A SWEDISH PARCEL-GILT SILVER TANKARD

Rudolph Wittkoph, master in 1687, was an accomplished maker in Stockholm in the late 17th and early 18th century. Another tankard with similar thumbpiece and on similar feet was in the Falk Simons collection (G. Munthe, Falk Simons Silversamling, 1938, p. 137, no. 175, pl. 56). He also produced a pair of filigree silver-gilt beakers and covers with enamelled floral bosses which are now in the collection of the Swedish National Museum (see Svenskt Silversmide 1520-1850, Stockholm, vol. 1, no. 478) and another example without enamel (op. cit., no. 481. Beakers of this type were very much in vogue in the late 17th century, as indeed was filagree generally across Europe at the time.