étui en argent avec sceau impérial par Johan Pick, Francfort sur Main, vers 1675

le couvercle détachable finement gravé de figures de diplomates présentant et recevant la charte scellée devant Leopold I, Empereur en représentation, contenant un sceau impérial rouge aux armoiries, couronne et bordure dorées


detachable cover finely engraved with diplomats presenting and receiving the sealed diploma before Leopold I as Emperor in State, containing an Imperial red wax seal with gilt armorials, crown and border

Clear hallmarks, some scratches commensurate with ages, very fine engraving. The wax surround of the seal impression is chipped and string mostly missing.
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La gravure de cet étui, destiné à  protéger le sceau impérial, illustre la présentation par des diplomates du contenu du dit document (Das Diplom) auquel il était attaché. Ce fait rarissime, magnifié par le métal précieux, également inhabituel pour un étui de sceau, souligne l'importance de cette charte. Il se peut que Léopold I ait assisté en personne à cette scène, mais il semble plus probable qu'il soit ici la personnification du cadre légal dans lequel s'inscrit ce traité. Il trône sous les armes d'Autriche, entourées des princes-électeurs qui lui attribuent sa légitimité impériale, en ordre de préséance : à gauche, les armes des électeurs ecclésiastiques, Main, Trier et Cologne ; à droite, celles des électeurs séculiers, Palatine, Brandenbourg, Saxe, et Baviere. Seules les armes de la Bohême n'y figurent pas, La Bohême étant à ce moment-là sous la possession des Habsbourg eux-mêmes. Quant à l'étui, il porte le poinçon de Francfort sur Main, ville de l'élection et couronnement des empereurs, ce qui ne fait que donner davantage de légitimité à l'ensemble.

 Bien que Johan Pick accédât à la maitrise à Francfort en 1666, son poinçon n'est répertorié que sur des objets de la ville de Worms, où il figure à partir de 1667, date de son 1^er mariage, dans les archives comme orfèvre et burger. La date de son retour à Francfort reste ignorée, même si la période 1686 - date du dernier objet recense au poincon de Worms, et 1698 - date de son second mariage dans cette même ville – semble très probable, ce qui justifierait tout à fait le style des personnages sur ce sceau.

This case, a rare and elaborate form of protection for the Imperial Seal kept inside it, very unusually shows the presentation by diplomats of the actual document (das Diplom) to which it was originally attached. The unusualness of case, by its material and engraving indicates that the document originally attached, would have been of unusual significance. While the scene might have taken place in the presence of the Habsburg Emperor Leopold I (1640-1705) as depicted, it is perhaps more likely that the emperor shown In State, represents the legal framework in which the document passed hands. He is seated below the arms of Austria flanked in order of precedence by those who gave him legitimacy as emperor; on the left the arms of the ecclesiastic electors, Mainz, Trier and Cologne and on the right those of the temporal electors in their capacity as functionaries of the Empire, the arch steward (Palatine), the arch chamberlain (Brandenburg), the arch marshal (Saxony) and finally the arms of the elector of Bavaria. Of the 8 electors Bohemia is missing, but as Bohemia's electoral vote was at times in the gift of the Hapsburgs themselves, its inclusion would not have added to the Emperor's legitimacy. The silver case itself hallmarked in Frankfurt-am-Main, where emperors were elected and crowned lends itself to the legitimacy of the whole.

Although Johann Pick became a master in Frankfurt in 1666, his maker's mark is only recorded on objects hallmarked in the city of Worms where from the date of his first marriage in 1667 he is registered as a goldsmith and burger. It is not known when he returned to Frankfurt a.M, which anyway could have been on more than one occasion although it would have been before his second marriage which happened there in 1696 and perhaps after 1686, the date of the last recorded Worms-marked silver. This dating of between 1686 and 1696 is supported by the fashion of the figures recorded on the seal case cover.

Sotheby's gratefully thanks The Osterreichisches staatsarchiv, Vienna, for help with cataloguing this lot.