An important silver gilt holy water stoop
A naturalistically rendered repoussé landscape with trees and rocks forms the oval surround for a finely chased relief depiction of the healing of Naaman (2 Kings, 5:5-14). In the centre of the composition one sees the Syrian king accompanied by his horses and chariot. On his right is the Prophet Elisha who advises him to bathe seven times in the River Jordan in order to cure his leprosy. The bracket-like lower third of the relief is formed by the Holy Water bowl symbolising the River Jordan, beneath a brickwork bridge. The underside with a small screw to let out the water. H 34.3, W 29, D 7.5 cm, weight 1,769 g.
Presumably South German, late 17th century. With later Brussels hallmarks, 1798 – 1809, and maker's mark of Jean Baptiste Joseph t'Serstevens.
This sculptural holy water stoop is almost certainly a 17th century South German work. The superior quality of the embossing and the lively rendering of the surface textures in the figures, draperies and landscape elements are comparable to the works of the Augsburg master Johann Andreas Thelot, whose reliefs are among the most outstanding of his time.
The marks of the Brussels based maker Jean Baptiste Joseph t'Serstevens were not added until the early 19th century. T'Serstevens was one of the wealthiest Belgian silversmiths of his time - supplying the Count of Merode and the Marquis of Deinze, among many others. Either t'Serstevens acquired the object as a dealer in order to restore and resell it, or he was commissioned by its owner to repair it. The silver gilt panel that has been soldered on to the back of the piece for stabilisation would suggest this. In both cases, he would have stamped his master's mark before the object left his workshop again.
We would like to thank Prof Dr Johan ter Molen, Apeldoorn, for his kind support in cataloguing this lot.
Literature
For more on t'Serstevens cf. Dievoet, Dictionnaire des Orfèvres de Bruxelles au XIXe Siècle, Brussels Louvain 2003, p. 343 ff. For more on Thelot cf. Praël-Himmer, Der Augsburger Goldschmied Johann Andreas Thelot, Munich 1978, illus. 79.