Important Silversmiths - Schleissner & Sohne
19th Century pair of German Silver Caquesseitao Aquamaniles / monumental ewers, both heavily cast in the style of Renaissance mythological birds with dragon heads and scaly tails, the bodies are embossed with Mythological scenes, impressive talons resting on a domed circular base.
Both bases are Hallmarked German pseudo-marks, maker marks are for J. D. Schleissner & Sohne.
REFERENCE NUMBER: A3576
The company is considered the main producer of Hanau silver. During the 19th Century Hanau became famous for its silversmith workshops producing excellent copies of antique silver in historical styles.
Johann Daniel Schleissner, son of a goldsmith in Augsburg, moved to Hanau in 1816 and the following year he opened his own company. He produced items in the Augsburg style and sold them internationally, especially in Russia, France and Near East.
At his death his son Daniel Philipp August took over the business. Under Daniel’s leadership the company specialised in decorative pieces in the antique styles and gained a large popularity. He was a traveled man, a painter and a silversmith and he had studied private and public collections. To respond to the growing demand of antique silver of the wealthy German society, he begun copying antique silver objects in the Renaissance, Baroque or Rococo styles and marking them with marks resembling the original ones. To understand if the pieces where really old and the marks original was and still can be, very hard.
What had started as a small family business, soon became a large factory: by 1848 the company was counting 1000 employees.
After Daniel Philipp’s death, Schleissner & Sohne continued producing exceptional silverware.
19th Century German silver impressively large lidded tankard, in the style of the early 16th Century example, beautifully chased and embossed with a very detailed and crowded battle scene, the removable base decorated with scrolling foliage in relief, large figural handle terminating with a scrolling leaf junction, hinged domed cover in the same style applied with a scrolling feather shaped thumb-piece and lid mounted with a large figure of a soldier on horseback with a spear.
Hallmarked with German Hanau pseudo-marks (800+ standard), the work is attributed to Maker J.D.Schleissner & Sohne.
REFERENCE NUMBER: A5240
