Tankard thumbnail 1
Tankard thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Europe 1600-1815, Room 5, The Friends of the V&A Gallery

Tankard

1700 - 1714 (made)
Place of origin
Moscow
St Petersburg

Cylindrical, lidded silver tankard set on three feet in the form of pomegranates, the lid thumb-piece in the form of two entwined pomegranates. A silver 'Thaler' (coin) of 1623 is set into the centre of the lid; the side of the tankard engraved with a coronet above two monograms (perhaps 'PYK' and 'EAEX'). Yellowish patches on the surface of the tankard suggest the silver is low-grade with a high copper content. Analysis confirmed this.


Object details

Category
Metalwork
Object type
Tankard
Materials and techniques
Silver, raised, cast, engraved.
Silver
Brief description
Tankard, silver, set on three feet in the form of pomegranates, Russian (struck with a town mark similar to Moscow or St Petersburg), ca. 1700-1714
Physical description
Cylindrical, lidded silver tankard set on three feet in the form of pomegranates, the lid thumb-piece in the form of two entwined pomegranates. A silver 'Thaler' (coin) of 1623 is set into the centre of the lid; the side of the tankard engraved with a coronet above two monograms (perhaps 'PYK' and 'EAEX'). Yellowish patches on the surface of the tankard suggest the silver is low-grade with a high copper content. Analysis confirmed this.
Dimensions
  • Base to top of thumb piece height: 19.5cm
  • Handle across to rim width: 20cm (approximate)
  • Across feet at base depth: 15cm (approximate)
Marks and inscriptions
  • Marked on the underside of the tankard: A double-headed eagle beneath a six-pointed star, in an octagonal punch. Similar to the town mark of Moscow for the period 1700-1714 (see Postnikova-Losseva, Platonova and Ulianova: 1983, no. 1935) and the town mark of St Petersburg for the year 1714 (Postnikova-Losseva, Platonova and Ulianova: 1983, no. 1132; Watts and Perrott: 2006, p. 57). Maker's mark 'HV' (or Cyrillic 'PN or 'LN') in an oval punch, unidentified.
  • Set into the centre of the lid of the tankard, a silver 'thaler' (coin) of 1623, the obverse depicts the Virgin of the Apocalypse, and inscribed around the rim in Latin: 'CLYPEVS OMNIBVS IN TE SPERANTIBVS' ('Shield to all who place their hope in you') The reverse of the coin bears the arms of the Dukedom of Bavaria, above these an imperial crown, below them the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Inscribed around the rim, in Latin: MAXIMIL[ianus]. COM[es]. PAL[alatinus] . RH[eni] . VT . BAV[ariae] . DVX . S[acrum] . R[omani] . I [mperium]. ARCIDAP[ifer]. ET. ELECTOR ('Maximilian Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, Chief Royal Carver and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire') Below, the date '1623'
  • Engraved on the front of the tankard, two mongrams, each repeated and reversed. These may possibly be deciphered as 'PYK' and 'EAB'. Above these, a coronet; below them, the date '1705'.
Gallery label
TANKARD Silver, the lid set with a Bavarian thaler of 1623. Maker's mark. H V, with a Petrograd hall-mark. Probably made by a Scandinavian silversmith in Russia. Dated 1705. M.489-1910.(Pre-2000)
Bibliographic references
  • Postnikova-Losseva, M. M., N. G. Platonova and B. L. Ulianova. L'orfèvrerie et la bijouterie au XV - XX ss [Territoire de l'URSS]. Moscow: Nauka, 1983.
  • Watts, Geoffrey. Russian Silversmiths' Hallmarks 1700-1917, ed. by George Perrott. Bath: Gemini Publications, 2006. ISBN 0953063771
  • Davenport, John S. German Secular Talers 1600-1700. Frankfurt am Main: Schulten, 1976. ISBN 3921302129.
  • Hahn-Zelleke, Adelheid. Die Münzen der baierischen Kurfüsten 1623-1806 mit Typenkatalog und Bewertungen. Teil 1a (6a der gesamten Folge): Die baierischen Münzen des Kurfüsten Maximilian I. (1623-51/54). In: money trend 6 (2006). pp. 108-120.
  • Lightbown, R. W. Catalogue of Scandinavian and Baltic Silver. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1975. ISBN 0901486655
  • Sympson, Samuel. A new book of cyphers. London: Printed for J. Bowles and Son, 1736.
  • Boesen, Gudmund and Chr. A. Bøje. Old Danish silver. Copenhagen: Hassing, 1949.
  • Frąckowska, Anna. Gdańsk silver tankards of the 17th and 18th centuries : typology, styles, iconography [translation Marcin Turski]. Warsaw: Arx Regia - Ośrodek Wydawniczy Zamku Królewskiego, 2013. ISBN 9788370221973
  • Schroder, Timothy. British and Continental Gold and Silver in the Ashmolean Museum. 3 vols. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2009. ISBN 9781854442208
Collection
Metalwork Collection
Accession number
M.489-1910

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O378618/tankard/
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