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A museum-quality, silver gilt mounted ivory tankard - image-1A museum-quality, silver gilt mounted ivory tankard - image-2A museum-quality, silver gilt mounted ivory tankard - image-3A museum-quality, silver gilt mounted ivory tankard - image-4A museum-quality, silver gilt mounted ivory tankard - image-5A museum-quality, silver gilt mounted ivory tankard - image-6A museum-quality, silver gilt mounted ivory tankard - image-7A museum-quality, silver gilt mounted ivory tankard - image-8A museum-quality, silver gilt mounted ivory tankard - image-9

Lot 413 D‡α

A museum-quality, silver gilt mounted ivory tankard

Auction 1244 - overview Cologne
15.05.2024, 10:00 - Silver Porcelain Ceramics
Estimate: 35.000 € - 40.000 €
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A museum-quality, silver gilt mounted ivory tankard

Vessel of oval section with scroll handle, domed hinged lid and rounded basal ring with palmette frieze. The ivory shell finely carved with a depiction of a battle scene. The lid with corresponding finely chased repoussé decor and a carved group of two opposing warriors as a finial. The raised arm of the standing figure missing. H 33.5 cm, weight 2,098 g.
Marks of Johann Eißler, 1688 - 1692. the carvings attributed to Johann Michael Hornung, Schwäbisch Hall.

This tankard depicts a dramatic cavalry battle against Ottoman warriors, referring to the legendary battle during the Second Turkish Siege of Vienna in 1683. The soldiers of the Ottoman army are depicted here, clearly distinguishable, in oriental costume, with turbans and moustaches, while their opponents from the imperial army of Leopold I are fighting either in contemporary clothing of the 16th century or in classical style armour with Roman breastplates.
The group of figures on the lid symbolises the defeat of the Ottomans by the imperial army and the triumph of Christianity over the 'infidels'.

Certificate

Sales permit DE-K-240325-149 for the EU internal market has been obtained.

Provenance

Auctioned by Fscher Lucerne, 31 August 1933: Rütschi Collection, Zurich; auctioned by Fischer Lucerne, 16 - 20 June 1953; Hessian private collection.

Literature

Cf. a tankard and cover by Eißler of almost identical design and decor in the Grünes Gewölbe, Dresden, illus. in Jutta Kappel, Elfenbeinkunst im Grünen Gewölbe zu Dresden, Dresden 2017, no. II.12. Cf. also an ivory tankard by Eißler in the collection of the Margraves and Grand Dukes of Baden, auctioned by Sotheby's in 1995, lot 482. The present tankard is illustrated in Weltkunst, issue 12, 15 June 1953. For the attribution of the ivory carvings to Johann Michael Hornung, cf. a signed tankard in the Grünes Gewölbe, illus. in Jutta Kappel, ibid, No. II.11. Another one in the Hohenlohe Collection is illustrated in Armin Panter (Ed.) Hohenlohe, das Kirchberger Kunstkabinett im 17. Jahrhundert, Sigmaringen 1995, No. 9.