A parcel-gilt silver tankard - Lot 31

A parcel-gilt silver tankard A parcel-gilt silver tankard Augsburg, 1690-95 Master silversmith: Daniel Schwestermüller (active 1673-1695) H. 24 cm; wt 1331 g. Hallmarks: Augsburg Pyr: 1690-1695 (Seling, no. 146). DS: Daniel Schwestermüller (Seling, n°1721). Provenance: Alain and Marie de Rothschild, Hôtel Marigny, Paris. Lempertz sale, Cologne, November 16, 2018, lot 1112 ; Private collection. Bibliography: Alexandre Serebriakoff. Portraitiste d'intérieurs, exhibition catalog: Musée national des châteaux de Malmaison et Bois-Préau, Paris, 1994, pl. 4. Comparative bibliography: H. Seling, Die Kunst der Augsburger Goldschmiede 1529 - 1868, Munich, 1980. The tankard is decorated with relief scenes illustrating the story of Cephalus and Procris in cut silver, revealing the gilded silver cylinder in the background. On one side, Cephalus is seated, dressed in antique style with a scale cuirass. He receives Procris' gifts: the dog Lelaps, who lies beside him on a leash, and the javelin trimmed with penne, which he grasps with his left hand. Procris stands beside him, wearing a long dress and blouse. On the other side, Adonis (?), standing with long hair, a spear in his hand and wearing an antique-style breastplate, sets off on a hunt. Beside him, Venus (?), wearing a dress and tunic, places her hand on her lover's shoulder and smiles. To the left of the scene, a young servant holds two standing dogs awaiting their master. Above this decoration, a plain gilded silver band, edged with engraved fillets, forms the top of the tankard. The domed lid with wavy rim is decorated in partially gilded repoussé silver, depicting a phoenix with outstretched wings, scrolls, birds and fruit, surrounding a flat, circular terrace on which the socket is screwed. It features a young Bacchus wearing a crown of grapes and vine leaves. Kneeling on the ground, the young deity carries a large bunch of grapes under his right arm and raises his left hand to hold a grape. The V-shaped thumb rest is auricular and attached to the cylindrical hinge of the lid. The handle is console-shaped and the base is a reminder of the lid's wavy rim and repoussé decoration, with partially gilded birds and fruit. An S is engraved under the mug. Condition: good The episode in the story of Cephalus and Procris depicted on our tankard is the one that precedes the tragic fate of the two lovers. Earlier, Cephalus had aroused the passion of Eos (Dawn). To lure him away from his beautiful wife Procris, Éos urged him to test her fidelity. In disguise, Cephalus seduced Procris, then rejected her. Ashamed, she fled to Crete, where Diana gave her an infallible dog, Lelaps, and a magic javelin. Returning in a new guise, she seduced Cephalus, who accepted her advances in exchange for the divine gifts. Once recognized, they reconciled. It was with this javelin, during a hunt, that Cephalus mistakenly killed Procris, believing he had flushed out a game animal, when in fact it was his beloved who, jealous, was hiding to spy on him. In pain, he in turn pierced himself. The other scene probably shows Venus trying to hold back Adonis as he sets off on the hunt that will prove fatal, when a boar mortally wounds him. This decoration, whose model has not been found, was used by Daniel Schwestermüller on another tankard (Dorotheum, Vienna, June 19, 2024, lot 4), as well as by another Augsburg silversmith, Gabriel Bessmann, circa 1689-1692 (Christie's, London, November 14, 2019, lot 461). Our cup is depicted on a watercolor by Alexandre Serebriakoff, depicting the Galerie de l'Hôtel Marigny, part of the series created for the Rothschilds in this residence in 1972. Along with other pieces of German silverware, it can be seen resting on a Boulle marquetry piece of furniture, between a covered bowl and an automaton of Diana on her stag (cf. Malmaison 1994 exhibition, pl.4).