A large parcel-gilt silver tankard - Lot 33

A large parcel-gilt silver tankard A large parcel-gilt silver tankard Hamburg, circa 1650-60 Master silversmith: Hans III Lambrecht (active 1630-1670) H. 26.6 cm; wt 2427 g. Marks: Hamburg coat of arms (castle with three towers): Hamburg: mid-17th century (Rosenberg, vol. II, no. 2344). H3L: Hans III Lambrecht (Schliemann, no. 168). Provenance: Kenneth Davis Works of Art, London; Private Collection, Paris. Comparative bibliography: E.A. Jones, The Gold and Silver of Windsor Castle, Letchworth, 1911. M. Rosenberg, Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen, Frankfurt, 1922-28. E. Schliemann, Die Goldschmiede Hamburgs. Hamburg, 1985. The cylindrical body of the tankard is decorated with a silver relief depicting, in a woodland setting, three putti carrying a large garland of foliage and fruit and moving between two scenes: one depicts an abduction with a young man dressed in antique style who, aided by a putto, seizes a woman, her bosom bare and her pelvis covered with a drapery; the other probably depicts Venus and Adonis (or Mars and Venus?), naked, embracing under the gaze of Cupid kissing a putti. The base of the tankard is in gilded silver, with auricular decoration depicting large leaves coiling in a spiral, alternating with motifs reminiscent of snouts. The same decoration appears on the gilded silver lid, which features a silver medallion in relief at its center, on a terrace, depicting two putti carrying a branch of leaves and fruit. The gilded silver handle is in the form of a console with auricular decoration from which emerges a batrachian head extended by a foliate bust and tail ending in the open mouth of a reptile. The thumb rest is formed by an auricular and horned mask. Condition: good Hans III Lambrecht was apprenticed to his uncle, Heinrich, before becoming a master silversmith in 1630. Many of Lambrecht's works were exported to Russia, as Hamburg silversmiths were important suppliers to the Tsar's court in the 17th century. Examples of his work can be found in the Kremlin Museum in Moscow, as well as in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. There are also two mugs of the same type, with their characteristic handles, in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (inv. NMK 2/1883 and NMK CXV 42), but above all the two large mugs similar to ours, with their erotic or bacchic scenes, preserved in British royal collections and used, in particular, for coronations since that of Charles II in 1661 (Tower of London, Jewel House, inv. RCIN 31770 and RCIN 31771; Jones, p. 130, p. LXVI, 3; they were entirely redecorated in 1727, thus losing their original two-tone appearance).