A large Tyrolese mortar with dolphin handles
Golden brown cast bronze with traces of silver plating and slightly mottled patina. Cast with two bands of rocaille ornament and a heraldic shield to the display side, monogrammed "IAW" and dated "1775", flanked by insects and naturalistic leaf motifs. With acanthus clasped dolphin handles. A horizontal crack to the lower section. H 28.5, D 26.3 cm. Weight 23.3 kg. Including a corresponding pestle.
Tyrol, Reinhard foundy, attributed to a follower of the Miller foundry, 1775.
Upon the death of the Tyrol based bellmaker Peter Löffler in 1530, the foundry, which was in the services of Maximilian I, was taken over by his sons Gregor and Alexander. The Löffler family gave up the foundry in the late 16th century, thus ending the short but successful history of the Löffler dynasty. Archduke Maximilian III acquired the foundry in 1604, leasing it out to Heinrich Reinhart (also written Reinhard, ca. 1575 - 1629) and his successors. In 1774, the foundry was taken over by the Miller family of bellmakers: Simon Miller and his son Georg Miller. Georg was the last owner of the historic foundry, running the business until its closure in 1845.
Literature
Cf. a mortar presumably also cast by Reinhard after designs by Caspar Gras in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, (Acc. no. 2017.11).
Cf. also another mortar cast by Heinrich Reinhard in the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck inv. no. B 237. (cat. Ruhm und Sinnlichkeit, Innsbrucker Bronzeguss 1500 - 1650, Innsbruck 1996, no. 26.