (403 gr.). Price Realised GBP 18,750 (Estimate GBP 3,000 - GBP 5,000). © Christie's 2022
On three winged cherub feet, the tapering cylindrical body chased in centre with a fruiting vine flanked by initials 'MFB' within a laurel wreath, and below the rim with inscription, the scroll handle with female bust terminal, the domed cover engraved with moorish strapwork and with bud finial, marked underneath and with later French import marks.
The inscription engraved below the rim reads 'VINVM MODICÆ SVMPTVM CONPORTAT VICES IMODICE PROSTERNIT'.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Note: A silver-gilt spoon with the same unidentified maker's mark, inscribed 1573, is in the Nationalmuseum Munich.
(Rosenberg, Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen, Frankfurt, 1925, p. 280, 4386, no. 4382.)
Lot 68. A German parcel-gilt silver monatsbecher or month beaker, mark of Gregor Bair, Augsburg, 1573-1586; 3 1⁄2 in. (9 cm.) high, 6 oz. 7 dwt. (199 gr.). Price Realised GBP 32,500 (Estimate GBP 12,000 - GBP 18,000). © Christie's 2022
Cylindrical on raised foot chased with winged cherub masks and foliate scrolls, the plain body chased below the rim with a scene after an engraving by Virgil Solis of peasants in a landscape, with a leaping bull depicting the Zodiac sign for Taurus with inscription 'APRILIS' beneath, a man fishing seated on a stool dated 1582, marked underneath.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Provenance: Almost certainly Carl Mayer von Rothschild Collection, Frankfurt am Main (1885).
The Sydney J. Lamon Collection, Christie's, London, 28 November 1973, lot 64 (£6,500 to Vater).
Note: This beaker was part of a series of twelve beakers called Monatsbecher or month beakers from which March, July, November and December are known to survive. March and November are in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, illustraed in H. Müller, European silver, London, 1986, p. 154, no, 42, previously sold at Sotheby's, London, 20 April 1972, lot 141. The series is believed to have almost certainly been part of Carl Mayer von Rothschild's collection, Frankfurt am Main (1885).
The beakers celebrate different times of the year with engraved scenes mostly of rural life, appropriate for the season. Gregor Bair is believed to have been a journeyman in Nuremberg who trained himself in the drawing of designs and the making of models.
Certainly Bair appears to have based the scene on an engraving for the month of April by the engraver and designer Virgil Solis (1514-1562). This scene first appeared as a woodcut by Hans Sebald Beham (1500-1550) and was subsequently copied by other engravers including a version in reverse by Hans Brosamer (1500-54) and the version seen on this beaker adapted by Virgil Solis (1514-1578) in the 1540s.
Solis was a German printmaker and publisher and the scion of a large family of Nuremberg artists. He created some two thousand prints on all manner of subjects but many, as in this instance, were copied from earlier sources, such as the work of the Antwerp engraver Cornelis Floris and the Nuremberg goldsmith Wenzel Jamnizter. His work was very popular with goldsmiths and Solis, together with Matthias Zundt (1498-1586) and Solis' pupil Jost Amman, was responsible with for the dissemination of Mannerist ornament throughout Europe through the publication in Nuremberg of their series of pattern-books.
Lot 69. A German parcel-gilt silver tankard, Augsburg, 1590-1594, maker's mark 'P' possibly for Simon Pfanzelt; 6 in. (15.2 cm.) high, 13 oz. 11 dwt. (422 gr.). Price Realised GBP 5,625 (Estimate GBP 4,000 - GBP 6,000). © Christie's 2022
On spreading foot, the tapering cylindrical body chased with Mannerist strapwork and fruiting trophies framing three oval cartouches featuring buildings in landscapes, the domed hinged cover with associated seated bacchus finial, the scroll handle with caryatid figure, marked underneath and stamped under the rim '24 LOT'.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Note: The tankard is chased with three landscape scenes reminiscent of the work of Paul Flindt (1567-1631), the most prolific South Germany punzenstecher- engraver who created ornamental prints with a goldsmith's punch instead of an engraver's burin. The result is a design made of tiny dots.
Trained as a goldsmith in Nuremberg, Flindt produced three books of models in the 1590s aimed at the professional goldsmith trade. Drinking vessels like this tankard were a speciality with scenes featuring mountains in the background, buildings in the centre and generally a tree in the foreground.
