Renaissance table pommander silver gilded

Silver, chased, cast, cut, engraved, stamped, gilded

Friesland (?) around 1595

Master mark: HS in a scrolled shield

Dimensions: H 10.5 cm; 478 g

Prov. Since 1920 owned by a swiss family

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The richly decorated, round table pomander is supported by three cast sea creatures. The horse heads emerging from the snail shells serve on the one hand as feet for the finely crafted spice container, and on the other hand as decorative elements. The wall of the container is adorned with a continuous stamped profile, above which is a carved ornamental band made up of scrolls, flowers, mythical creatures, and shells, over which the goldsmith arranged a wave band. This is repeated on the lower part of the lid.

The double-recessed lid is decorated with rolled cartouches that alternately show engraved fruits and four cities by the water; above them is a tongue border that ends centrally in an applied hemisphere. A rising cast gryphon with impressively spread claws is the intricately crafted spice container. Inside, there are four elaborately engraved compartments, originally used for storing different balsams. They can be removed individually. As decorative elements, the goldsmith engraved stylized flowers and birds amidst coiled vine motifs. In the quartered shield of the alliance coat of arms, a griffin and a fox are combined, and as the crest, a fox with griffin claws is used. To the left and right of the coat of arms, the letters MW are engraved – presumably, the original owners were members of the von Voss family, who bore both foxes and griffins in their coat of arms and were native to northern Germany and the Frisian region. ON THE SHAPE AND DECORATION OF THE BALSAM BOX The shape of the balsam box resembles both a host box on one hand and a “Knottedoosje” on the other: while host boxes protect the sacred host, cf. the pyxis by Willem Geverts from the V & A, dating from 1555/1556 As well as the host box from 1564 from the Oetker collection, the bridal treasure was kept in the so-called “Knottedoosje” or “Knottekistje” according to Frisian custom. These boxes already played a role in the marriage proposal – if the bridal treasure was accepted, nothing stood in the way of the wedding celebrations. In both cases, it is an elaborately crafted container for a particularly valuable treasure. Spices and bisam balm were considered very precious, so it is not surprising that the bisam box has a similar form to a pyxis or a Knottedoosje. In Friesland, there was a long tradition of such boxes, which, in addition to their form, feature similar decorative elements as well as sawn elements, as evidenced by objects from the V&A and the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden. However, very few such vessels have survived from the Renaissance period. Stylistically, the bisam box can be identified by its shape, the decoration with rolling work, scroll work, and fruits, the The feet and the crowning griffin can be placed, based on dated works, shortly after 1595. This is supported by the graphic templates used by Paul Flindt the Younger. He designed goblets, cups, and bowls with cities on water, surrounded by scrollwork cartouches with flowers, grotesques, fruit garlands, birds, horses, putti, and flowers, which were published in Vienna and Nuremberg from 1592-1594. Many of his designs can now be found in the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Based on the shape, the decorative elements used, the initials, and the combined coat of arms, it is quite likely that the elaborately decorated table pomander was originally made as a wedding gift. LITERATURE Bachtler, Monika; Syndram, Dirk; Weinhold, Ulrike: The Fascination of Collecting, Masterpieces of Goldsmithing from the Rudolf-August Oetker Collection, Exhibition Catalogue Dresden/Munich 2011, pp. 70f., Cat. No. 9 (Host Box South Germany 1564) Heiner and Habrich, Christa: Scents and Noble Bottles from Five Centuries, Stuttgart 1998 (On Spice Containers in General) Pechstein, Klaus: Goldsmith Works of the Renaissance, Berlin 1971, especially Cat. No. 41 (Scrolled Decoration with Fruits, Flowers, and Scroll Bands) Schiedlausky, Günther: Flindt (Flint, Flynth, Vlindt), Paul the Younger, in: Neue Deutsche Biographie, Volume 5, 1961, pp. 247f. (Goldsmith and Copper Engraver, 1567-163) Voet, Elias: Marks of Frisian Gold and Silversmiths, The Hague 1974 (several similar marks in a scrolled shield, but none are exactly alike)

ONLINE LINKS

Zu Pyxiden und Knottedosje

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O376983/pyx-willem-geverts/?carousel-image=2018KP4985

https://collectie.friesmuseum.nl/?diw-id=tresoar_friesmuseum_Z2015-009

https://collectie.friesmuseum.nl/?diw-id=tresoar_friesmuseum_Z1956-880

https://collectie.friesmuseum.nl/?diw-id=tresoar_friesmuseum_Z1969-002

https://collectie.friesmuseum.nl/?diw-id=tresoar_friesmuseum_Z05684

https://collectie.friesmuseum.nl/?diw-id=tresoar_friesmuseum_Z01004

https://collectie.friesmuseum.nl/?diw-id=tresoar_friesmuseum_Z02544

https://collectie.friesmuseum.nl/?diw-id=tresoar_friesmuseum_Z07562

https://collectie.friesmuseum.nl/?diw-id=tresoar_friesmuseum_Z1967-037

https://collectie.friesmuseum.nl/?diw-id=tresoar_friesmuseum_Z1969-004