South African Design: Past & Present
Timed Online Auction, 13 June - 9 July 2025
Cape Interiors: Furniture, Metalware, Silver & Glass
About the SessionThis sale traces the heritage of South African design across centuries of creative expression highlighting diverse design objects through two sessions. Uniting the sessions is a celebration of the versatility of materials - metal, wood, glass, clay, fibre - and how artists and artisans have transformed them over time into works of wonder, rich in both tradition and innovation.
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About this Item
Notes
Likely originating from Oelsnitz in Saxony, Germany, David Ficker arrived at the Cape in 1733 as a soldier in the service of the Dutch East India Company. On 9 March 1736, he was permitted to enter the service of Mathias Lotter (Cape Silversmith) as a servant, with the condition that he could be recalled to the Castle at any time. He left Lotter’s service by mutual agreement on 15 January 1743.
Between 1747 and 1750, he is recorded as a gunmaker employed by the VOC. He became a free burgher in May 1751. By September 1748, he was referred to as a goldsmith, and by April 1754, as a silversmith. He died on 7 July 1790.
Stephan Welz (1976) Cape Silver and Silversmiths, Cape Town, AA Balkema
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