Lot 70. A German parcel-gilt silver tankard, Mark of Abraham I Riederer, Augsburg, 1576-1586; 4 ¾ in. (12 cm.) high, 10 oz. 3 dwt. (316 gr.). Price Realised GBP 5,250 (Estimate GBP 4,000 - GBP 6,000). © Christie's 2022
Tapering cylindrical on flared foot and with caryatid scroll handle with Bacchus thumbpiece, the body chased with fruiting foliage and strapwork framing three oval cartouches of buildings in landscapes, the stepped domed cover with later raised flat finial engraved 'HS / BS / 1659', marked underneath.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Lot 71. A German parcel-gilt silver satzbecher or stacking beaker, mark of Pater Miller, Ulm, 1555-1572; 3 1⁄8 in. (7.8 cm.) high, 3 oz. 10 dwt. (110 gr.). Price Realised GBP 4,375 (Estimate GBP 3,000 - GBP 5,000). © Christie's 2022
Cylindrical on spreading foot, the plain body etched with a band of strapwork above moulded rib, marked underneath.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
The maker's mark is illustrated in E.Maus et al, Goldschmiedekunst in Ulm, Ulm,1990, No. 5, p.26 and M. Rosenberg (Der Goldschmiede Merkseichen, vol. 3, p. 346, no. 4761) lists a single stacking beaker of similar height by the same maker in the collection of C. Thewalt of Cologne in 1883.
This type of beaker with its distinctive bulge to allow the beakers to be stacked and prevent them from slipping too deeply, became notably popular at the end of the 16th century and would have comprised 6 to 12 pieces.
Lot 72. A German parcel-gilt silver beaker, Bamberg, circa 1650, unidentified maker's HP conjoined; 3 5⁄8 in. (9.2 cm.) high, 4 oz. 12 dwt. (144 gr.). Price Realised GBP 13,750 (Estimate GBP 5,000 - GBP 8,000). © Christie's 2022
Tapering cylindrical, finely engraved with a wild boar hunt and foresters in a landscape with town beyond, with inscription engraved around the rim, marked underneath, engraved with gothic letters 'rr' and with later French import mark.
The inscription reads 'DER WINTERMOND DEN WINTER SCHAFT NIMPT ALLGEMACH DEM FELDT SEIN KRAFT' which loosely translates as the winter takes its strength from the spring.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Note: Marc Rosenberg (Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen, Frankfurt, 1922, p. 247, 1121, no. 1091) notes that the maker's mark is recorded on a pineapple cup in the Walter von Pannwitz collection, Munich, sold in 1905 and possibly on a communion chalice inscribed with date 1649.
Lot 73. A German parcel-gilt silver tankard, Mark of David Ehekirch, Augsburg, 1612-1613; 5 1⁄8 in. (13.2 cm.) high, 11 oz. 8 dwt. (357 gr.). Price Realised GBP 10,000 (Estimate GBP 3,000 - GBP 5,000). © Christie's 2022
Plain tapering cylindrical, on moulded rim foot, with scroll handle, hinged domed cover, winged female bust and scroll thumbpiece, the cover with baluster finial, the body and cover chased with matting, marked underneath.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Lot 74. Two German parcel-gilt silver beaker, one with mark of Hans Scholler, Leipzig, circa 1630, the other with mark of Leonhard Rothaer I, Hamburg, 1688-1698; 3 in. (7.8 cm.) and 3 3⁄16 in. (8.2 cm.) high, 3 oz. (93 gr.) and 3 oz. 12 dwt. (112 gr.). Price Realised GBP 2,000 (Estimate GBP 1,200 - GBP 1,800). © Christie's 2022
Each plain tapering cylindrical, with moulded rim, the first chased with a broad matted band, the second with later engraved tasselled fruit and foliate garlands, marked on underside of bases.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Lot 75. A Continental silver tankard, unidentified maker's mark GTA in a shield only; possiblylate 16th-early17th century; 5 7⁄8 in. (14.9 cm.) high, 11 oz. 18 dwt. (371 gr.). Price Realised GBP 4,000 (Estimate GBP 2,000 - GBP 3,000). © Christie's 2022
Tapering cylindrical on reeded domed foot, the body chased with stylised foliate scrolls and strapwork framing three cartouches with a bear, a bull and a horse in landscapes, the cover chased with foliate strapwork and engraved in centre with merchant mark and initials 'PꞏAꞏS˖SꞏHꞏD' and date '1601', marked underneath.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Lot 76. A German parcel-gilt silver roemer, mark of Hieronymus Peller, Nuremberg, 1670-1673; 2 5⁄8 in. (6.5 cm.) high,2 oz. 6 dwt. (72 gr.). Price Realised GBP 6,250 (Estimate GBP 2,000 - GBP 3,000). © Christie's 2022
On spreading base, the cylindrical stem chased with shells, the octagonal bowl engraved with stemmed flowers, the underside engraved with date 1683 and inscriptions, marked underneath.
