The Contents of Keerweder
Live Auction, 22 - 23 October 2012
Session 3
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
About this Item
A Batavian silver commemorative salver (Gedachtenisblad), maker's initials SW, mid 18th century
square with canted corners, the rim moulded with shell and leaf decoration, the centre engraved with the inscription 'Gedachtenisse Van Willem Maunts Cruse Aan Cabo de Goede Hoop Geboren Den 2 July Anno 1671 Tot Batavia Als Oud Bailluw Overledn Den Laatsten February Anno 1734', the reverse with further inscription and two paper labels, restorations, 1030g, 36cm square
Notes
Silver plates and salvers of this form were popular commemorative gifts in the Dutch East Indies in the eighteenth century. These plates were presented to friends and family members at weddings, important anniversaries and at funerals, usually bearing inscriptions with names and dates.
Guss Röell & Deon Viljoen, Uit verre streken, The European contact with India, Indonesia, China, Japan and the Cape of Good Hope, 17th-20th Centuries, Cape Town & Maastricht, June 2010
Literature
cf. V.O.C.-Zilver, Zilver uit de periode van de Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, 17de en 18de eeuw, Collective Haags Gemeenstemuseum, Mei 1983, where a similar example is illustrated on page 39