Hexagonal dish (part of a set)

These five dishes (2010.110.13–17) would appear most spectacular when seen in flickering candlelight or radiant sunlight. The masterful balance between the foliage and fruit ornamentation on the rim is exquisite. These dishes originally belonged to members of the Hungarian dynasty of the Barons Bornemisza.

Literature
Tihamér Gyárfás. A brassai ötvösség története. Brassó, 1912, pp. 110–11, no. 206.
European Silver, Objects of Vertu and Miniatures / Orfèvrerie européene, objets de vitrine et miniatures. Sale cat., Christie’s, Geneva, May 9, 1989, p. 58, no. 109.
Judit H. Kolba. Hungarian Silver: The Nicolas M. Salgo Collection. London, 1996, p. 45, no. 23.

Exhibited
Erdély régi művészeti emlékeinek kiállítása az Iparművészeti múzeumban / Ausstellung alten Kunstgewerbes aus Siebenbürgen. Exh. cat. Museum of Applied Arts. Budapest, 1931, p. 47, no. 231, pl. XVI.

References
Elemér Kőszeghy. Magyarországi ötvösjegyek a középkortól 1867-ig / Merkzeichen der Goldschmiede Ungarns vom Mittelalter bis 1867. Budapest, 1936, no. 216 [maker’s mark].
Important Orfèvrerie Européenne, Boîtes en Or et Objets de Vitrine. Sale cat., Sotheby's, Paris, December 1, 2011, p. 171, no. 280.
A similar pair of dishes by Andreas Eckhardt, Sibiu, circa 1640, are with S.J. Phillips Ltd., London.
A German hexagonal dish with floral decoration in the border, bearing the mark of David Bessmann, Augsburg, circa 1660, was sold by Christie's, London, July 8, 2015, no. 35.
For an example of a hexagonal dish in serpentine, see Gert-Dieter Ulferts, Sächsischer Serpentin: Sammlung Jahn. Berlin, 2000, pp. 58-9, no. 30.

[Wolfram Koeppe 2015]