S otheby’s is delighted to present the remarkable silver collection of Baron and Baronne Bertrand de Giey. Formed over generations, the collection focuses on Flemish silver and spans the 16th and 17th centuries: a period in which Flanders and the wider region was enjoying a Golden Age. In particular, the group of superbly modelled animal-form drinking cups encapsulates a period where prosperity combined with artistry to create objects of beauty, pleasure and playfulness.
The de Giey collection boasts a number of silver cups in the form of animals. These would have been treasured as delightful, artistic curios, but they were also often laden with symbolism. The owl-form cups were often associated with guilds of archers and crossbowmen who used models of owls to lure other birds to shoot in contests; stags would have been used to toast the success of a hunt; and bulls reflected on the strength and bravery of the owner. Some cups are harder to decipher, like the magpie cup (lot 11), but become a conversation piece because of their mystique.
In Renaissance Europe the Kuntskammer was the room or cabinet where a collector could display his prized possessions, demonstrating both his taste and wealth. Those invited in would be treated to marvels of human skill and artistry and the wonders of nature, and this was perfectly exemplified by silver and silver-gilt mounted exotic materials. The beautiful shell (lot 3) was mounted in silver in Germany and is supported by a mermaid and has a cover representing Jonah and the Whale, both hinting towards the sea where the turbo sea snail lives. The spectacular silver-gilt salts (lot 4) have at their centres large pieces of facetted rock-crystal; mined in the Swiss Alps, the transparency of this mineral has always fascinated European collectors.
Alongside the silver, Sotheby’s, London, will be offering a number of Flemish Old Master paintings from the family’s collection, which display a taste that perfectly complements the silver and Kunstkammer objects. It is a delight to see the splendour of the silver-gilt-mounted nautilus shell and the cups mirrored on panel in the sumptuous still lifes by Clara Peeters, David Ryckaert the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Younger, among others.
