A silver-gilt mounted alabaster tankard - Lot 37

A silver-gilt mounted alabaster tankard A silver-gilt mounted agate tankard England, circa 1610 H. 19.2 cm; wt 564 g. Marks : Crowned O: Dutch control mark for "old" (oud) works made before 1807 (R3 7541). In force between July 1 and December 3, 1807. Rooster facing left at rest, 2 in front of legs, irregular octagonal frame with scroll: 2nd title silver,1809-1819; warrior's head facing right round frame: average silver guarantee for departments, 1809-1819, France (or Netherlands as part of the French Empire until 1815). A badly inscribed hallmark on the handle, illegible. Provenance : Private collection, Belgium. Exhibition: Magie de l'Orfèvrerie: Argenterie européenne de 1500 à 1850 dans les collections privées, exhibition catalog: Musée des Arts décoratifs et du Design de Gand, 2000, no. 218. Bibliography: Magie de l'Orfèvrerie: Argenterie européenne de 1500 à 1850 dans les collections privées, vol. 1, exhibition catalog: Ghent Museum of Decorative Arts and Design; Antwerp, 2000, p. 180, no. 218. Comparative bibliography: T. Schroder, Renaissance and Baroque Silver, Mounted Porcelain and Ruby Glass from the Zilkha Collection, London, 2012. The tankard consists of an alabaster cylinder for the body and a dome of the same stone for the lid. The gilded silver mounting features: a gadrooned base; a band engraved with a frieze of roses at the neck, on which a winged putto head is applied; a leafy console handle decorated with a harpy bust ending in a pearl drop; a serrated border around the lid attached to the handle by a hinge; a mushroom-shaped grip topped by a small ball; a thumb rest featuring a lion mask, mouth open. Condition: good, two lines of V-shaped crazing at the start of the attachment at the bottom of the handle, a few wolf's tooth injuries. A mug of the same shape, circa 1610, is preserved at Burghley House, Stamford, Lincolnshire (inv. EWA08529). It features identical decorative elements: handle, thumb rest and applied winged putto head. The rose-engraved frieze decorating the neck of our mug is typical of English silverware of the same period. It can also be found on the "Dyneley casket", also comprising an alabaster cylinder and dome, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (inv. 24-1865). In the same museum, we can also cite the frame of a serpentine tankard (inv. M.52-1912), as well as a salt cellar by the silversmith Richard Blackwell, hallmarked London, circa 1614-15, (inv. M.10-1931). It can also be seen on the English mounts of Gujarati mother-of-pearl objects in the Zilkha collection (cf. Schroder, pp. 132-136, nos. 24 & 25).