Attributed to Jarich Gerrits van der Lely

Exhibited by Endlich Antiquairs

Material Silver

Dimensions 10.1 cm

Place of Creation Leeuwarden

Status Vetted

About the Work

To be admitted as a master in the craft guild required a test piece or masterpiece as a proof of skill. Within the guild of the gold- and silversmiths people were obliged, as was determined in an ordinance of 1544, to manufacture een gouden ring, een zegel en ‘t corpus van een croes ofte beecker, myt een band dairomme, wel kunstelick gedreuen (a gold ring, a seal and the body of a crucible or beaker surrounded with a band, which had to be crafted artfully), i.e. a band that forms the basis of a beaker with skillfully embossed and chased depictions and decorations.

For the oval, in high relief embossed medallions on the present beaker the silversmith used a print series representing The sinners of the Old and New Testament, that was created by the Leiden engraver Willem van Swanenburg (1580 Leiden 1612), after drawings by Abraham Bloemaert (1564 Gorinchem - Utrecht 1651), representing six Biblical figures, which depict the theme of despair, repentance and devotion.

The depiction of sinners as a group was a rather unique iconographic theme, that conveyed a strong Counter-Reformation message in the promotion of the sacrament of penance that had been refuted by the Calvinists. This aligned with Bloemaert's catholic belief and it is not unthinkable that the mutually catholic Jarich Gerrits was attracted to this iconography too and took the print series as an example for his masterpiece.

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Provenance

1852 J.J. Bruinsma;
after 1880 Elias Jacob Fuld (1820 Frankfurt a/Main – Amsterdam 10/11/1888);
After his decease the property of Mrs Jenny Hartogh-Fuld (1887 Amsterdam 1978) and her sister, Mrs Milly Lessing-Fuld (1891 Amsterdam – ? 1993);
Thence by descent;
Their sale, 2002;
Private collection, The Netherlands

Literature

Christiaan Kramm, Levens en Werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamse Kunstschilders, beeldhouwers, graveurs en bouwmeesters van den vroegsten tijd tot heden, Amsterdam, Gebroeders Diederichs, 1864. 6 vols, vol.6 6 (1864) appendix, p. 100-101
Officieele Catalogus der Nationale Tentoonstelling van Oude en Nieuwe Kunstnijverheid in den Koekamp, Den Haag, 1888, n° 104, p. 52, and supplement, under n° 541 (unpaginated)
Elias Voet, Merken van Friesche Goud- en Zilversmeden, Den Haag, 1932, postscript, p. 127-130
Dr Johan R. ter Molen, Van Vianen, een Utrechtse familie van zilversmeden met internationale faam, Leiderdorp, 1984 (dissertation Leiden University), p. 132, n° 764
Marlies Stoter, Lelie in Zilver, Van der Lely, meesterzilversmeden te Leeuwarden, 1574-1788, exhibition catalogue, Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, 1989, p. 19