Tankard

It is unclear if this tankard was made for private use or if it was always intended to serve as a communion vessel, which was its function after it arrived in England. The overall ornamental symbolism is connected to vanity. Fruit and foliage represent life, and stylized hourglass motifs divide the main body into six plain panels (for this vanity tradition see, Wolfram Koeppe. Die Lemmers-Danforth Sammling Wetzlar. Heidelberg, 1992, pp. 464-465, cat. GO 8). The cast finial plinth supports a cockerel standing on one foot, a pose adopted by the bird when it senses approaching danger.

Literature
Tihamér Gyárfás. A brassai ötvösség története. Brassó, 1912, p. 125, no. 278, p. 319, no. 45.
European Silver / Pièces d’orfèvrerie. Sale cat., Christie’s, Geneva, November 18, 1981, p. 29, no. 62.
Judit H. Kolba. Hungarian Silver: The Nicolas M. Salgo Collection. London, 1996, p. 95, no. 73.

References
Elemér Kőszeghy. Magyarországi ötvösjegyek a középkortól 1867-ig / Merkzeichen der Goldschmiede Ungarns vom Mittelalter bis 1867. Budapest, 1936, no. 252 [maker’s mark].
For a similar tankard, see Erdély régi művészeti emlékeinek kiállítása az Iparmüvészeti múzeumban / Ausstellung alten Kunstgewerbes aus Siebenbürgen. Exh. cat. Országos Magyar Iparművészeti Múzeum. Budapest, 1931, p. 19, no. 64, pl. IX.
For another tankard by this maker, see Important English, Continental and American Silver and Gold. Christie’s, New York, May 17, 2011, no. 122.

[Wolfram Koeppe 2015]