Veit Koch Lot n° 405

Important Silesian lidded tankard Silver, gilt. The six-sided, slightly conical body with a cast herm handle on a foot bulge with tongue ornament. The spandrels in the shape of keel arches with chased and finely chiseled cherub heads alternating with fruit scrolls. Between them six finely engraved high oval reserves, two with engraved depictions of landscapes and huntable animals, the other four with the coats of arms of Silesian families, including the coat of arms of the von Biberaw family with the monogram DVB, that of the von Zedlitz family with the monogram DVZ, that of the von Raab family with the monogram EGR. A fourth, as yet unresolved coat of arms also bears the monogram DVB. The domed hinged lid with corresponding decoration. A winged sea creature as a thumb rest and the finely chiseled figure of a Roman soldier on horseback as a crown. One attribute in the rider's right hand lost. Unmarked. H 21.5 cm, weight 955 g. Probably attributed to Veit Koch, Breslau, around 1610 - 1620. Provenance Art dealer Peter Szuhay, London, 1996; Westphalian private collection. Literature Cf. a Breslau lidded tankard with the master's mark of Veit Koch in the collection of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, illustrated in cat. German Goldsmiths' Art, Berlin 1987, no. 41. On this type, see also a wine jug by the master Daniel Hofmann with the coats of arms of Wroclaw patrician families, illustrated in Gündel, Die Goldschmiedekunst in Breslau, Breslau 1940, plate 46. An unmarked lidded jug attributed to Silesia is illustrated in cat. Die Wiener Silber-Sammlung Bloch-Bauer/Pick, Vienna 2008, no. 33. "In an attempt to establish specific characteristics for Silesian jugs, the broadly proportioned shape and the particularly flat domed lid are striking" (cf. ibid. p. 68.).