Logo of Basel Historical Museum
Dunkle AnsichtHelle Ansicht
Goldsmith’s Art

Salver with a scene from a bear hunt

Key data

Hans Rudolf Meyer, Basle, ca. 1680

Silver, embossed, chased, engraved

diameters 34 x40.5 cm

Inv.1941.478.

Description

During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, apart from sacred and mythological subjects, the main themes of artistic representation were subjects taken from the immediate experience of man and his surroundings. The embossed scene of an ill-fated bear hunt in a clearing in an oak wood is of this kind. Itself savaged by a hound, a bear has attacked one of the two spear-bearing hunters. Lying on his back on the ground, his arms helplessly outstretched, he hopes for rescue by his companion. This dramatic scene in the depressed center of the oval salver is in stark contrast to the motif on the wide rim, where an idyllic sequence of curling foliage with eight stylised blossoms forms a garland in high relief. The Basle goldsmith Hans Rudolf Meyer made the platter for an important merchant from Brig, Kaspar Jodok Stockalper (1609-1691), who had the marks of his ownership punched into the center.

Selection of similar objects

 
Contact

Basel Historical Museum
Management & administration
Steinenberg 4
PO box
CH – 4001 Basel

Reception: +41 61 205 86 00
historisches.museum(at)bs.ch

Sign up for our newsletter
Logo: FacebookLogo: InstagramLogo: TwitterLogo: YouTube
Logo: Culture inclusive
Open today from 10 AM to 5 PM
Open today from 11 AM to 5 PM
Open today from 11 AM to 5 PM
Tuesday to Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM
Wednesday to Sunday 11 AM to 5 PM
Wednesday to Sunday 11 AM to 5 PM