A silver-gilt tankard - Lot 30

A silver-gilt tankard A silver-gilt tankard Transylvania, Brașov (Brassó in Hungarian, formerly Kronstadt, now Romania), late 17th century Master silversmith: Georgius II May (active 1684-1712) Hallmarks : Crowned GM: Georgius II May (Köszeghy, no. 244). H. 24 cm; wt 886 g. Provenance: Baron Carl Mayer de Rothschild, Frankfurt; his sale: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 12-13, 1911, lot 75, ill. ; Private Collection, Paris. Comparative bibliography: Erdély régi művészeti emlékeinek kiállítása az Iparmüvészeti múzeumban / Ausstellung alten Kunstgewerbes aus Siebenbürgen, exhibition catalog: Hungarian Museum of Decorative Arts, Budapest, 1931. E. Kőszeghy, Magyarországi ötvösjegyek a középkortól 1867-ig / Merkzeichen der Goldschmiede Ungarns vom Mittelalter bis 1867, Budapest, 1936. J. H. Kolba & T. Németh, Treasures of Hungary. Gold & Silver from the 9th to the 19th century, Budapest, 1986. I. Fodor et al; Baroque Splendor, The Art of the Hungarian Goldsmith, exhibition catalog: Bard graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, New York, 1994. J. H. Kolba, Hungarian Silver: The Nicolas M. Salgo Collection. London, 1996. The body of the gilded silver tankard is cylindrical in shape and decorated with six dotted-engraved sides featuring birds and garlands of fruit. They are separated by embossed and chased ornaments representing a column of laurel leaves knotted in the center and ending at the ends with alternating decorations of a winged putto head and a fruit basket on an amati background. The domed lid, also in gilded silver, is adorned with a repoussé motif of opposing heart-shaped points, charged with winged putti heads, clouds and fruit trophies. At the center of the lid, on a domed terrace, the conical fruit-filled socket rests on a stem whose base is adorned with silver-cut and scrolled leaves. Under the lid, in the center, is a medal depicting a bust of Christ in profile, accompanied by the Latin inscription around the rim: EGO SVM LVX VIA ET VERITAS ("I am the light, the way and the truth"). The lid is attached to the body by a cylindrical hinge, below a console-shaped thumb rest decorated with a female bust. The console handle features a harpy bust, encircled by scrolls of flowers and fruit, ending in a human head. The circular base of the mug is formed by a bulge, decorated with garlands of fruit, between molded fillets. Engraved inscriptions under the mug: DL (?) / 1742. Condition: good A very similar tankard, by another Brașov silversmith, Georgius I Olescher, is in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (inv. 2010.110.51; cf. Kolba, p. 95, no. 73). Another, with the same characteristics, also by Olescher, was in the collection of banker and baron Mór Lipót Herzog in 1931 (cf. Budapest, 1931, p. 19, no. 64, pl. IX; Christie's, New York, May 17, 2011, lot 122). Also worthy of mention is the master I.E. in the Hungarian Museum of Decorative Arts, Budapest (inv. 53.39; cf. Fodor et al., no. 35). Few pieces by Georgius II May seem to have come down to us, as István Fodor knew of only four in 1994. These include a tankard in the Hungarian Museum of Decorative Arts (inv. Poc.Janck.152; cf. Fodor et al., no. 60) and another from the bequest of Baroness Salomon de Rothschild, now in the Musée de la Renaissance, Château d'Écouen (inv. E.Cl.20596).