Tapering cylindrical form, chased with scrolling foliage and strapwork, the cartouches with animals in a landscape, the domed cover with coat-of-arms and dated '1594', scroll handle formed of a caryatid with claw foot and drinking pipe inside, marked to underneath
5¹⁄₈ in. (13 cm.) high
13 oz. 2 dwt. (409 gr.)

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.

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Lot Essay

The design of this tankard is attributable to Paul Flindt II (c. 1567-1631), whose published engravings provided silversmiths with numerous patterns for the decoration of silver in the Mannerist style. Flindt was himself a goldsmith as well as an engraver and medallist, and his nearly 200 surviving engravings from 1592-1618 provide a large selection of scenic panels found within strapwork containing grotesques and flowerpots, often featuring animals in landscapes such as here.
Flindt evidently based many of the figures of animals found in his landscapes on earlier published bestiaries, such as Cunrat Gesner's Historia Animalium printed in Nuremberg in the 1550s.
Here the animals featured are a sleeping dog, a lion and a unicorn each symbolising loyalty, strength and purity suggesting the tankard, which also serves as a trinkspiel (drinking game), could have been a wedding present.