The inscriptions reads 'CHRISTOPH DOMEŸER. V. MARIA MAGDALENA DESEN EHLIBSTE (his beloved) / V braunschweig 1683'.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Lot 77. A German parcel-gilt silver trinkspiel tankard, probably Stuttgart, late 16th-early 17th century; 5 1⁄8 in. (13 cm.) high,13 oz. 2 dwt. (409 gr.). Price Realised GBP 10,625 (Estimate GBP 4,000 - GBP 6,000). © Christie's 2022
Tapering cylindrical form, chased with scrolling foliage and strapwork, the cartouches with animals in a landscape, the domed cover with coat-of-arms and dated '1594', scroll handle formed of a caryatid with claw foot and drinking pipe inside, marked to underneath
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Note: The design of this tankard is attributable to Paul Flindt II (c. 1567-1631), whose published engravings provided silversmiths with numerous patterns for the decoration of silver in the Mannerist style. Flindt was himself a goldsmith as well as an engraver and medallist, and his nearly 200 surviving engravings from 1592-1618 provide a large selection of scenic panels found within strapwork containing grotesques and flowerpots, often featuring animals in landscapes such as here.
Flindt evidently based many of the figures of animals found in his landscapes on earlier published bestiaries, such as Cunrat Gesner's Historia Animalium printed in Nuremberg in the 1550s.
Here the animals featured are a sleeping dog, a lion and a unicorn each symbolising loyalty, strength and purity suggesting the tankard, which also serves as a trinkspiel (drinking game), could have been a wedding present.
Lot 78. Three German parcel-gilt silver beakers one with mark of Ulrich Schnell, Augsburg, 1687; one with mark of Heinrich Eichhoff, Hamburg, 1698; one with mark of Friedrich Schwestermuller, Augsburg, 1737-1739; 3 7⁄16 in. (8.8 cm.), 3 1⁄4 in. (8.2 cm.) and 6 in. (15.2 cm.) high, 4 oz. 9 dwt. (138.5 gr.); 2 oz. 13 dwt. (83 gr.); and 7 oz. 14 dwt. (240 gr.). Price Realised GBP 4,000 (Estimate GBP 3,000 - GBP 5,000). © Christie's 2022
Comprising three beakers: two tapering cylindrical, one with waved pattern, the other with snakeskin finish, the third plain trumpet-shaped on waisted reeded foot, marked underneath.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Lot 79. Two German parcel-gilt silver miniature tankards, the smaller circa 1675; the other bearing spurious marks for Marx Merzenbach, Augsburg, 1675-1679; one with mark of Friedrich Schwestermuller, Augsburg, 1737-1739; 3 in. (7.5 cm.) and 3 1⁄2 in. (9 cm.) high, 4 oz. 1 dwt (216 gr.) and 5 oz. 8 dwt. (168 gr.). Price Realised GBP 4,000 (Estimate GBP 1,500 - GBP 2,500). © Christie's 2022
Cylindrical, each on domed foot, with double scroll handle, bifurcated scroll thumbpiece and hinged domed cover, the larger with baluster finial and chased motifs of foliage and flowers, the smaller with plain body, each marked underneath and on cover rim.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Lot 80. Two German silver-gilt and parcel-gilt beakers, one with mark of Daniel Zech, Augsburg, 1629-1632, the other with mark of Reinhold Ruhl, Nuremberg, circa 1680; 2 3⁄8 in. (6.1 cm.) high and 2 7⁄8 in. (7.4 cm.) high, 2 oz. 6 dwt. (72 gr.) and 1 oz. 19 dwt. (60 gr.). Price Realised GBP 1,500 (Estimate GBP 1,200 - GBP 1,800). © Christie's 2022
Tapering cylindrical, the first chased with a band of prundts, the second on three ball feet, chased with scrolling flowers and foliage, marked underneath.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Lot 81. A German parcel-gilt silver beaker, possibly Lubeck, late 17th century; 6 1⁄2 in. (16.2 cm.) high, 7 oz. 2 dwt. (220 gr.). Price Realised GBP 4,000 (Estimate GBP 2,000 - GBP 3,000). © Christie's 2022
Trumpet shaped, the plain body with detachable spreading foot with bayonet fitting and three gilt winged figure feet, the lower body applied with a ribbed moulded band and above with a Gothic foliate tendril band with grotesque masks, marked underneath.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Lot 82. A German parcel-gilt silver tankard, 19th century with 17th century elements; 5 7⁄8 in. (15 cm.) high, 17 oz. 10 dwt. (546 gr.). Price Realised GBP 5,000 (Estimate GBP 1,500- GBP 2,500). © Christie's 2022
