A silver gilt drinking vessel in the form of a bear - image-1
A silver gilt drinking vessel in the form of a bear - image-2
A silver gilt drinking vessel in the form of a bear - image-1A silver gilt drinking vessel in the form of a bear - image-2

Lot 1066 Dα

A silver gilt drinking vessel in the form of a bear

Auction 1230 - overview Cologne
17.11.2023, 10:00 - Decorative Arts - Silver, Porcelain, Faience
Estimate: 8.000 € - 12.000 €
Result: 10.080 € (incl. premium)
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A silver gilt drinking vessel in the form of a bear

Designed as a figure of a standing bear with finely chased fur on a quatrefoil Gothic style base. The removable head forming a beaker. Depicted holding a rifle in its right paw, the left resting on a dagger in a belt at its side, with a bear cub wearing a bow and playing a piccolo flute at its side. H 25 cm, weight 1477 g.
Lucerne, Bossard firm, early 20th C.

The Swiss National Museum houses an almost identical version of this bear (inv. LM 56687), stamped Bossard and Son, 1901-1913. The drinking vessel was probably made by Karl Thomas Bossard, produced either in 1901-1913 (under the company name Bossard & Son) or 1913-1934 (Karl Thomas Bossard company).



We would like to thank Dr. Christian Hörack of the Swiss National Museum for his kind support in cataloguing this piece.

Provenance

From an important Italian collection.

Literature

For more on Bossard see Gruber, Weltliches Silber, Bern 1977, no. 219, 251 and Hörack et al. (ed.), Bossard Luzern 1868–1997: Gold- und Silberschmiede, Kunsthändler, Ausstatter, Stuttgart 2023.