A Berlin silver krater-form vase as a wine cooler
Square plinth supporting a round, fluted base and krater-form body. The moulded handles issue from male mascarons, the flaring rim adorned by beaded mouldings. Decorated throughout with vine leaves and acathus below a finely engraved depiction of two mounted officers in Prussian Uhlan uniforms before a guardhouse. H 26.5 cm, weight 2044 g.
Marks of Johann George Hossauer, around 1830.
This wine cooler is based on the famous Medici crater, an antique marble vessel from the first century BC, which has been known since the mid-16th century and is now housed in the Uffizi Gallery. The relief with the oracle questioning the Homeric heroes in Delphi shown on the original has been replaced here by an engraved scene of Uhlan officers, presumably according to the client's request.
Provenance
Private collection, Berlin.
Literature
See also cat. Berlin und die Antike, Berlin 1979, no. 558, illus. p. 229, and Wesenberg, Johann George Hossauer 1794 - 1874, in: Forschungen und Berichte des Kunstgewerbemuseums Schloss Köpenick, Berlin 1987, p. 214, illus. 2.
Exhibitions
Gold und Silber für den König, Johann George Hossauer (1794 - 1874) Goldschmied Sr. Majestät des Königs, Berlin, Schloss Charlottenburg, 1998. Illus. in Melitta Jonas, cat. no. 21, p. 83.