| Title |
|
Silversmidt (Search for the image) |
| Translated title |
Silversmith |
| Intro |
Text by dr D. Barnes, accompanying Bramer’s drawing of a silversmith (`zilversmid’) |
| Code of occupational group |
88090 |
| Description |
Inside his shop, the silversmith sits on a three-legged stool just behind a worktable. The smith supports a silver ewer in his left hand, while raising a small hammer over it with his right. On the table there is a silver tazza, another flagon, and a wide-mouthed beaker. Behind the silversmith, there are two shelves against the wall holding finished plates, platters, serving dishes, all examples of the smith's artistry.
A man wearing a wide- brimmed hat is standing next to the smith. He holds one beaker or chalice in his left arm close to his chest. His right hand is outstretched grasping the rim of the beaker on the worktable. He watches the smith intently. Both may be talking about what the silversmith is doing. The shop is lit by sunlight coming through two rear windows with diamond-shaped panes. A bench and a second three-legged stool are under the worktable.
Silver was reserved for special objects, often ceremonial. Ordinary household serving pieces for food and beverages were made of earthenware, stoneware, porcelain, pewter, tin, and glass. Silversmiths sometimes worked in collaboration with the jeweler or goldsmith. Tazzas were designed by specialized artists; created by the silversmith; and used by gilds or companies of municipal guards for special banquets. Elaborate silver objects were sometimes presented by government officials or wealthy individuals to distinguished diplomats, admirals, or politicians.*
Representations of the silversmith were not typical of genre paintings during the 17th century. However still lifes of sumptuous silver ewers, tazzas and candlesticks were painted and came to be known as "pronkstuk" in Dutch. The paintings were prized by rich Dutch merchants not only for the artistry in capturing colors, shapes, and textures, but especially for the self-congratulatory reflection of prosperity the paintings provided. ** See, for example, Abraham van Beyeren's 1654 still life (Museum Boijmans-van Beuningen). Willem Kalf eventually specialized in capturing the lustre of rich silver and gold objects; see his 1643 "Still Life with Costly Vessels" (Wallraf Richartz Museum). Chalices or beakers like ones the man is touching were used both as communion goblets in church services and as drinking vessels passed around by diners at banquets. Pieter Claesz. and Roelof Koets both featured them in still life banquet paintings. |
| Source |
Donna R. Barnes, Ed D, Street scenes, Leonard Bramer's drawings of seventeenth-century daily life (Hofstra Museum exhibition 1991). Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York.
Click here for the introductory essay on Bramer's drawings. |
| Notes |
*See J.W. Frederiks, Dutch Silver: Embossed Plaquettes, Tazze, and Dishes from the Renaissance until the End of the Eighteenth Century, 1952.
**Sam Segal, A Prosperous Past: The Sumptuous Still Life in the Netherlands, 1988. |
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