A book binding, containing a combination notebook, compass, mirror, sundial and a portrait miniature

A book binding, containing a combination notebook, compass, mirror, sundial and a portrait miniature

Of oblong section, the hinged covers with silver overlay on a gold ground pierced with monkeys, squirrels and men astride sea-monsters within scrolling foliage, opening to reveal a silver page engraved with the Madonna and Child, the front inside set with a compass and sundial between scrolls and snails, with inscription Anno 1600, the inside back cover inset with a portrait miniature in oil on card of a bearded gentleman in black coat and white collar.

The present book binding or aide mémoire is decorated in the manner of Theodore de Bry (1528 Liège – Frankfurt 1598) and contains a silver sundial and a compass, apart from the notebook pages. It is probably made by an unknown Dutch silversmith, probably active in Amsterdam.

Small silver book bindings from the Dutch Republic’s province of Holland, dating from the first quarter of the 17th century are extremely rare. The main characteristics of such bindings are that they all have a relatively small size and appear to be unmarked; their decoration seems to be inspired by the ornament prints produced and distributed by Theodor de Bry and his son Johann Theodor de Bry (1561 Strasbourg – Bad Schwalbach 1623). The binding’s elaborate decoration with scrollwork, floral and animal motifs such as monkeys, butterflies, birds, dogs and snails, was undoubtedly inspired by the ornamental print designs produced by the aforementioned and other contemporaries.

The technique of cutting away precious metal by sawing probably was not extant during earlier periods. However, other techniques such as drilling, chiselling and polishing were applied more and more during the course of the 17th century. The designs of the ornamentation of these bindings seem to have been inspired by prints by the goldsmith, printmaker and publisher Theodor de Bry and often comprises flower and fruit festoons, animals, birds, caterpillars, masks, sphinges, etc . All bindings are of small size and lack identification marks. It is commonly assumed that they were manufactured in the Northern Netherlands. For the greater part they contain books with a religious, often Protestant content, but some are known with a profane character, such as the silver binding holding a Liber amicorum for the newlywed couple Van Loon-Ruychaver, acquired by the Museum van Loon, Amsterdam, in 2009. In some cases their content was a notebook, its binding provided with a fastening and key and an inserted stylus. The present booklet has a plate as inner front leaf, engraved with the Madonna holding Child Jesus; it also has a mirror on the inside of the front cover, a sundial and a compass. The end leaf has a painted portrait of a bearded gentleman in oval silver mount.

On all comparable bindings the hallmarks are absent. It is not quite clear why. According to the guilds’ statutory regulations and decrees of the period, a silversmith had to strike his mark on each work before delivering it to the Assay Office, where, after acceptance, the town mark and year mark were struck. Prof. Dr Johan ter Molen gives a plausible hypothesis for the absence of the marks. He argues that there was very little enthusiasm with both patron and silversmith to take such a vulnerable object to the Assay Office. In order to be able to capitalise on heavy objects by getting at least the value of the investment in silver in return, such pieces, naturally, needed a guarantee of quality given by the Assay Office. However, for lighter objects, such as these bindings, with their relatively low weight and with their often religious function, the wealthy owner(s) would rarely have considered melting the piece down to regain the value of the silver invested. For this reason the interest for hallmarking such pieces may have been absent.