Lion's Mask Pendant
possibly Adam Stelter
Category
Objets de vertu
Date
1590 - 1599
Materials
Ormolu, Glass, Jasper
Place of origin
Germany
Collection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 517290.2
Caption
Without a solid provenance it is impossible to confirm the history of this object. It is an amazing decorative jewel, a conversation piece for guests during after-dinner drinks.
Summary
Glazed gilt metal show case with hook to suspend large gold pendant, on marble base. Connoisseur Magazine 1938 - Fashioned as a locket, the gold front valve is embossed and chased into the likeness of the mane and forepaws of a couchant lion, the head itself being formed by a grotesquely marked baroque pearl of great size in which two rubies have been set for eyes. On the forehead between the golden ears is a small scroll-bordered and gem-set escutcheon. Beneath the ehad are set gems to form a collar from which depends a large pear-shaped pearl. The back valve is an irregularly shaped gold plate with a perched bird with wings spread in translucent enamel, surmounted by an umbrella-like canopy from which depend festoons and ribbons. The remaining space is occupied by arabesques and scrolls in translucent coloured and opaque white enamel. Above are three short gold, enamelled and gem-set chains converging to and uniting beneath a scroll-bordered escutcheon bearing on the front a small lion's mask in high relief. Of south German origin and of the close of 16th-century. The elaborate enamel-work suggests the work of Corvinianus Saur, Court goldsmith to King Christian IV of Denmark,Member of the Guild of Goldsmiths. In 1606 Saur was invited to the Danish Court and became Court goldsmith in 1613 until his death in 1635. Believed to be of Bavarian origin, and a representation of the Lion of the House of Wittelsbach. Despite its size it is a woman's ornament, and its approximate date of the 1590's limits its ownership to either Elizabeth Renata (b.1574) daughter of Charles II of Lorraine, who in 1595 married Duke Maximilian I, subsequently Elector of Bavaria, or Louise Juliana, daughter of William I of Orange-Nassau (William the Silent, the Lion of the Netherlands), who in 1593 married the Elector Palatine Frederick IV. Although the former is more probable, the latter would be a suitable gift from the Lion of the Palatine to the daughter of the Lion of the Netherlands.
Makers and roles
possibly Adam Stelter, goldsmith Adam Stelter, jeweller