A RARE TRANSYLVANIAN PARCEL-GILT SILVER TANKARD MARK OF SEBASTIAN HANN THE ELDER, SIBIU, CIRCA 1697

A RARE TRANSYLVANIAN PARCEL-GILT SILVER TANKARD
MARK OF SEBASTIAN HANN THE ELDER, SIBIU, CIRCA 1697
Cylindrical, the white silver body chased in high relief and engraved with three scenes after engravings by Matthaeus Merian the Elder depicting the Labors of Hercules, Aeneas and Anchises fleeing Troy, and the murder of Servius Tillius, and engraved below each with description of scene, further engraved near upper rim HERCULIS HIS CIRTUS: MONSTROSAE TULLIA ET RARA AENEAE GRATIA, NOMEN HABET, the gilt loop handle formed as a female term figure, gilt hinged cover with finial modeled as a Roman warrior on horseback and opening to reveal a roundel chased with Cimon and Pero as an allegory of the Caritas Romana, inner foot rim engraved So offt mit kühlem Wein die Kanne man wird heben, soll Herr Sebastian in lieb und lobe leben, 1697 (As often as the jug is lifted with cool wine, Sir Sebastian shall live in love and praise, 1697), marked on base rim SH in an oval
11 1/4 in. (28.5 cm.) high
52 oz. 4 dwt. (1,622 gr.)

Provenance
Commissioned by Valentin Franck von Franckenstein (1643 - 1697) for his grandson.
The collection of Sibiu goldsmith Erno Lüdecke by 1884.
Almost certainly Mayer Carl von Rothschild (1820-1886) and by descent to his daughter.
Thérèse, Baroness James de Rothschild (1847-1931), wife of Baron James Edouard de Rothschild (1844-1881) and then by descent to their son.
Baron Henri James Nathaniel de Rothschild (1872-1946) and then by descent to his son.
Baron James de Rothschild (1896-1984).
Acquired by a German private collection probably at the Deutsche Kunst- und Antiquitäten Messe, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 1960’s.