Cylindrical tapering and with scroll handle, female bust and foliate scroll thumbpiece, the hinged domed cover inset with a medallion engraved with a merchant's mark within a shield beneath the letters VP and the date 1564, the body engraved overall with strapwork and applied with three cast cartouches, the first depicting a figure kneeling before a flaming altar, the second depicting a female figure and the third a female figure being presented by a solider to a seated king, the cover applied with a cast band of putti and sea monsters, the underside of the base inset with an oval gnadenpfenning dated 1602, marked on footrim.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Lot 85. Two German parcel-gilt silver beakers and a tankard, all Augsburg, the beakers with mark of Philipp Stenglin, 1711-1715 and 1721-1725, the tankard with mark of Johann Mittnacht III, 1741-1743; The beakers 51⁄2 in. (13.8 cm.) and 45⁄8 in. (11.6 cm.) high, The tankard 71⁄8 in. (18 cm.) high; The beakers 7 oz. 7 dwt. (229 gr.) and 5 oz. 12 dwt. (175 gr.), The tankard 15 oz. 16 dwt. (491 gr.). Price Realised GBP 5,000 (Estimate GBP 1,500- GBP 2,500). © Christie's 2022
The tapering cylindrical beakers, each on spreading foot and with moulded rim, chased and engraved with bands of husks and strapwork between gilt borders, the earlier beaker engraved beneath the foot with the initials IPL and 1778, each marked undeneath; the tapering cylindrical tankard on domed foot and with double scroll handle and hinged domed cover with bifurcated scroll thumbpiece and later figure finial in Roman dress, the body later engraved with three scenes from the life of Moses; the infant Moses in the bullrushes, Moses striking the rock and the parting of the Red Sea, all within foliate scrolls and between strapwork borders, marked underneath, the cover rim and upper body each struck with later control mark for Brünn,1806/7 and 19th century Austrian import mark.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Lot 86. A German parcel-gilt silver beaker, mark of Johann Pfefenhauser, Augsburg, 1707-1711; 6¼ in. (15.8 cm.) high, 9 oz. 15 dwt. (304 gr.). Price Realised GBP 3,000 (Estimate GBP 1,500- GBP 2,500). © Christie's 2022
Tapering cylindrical on gadrooned stepped foot, chased on the lower part with strapwork and engraved below the rim with lambrequins, marked underneath and on underside of footrim.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection
Lot 87. A German parcel-gilt silver beaker, mark of Johan Grüno, Hamburg, 1715-1718; 3 1⁄4 (8.4 cm.) high, 4 oz. 2 dwt. (129 gr.). Price Realised GBP 3,000 (Estimate GBP 1,500- GBP 2,500). © Christie's 2022
Tapering cylindrical and on domed foot, the body chased with fruiting foliage between oval cartouches, with allegorical scenes and inscriptions, marked underneath.
The scenes and inscriptions are:
'In Manu Belli Finis' which translates as 'the hand will stop the war' featuring arms emerging from a cloud brandishing a victor's laurel wreath and a sword.
'Quotidie Major', translates as 'every day better' featuring a palm tree in a landscape.
'Solus Cor Meum Commovet et Aperit', which translates as 'only he touches and open my heart', featuring an heliothrope turns towards the sun who feeds her.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Note: The emblems engraved on these beakers are extracted from Jeremias Wolff's book of emblems, Dreyhundert Auserlesene anmuthig und Lehrreiche Sinn-Bilder, Augsburg published in 1716.
Emblems (allegorical illustrations) with accompanying explanatory text, typically morals or poems were popular in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. Jeremias Wolff’s (1663–1724) publishing house in Augsburg created volumes of literature, religion, and travel, excelling at producing richly engraved print collections including emblems. By the first decades of the eighteenth century, Wolff’s press had established a firm reputation in the Empire for its specialization in this genre geared toward a broad readership of noble patrons, builders, artists and craftsmen and became staples of princely and private libraries across the Empire.
For an identical beaker see Schliemann et al., Die Goldschmiede Hamburgs, Hamburg, 1985, vol. III, p.148, no. 341.
A similar beaker by Johann Grüno, Hamburg, 1718-38 was sold Sotheby's, London, 1 May 2018, lot 276.
Lot 88. Two German silver tumbler cups, Breslau, one 1746-1758, maker's mark FG in heart shaped cartouche, the other with mark of George Kahlert II, 1746-1758; 1 7⁄8 in. (4.8 cm.) and 1 15⁄16 in. (5 cm.) high, 2 oz. 2 dwt. (65 gr.) and 2 oz. 5 dwt. (70 gr.). Price Realised GBP 1,375 (Estimate GBP 1,200 - GBP 1,800). © Christie's 2022
Each circular, the first partly fluted and chased above with a band of dodecafoil rosettes, husks and foliage on a matted ground, the second plain and with gilt band below the moulded rim, engraved with a coat-of-arms with coronet above and the initials PH, each marked underneath.
Property from The Robert G. Vater Collection.
Christie's. The Collector, London, 27. Jan - 10 Feb 2022
