A Vienna silver-mounted rock crystal presentation dish
A Vienna silver-mounted rock crystal presentation dish
Large round scalloped bowl with finely carved quartz insets in gilt silver mountings in the style of the Renaissance, depicting birds and mascarons picked out in polychrome enamels. Diameter 36 cm, weight 1,883 g.
Marks of Hermann Ratzersdorfer, 1870s.
Hermann Ratzersdorfer was one of the most important Viennese silversmiths of the 19th century. His speciality was "original works of art in the style of the 16th century in rock crystal and enamel" (exhibition catalogue Vienna 1973, quoted in Neuwirth, Wiener Gold- und Silberschmiede und ihre Punzen 1867 - 1922, Vienna 1977, p. 129).
Ratzersdorfer first exhibited at the London World Exhibition in 1851 and won a medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1855. The public celebrated his often spectacular designs, especially in Vienna in 1873 and Paris in 1878.
Literature
Cf. a magnificent bowl by Ratzersdorfer, illustrated in cat. Macht & Pracht, Europas Glanz im 19. Jahrhundert, ed. Völklinger Hütte 2006, p. 178 f. Another illustrated in cat. Galerie Neuse, L'Apothéose du Génie, Les Expositions Universelles, leurs artistes et leur esprit, Bremen, n.d., p. 120 f.
Bid on this lot
A Vienna silver-mounted rock crystal presentation dish
Large round scalloped bowl with finely carved quartz insets in gilt silver mountings in the style of the Renaissance, depicting birds and mascarons picked out in polychrome enamels. Diameter 36 cm, weight 1,883 g.
Marks of Hermann Ratzersdorfer, 1870s.
Hermann Ratzersdorfer was one of the most important Viennese silversmiths of the 19th century. His speciality was "original works of art in the style of the 16th century in rock crystal and enamel" (exhibition catalogue Vienna 1973, quoted in Neuwirth, Wiener Gold- und Silberschmiede und ihre Punzen 1867 - 1922, Vienna 1977, p. 129).
Ratzersdorfer first exhibited at the London World Exhibition in 1851 and won a medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1855. The public celebrated his often spectacular designs, especially in Vienna in 1873 and Paris in 1878.
Literature
Cf. a magnificent bowl by Ratzersdorfer, illustrated in cat. Macht & Pracht, Europas Glanz im 19. Jahrhundert, ed. Völklinger Hütte 2006, p. 178 f. Another illustrated in cat. Galerie Neuse, L'Apothéose du Génie, Les Expositions Universelles, leurs artistes et leur esprit, Bremen, n.d., p. 120 f.
