Plate: C.1898-1928

Maker(s)

Production: Herrmann, Christen

Entities

• Plate

Categories

• Lead-glazed earthenware
• Swiss slipware
• Sgraffito ware

Description

Earthenware coated in cream slip, with incised decoration painted in green, yellow and brown under lead-glaze: a coat-of-arms, floral motifs and a circular inscription

Brown earthenware coated in cream slip, with decoration incised through it and painted in green, yellow, and brown under lead-glaze. The plate is circular with a narrow, sloping rim, a concave border, and shallow well with curved sides, In the middle is a circular medallion bordered by a band of rouletting enclosing a stylized tulip plant. Above it are the adjacent coats-of-arms of a couple below a crown. The rest of the well is decorated with stylized foliage and tulips painted in green, dark yellow and brown. On the border is an inscription: 'Meÿster Dursch Fÿxtter Hÿrtt zu Sohllen Thurn. Ich Bÿn eÿn fanner wohll zu Muth der wennÿg Gwÿntt und vÿhll mehr Thutt. Gott mÿtt Uns. Ao. 1729 ÿahr '(Master Dursch Fÿxtter Hÿftt to Sohllen Thurn. I am an ensign stout of heart who takes small pay and stands fast on guard. God with us. Year 1729). Below it is a band of rouletting and above it, a row of interlacing lines enclosing alternately green and brown spots.

On the reverse there are three indented concentric circles around the edge of the base and bands of rouletting round the rim. The base is decorated with a stylized tulip plant coloured in green, yellow, and brown, and the date 1729 on either side of a three-petalled flower at its summit, surrounded by a band of rouletting or chattering. The sides are encircled by six stems bearing tulips, leaves and tendrils, coloured green, yellow and brown, and there are bands of rouletting round the rim.

Notes

History note: Collection of Jacques Blumenthal (1829-1908), the musician; sold by Messrs Foster at 54 Pall Mall on Friday 19 December 1908, lot 60; sold to Mr Sutton of Eastbourne for about £4.4s. 0d.; bought from Mr Sutton for about £6.10s.0d. by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge.

Legal notes

Dr J. W. L. Glaisher Bequest

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr

Dating

1720s
Production date: dated AD 1729

Note

The inscription begins with the name of the owner, who can be identified as Johann Viktor Hirt (1706-60). He took the oath of citizenship in Solothurn, a town on the river Aare, in the Swiss Canton of the same name, on June 24, 1729. He was admitted to the butchers' guild in 1730 and married in the same year. The two shields of arms, (known in German as Allianzwappen) are those of his parents: Maria Katharina Brunner on the left, and Viktor Joseph Hirt on the right. The decoration of the plate is typical of the work of the Langnau potter, Christen Hermann (1703-71). Solothurn is a considerable distance from Langnau and it is not known why the couple ordered this plate to be made there.