Live Auction 1147European Noble & Private Collections Including Fine Tapestries
A SMALL EMERALD-GREEN-TINTED SIGNED AND DATED DIAMOND-POINT ENGRAVED CALLIGRAPHIC SERVING-BOTTLE BY WILLEM VAN HEEMSKERK
Lot 339 Property from the Estate of Eric Martin Wunsch (lots 333-357)

A SMALL EMERALD-GREEN-TINTED SIGNED AND DATED DIAMOND-POINT ENGRAVED CALLIGRAPHIC SERVING-BOTTLE BY WILLEM VAN HEEMSKERK

1683, THE NETHERLANDS, SIGNED, INSCRIBED AND DATED TO THE BASE

Closed2 October 2013

Price Realised

GBP 22,500

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A SMALL EMERALD-GREEN-TINTED SIGNED AND DATED DIAMOND-POINT ENGRAVED CALLIGRAPHIC SERVING-BOTTLE BY WILLEM VAN HEEMSKERK
1683, THE NETHERLANDS, SIGNED, INSCRIBED AND DATED TO THE BASE
The slender neck with applied string rim, the globular body engraved in calligraphic script Sterken drank maekt wild. (strong drink makes you wild) within flourishes and scrolls, the kick-in base inscribed Omsichtig nutt de geesten van de wijn, Als levend Sap; en doodelijk fenijn (be careful imbibing the spirits of wine, they may be elixir of life or deadly venom) and Willem van Heemskerk AEs. 70½ Ao. 1683, some slight scratching to footrim, very slight cloudiness to interior
6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm.) high

H. Ph. 't Hooft-Lieftinck, Haarlem, circa 1915.
Visser 't Hooft, Haarlem.
H. Ph. Visser 't Hooft, Velp, circa 1943.
The Guépin Collection; sale Christie's, Amsterdam, 5 July 1989, lot 72.
Joseph R. Ritman; sale Sotheby's, London, 14 November 1995, lot 64.

Specialist note

Examples in this small size are rare, see the bottle dated 1683 of a similar small size in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Pieter C. Ritsema van Eck, Glass in the Rijksmuseum, Vol. II, Amsterdam, 1995, p. 102, no. 83. Both the Rijksmuseum example and the present bottle are inscribed with a quotation from the Old Testament, in the present instance Proverbs 20, 1.