Ivory court tankard with a Calydonian Boar relief. Sculpture: Johann Ulrich Hurdter, Ulm, ca 1670. Mount: Gabriel I Bessmann, Augsburg, 1687–1691. Ivory; silver, cast, embossed, engraved, punched and fire-gilt. Master maker’s mark and city mark. Height 25.7 cm, weight 1.181 g © Kuntskammer Georg Laue at TEFAF Maastricht 2025

This magnificent tankard is notable for its superlatively carved ivory wall and its precious silver-gilt mount, which enhances the material value of the fine ivory carving and decisively shapes the overall appearance of the tankard. The master goldsmith responsible for the ornate silver-gilt mount was Gabriel I Bessmann of Augsburg (Master 1685–1734), whose mark, the initials ‘GB’, is stamped on the lid and on the foot alongside the Augsburg fir apple (pine cone). The ivory wall of the tankard, on the other hand, was carved by Johann Ulrich Hurdter (1631/32–1716), a sculptor represented with stylistically related works at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore @thewaltersartmuseum, the Museen der Stadt Ulm @museumulm, the Landesmuseum Württemberg in Stuttgart @Imwstuttgart, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam @rijksmuseum and the Kunstkammer at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

The reliefs on the ivory wall of the tankard depict a scene from Greek mythology, specifically an episode from the love story of Meleager and Atalanta as transmitted to posterity by Ovid in the eighth book of the Metamorphoses. As if in a long narrative frieze, male and female figures are represented clad in antiquising apparel. The action is focused on a young man handing the head of a decapitated boar to a female figure wearing her hair up in a topknot. The animal was the Calydonian Boar, as large as an ox, that Artemis sent to Calydon as an act of revenge against King Oeneus because he had failed to include the goddess of the chase while making votive offerings. After the beast slaughtered domestic animals and farmhands, the king summoned brave men from across Greece to join his son Meleager in hunting the boar. Heroes including Jason, Castor, Pollux and Anceus duly assembled in response to the summons but a woman was also among them: Atalanta, a virgin huntress from Arcadia. Although the hunters resented the presence of a woman on the hunt, Meleager fell in love with Atalanta at first sight and stood up for her. The distinguished hunting party finally succeed in slaying the Boar thanks to Atalanta’s prowess in archery. Meleager greatly annoyed the male members of the hunt by crediting Atalanta with its successful outcome because she had been the first to wound the beast and insisting on giving her the head and skin of the slain Boar as the spoils of the hunt. The act of handing over the spoils is what is depicted on the ivory tankard. Meleager, the king’s son, is seated, surrounded by the members of the hunting party. With an imperious hand signal he orders a naked man to give the Boar’s head to the beautiful Atalanta.

Attribution of this fine ivory sculpture to the sculptor Johann Ulrich Hurdter is based on comparison with one of the few signed works by this artist: a relief depicting The Deposition and monogrammed ‘IVH’, which is now held in the collections at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and shows obvious stylistic affinities with the ivory relief discussed. Born in Malters, Switzerland, in 1632, Johann Ulrich Hurdter was employed at the Ulm workshop of the sculptor David Heschler (1611–1667) from 1658 to 1664. Hurdter probably attained master craftsman status in 1664: that year he not only married but also became a citizen of Ulm and bought a house. Like David Heschler, he had specialised in making small, very valuable Kunstkammer works of sculpture, which were much in demand as collector’s items targeting princes and patricians alike. Records reveal Hurdter was in contact with the court of Karl I Ludwig, the Elector Palatine (reign 1649–1680). He also probably maintained links with the dukes of Württemberg, who were working on building up the ducal Kunstkammer ca 1660. Why Hurdter’s work was so highly prized even during his lifetime is amply demonstrated by the magnificent ivory tankard studied here. With its high material value and aesthetic quality as well as its mythological scenes it would have been precisely to the taste of German princes increasingly focused in the last third of the seventeenth century on enriching their Kunstkammer collections with exquisite ivory sculpture.