An important Gothic one-handled mortar with a zoomorphic spout - image-1
An important Gothic one-handled mortar with a zoomorphic spout - image-2
An important Gothic one-handled mortar with a zoomorphic spout - image-3
An important Gothic one-handled mortar with a zoomorphic spout - image-1An important Gothic one-handled mortar with a zoomorphic spout - image-2An important Gothic one-handled mortar with a zoomorphic spout - image-3

Lot 1066 Dα

An important Gothic one-handled mortar with a zoomorphic spout

Auction 1131 - overview Cologne
17.05.2019, 17:00 - Highly Important Mortars from the Schwarzach Collection
Estimate: 10.000 € - 15.000 €
Result: 10.540 € (incl. premium)
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An important Gothic one-handled mortar with a zoomorphic spout

Golden brown cast bronze with high copper content, with mottled chocolate brown patina. Squat, cylindrical form, slightly tapering base and moulded stepped rim with three protruding nodules, possibly to hold a lid. Three horizontal mouldings and five worn tapered ribs terminating in stylised bracket feet. Facetted rectangular handle. H 17.7, D 16.2 cm. Weight 5.1 kg.
South Germany, 14th / 15th C.

Literature

Cf. Dexel, Gebrauchsgerät Typen, Munich, 1981, illus. 179.
Buzinkay, Ein Linzer Mörser als Kronzeuge, in Jahrbuch Oberösterreichischer-Musealverein, vol. 139/1, Linz, 1994.
A similar example with an animal head spout and protrusions around the rim in the Städtischen Museum Flensburg (inv. no. 8743.a, illus. 3 in Buzinkay).
Péter Buzinkay attributes this type of one-handled mortar to the South German foundries, however, Dexel simply describes these models as "German". Both authors are in agreement regarding the difficulty in dating these pieces, and state that an allocation to the 13th century is implausible.