A wedding medal is part of the lid of this late seventeenth tankard. It is surrounded by the names of the couple, Boerge Hansen and Marthe Brems, and the date of their marriage, 1691. The shape of the tankard with its sturdy ball feet and robust handle can be found on many baroque Northern European, especially Baltic, wedding and peg tankards from the period: drinking games were popular at weddings.

Lid and tankard also feature lavish floral decoration that was engraved and then blackened to increase the contrast to the silver surface. The flowers depicted here feature striped petals, likely to represent a multicoloured variety of tulips. First introduced to continental Europe in the sixteenth century, tulips were cultivated in particular in the Low Countries, and became the most sought-after and revered flower of the Golden Age in the Netherlands. In 1637 they even caused the first recorded speculative bubble, and were still very much in vogue later on in the century. Tulips also were a key motif of Baroque art, from tulip portraits in still lives to ornamental use, as on this tankard. Here, the flowers shape is assimilated to another type of ornament typical for the time: their leaves are turned into scrolling foliage.


Sir Arthur Gilbert (1913-2001) and his wife Rosalinde (1913-1995) formed one of the world's great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Their collection is on long-term loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum.