A rare mortar with fleur-de-lys motifs - image-1

Lot 552 Dα

A rare mortar with fleur-de-lys motifs

Auction 1152 - overview Cologne
29.05.2020, 11:00 - Highly Important Mortars from the Schwarzach Collection II
Estimate: 6.000 € - 8.000 €
Result: 9.375 € (incl. premium)
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A rare mortar with fleur-de-lys motifs

Thick golden brown cast bronze with polished natural patina. Of cylindrical form on a thick stepped base. The rims with several bands of moulding, angular M-shaped handles to both sides. Decorated with three bands of stylised cornucopias, Bourbon lilies and Gothic flowerhead motifs. With slight greenish corrosion to the interior. H 22, D 18 cm. Weight c. 7.7 kg.
Northern Germany, possibly Lower Saxony, 15th/16th century.

Literature

Two North German mortars with similar forms and decor illustrated in: Wolfgang Hömberg, Der Norddeutsche Bronzemörser im Zeitalter von Gotik und Renaissance, Stuttgart 1983, cat. 42 and 45.
Cf. Launert, Der Mörser, Munich 1990, illus. 130 and 133.