True Connoisseurship: The Collection of Ezra & Cecile Zilkha
True Connoisseurship: The Collection of Ezra & Cecile Zilkha
A DUTCH SILVER-MOUNTED NAUTILUS CUP, THE SHELL 2ND HALF OF THE 17TH CENTURY, CIRCLE OF THE BELLEKIN FAMILY OF AMSTERDAM, THE STEM AND FOOT LATE 16TH CENTURY
Auction Closed
November 20, 10:09 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A DUTCH SILVER-MOUNTED NAUTILUS CUP
THE SHELL 2ND HALF OF THE 17TH CENTURY, CIRCLE OF THE BELLEKIN FAMILY OF AMSTERDAM
THE STEM AND FOOT LATE 16TH CENTURY
the shell lightly incised with two horsemen exchanging fire on one side, the other with elegant figures in a classical landscape, the back with tulips and various insects surrounding a foliate pendant carved in cameo, the interior pierced with a helmet below a fretwork panel, the front engraved with a coat of arms, the foot cast and chased with reclining river gods between martial trophies, the vase-shaped stem cast with grotesque heads between cartouches and fitted with four forked scroll brackets
apparently unmarked, the silver straps for the shell probably 19th century
height 9 3/8 in.
23.7 cm
An engraved Nautilus shell signed by Cornelis Bellekin, depicting the Rape of Europa, mounted on a late 19th century base was recently sold Sotheby’s, London, December 5, 2017, lot 102. Another with the marriage of Neptune and Amphitrite and the Birth of Venus is at the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada. A plaquette by Jan Bellekin, 1636-1665, depicting Judith with the Head of Holofernes is at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Another unmounted carved and engraved shell signed Jan. Belkien is part of the Hans Sloane Collection, no. 1880, acquired by the British Museum at its inception in 1753 and now at the Natural History Museum, London.
The scene of the horsemen is derived from prints of similar subjects by such artists as Pieter van Laer (1599-1642), and the insects may be taken from D.J. Hoefnagel's Diversae Insectarum Volatilium, published in 1630.