Medium Sized Silver German Tureen with Tray, Gilt Inside

Object Number: #609

Augsburg, 1775-1777

Christian II. Drentwett

City’s hallmark: Pyr with date letter „X“ for Augsburg 1775-1777 (Seling 2007, p. 52, No. 2470).

Maker’s mark: „CD“ in an oval for Christian II. Drentwett (Seling 2007, p. 624 No. 2427).

Length: 51 cm (20 in.), weight 2.619 gr.

Pictures

Detailed Information

Medium Sized Silver German Tureen with Tray, Gilt Inside

The medium-sized oval, rococo silver tureen with four feet and its tray was made in the second half of the eighteenth century by Christian II Drentwett, a member of the acclaimed goldsmith dynasty Drentwett.

The plain, bulging body with two charming, perforated rocaille handles stands on four equally perforated rocaille feet. The cast finial of the cover is shaped as a lemon on which leaves wind around. Inside, the lid and corpus are gilt.

The tray has an oval shape. The rim is slightly curved and the well relatively flat. On the two short sides of the oval, there are two handles attached in the same style as on the corpus.

The tureen is marked at the bottom; the cover and the tray are both marked on the rim.

Maker

Christian II. Drentwett, protestant, was born in 1720 as son of the silversmith Christian I. Drentwett. In 1754, he became master maker and married for the first time; In 1780 the second time. Four years later he became warden. From 1787 to 1796 he was the head warden. Christian II. Drentwett died in 1801.

Christian II Drentwett was a member of one of the most important and well-known silversmith dynasties in Augsburg. Balduin Drentwett founded the dynasty in 1554-1627 and its members were active silversmiths until the end of the eighteenth century. The various family members were involved in almost all important orders for the European courts and church members. Christian II. Drentwett’s works are preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in the Wallace Collection, London, and the Bavarian National Museum, Munich, as well as in private collections.

Literature

Karl Hernmarck: Die Kunst der europäischen Gold- und Silberschmiede von 1450-1830, München 1978.

Helmut Seling: Die Augsburger Gold- und Silberschmiede 1529 – 1868. Meister Marken Werke, München 2007.

City Archive Augsburg http://www.stadtarchiv.augsburg.de/index.php?id=17320 (last visited 02.06.2017)