Johan Heinrich Darjes German silver-gilt altar ewer and basin

embossed and chased with rocaille ornament, spaces for the smaller water and wine cruets

Exh. Cat. Couven-Museum Aachen, 2003, no. 134

a few minor dents, nicks and scratches. general condition is good. colour is good, marks are clear and decoration crisp. light wear to gilding where ewer sits.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A mass altar set which incorporates a ewer and basin for the washing of the priests hands after the incensing of the Offertory (Lavabo inter innocents, Psalm 26 v. 6), is very rare. Normally the ewer and basin and wine and water cruets form separate units.  A pair of mass oil and water cruets, by Darjes, part of a set made for the Bishop of Liège, Charles de Velbruck in 1753 was referenced and  illustrated in Augsburgs Zilver in België, Michel Ceuterick ed., Provincial Museum Sterckshof, 4.10-1.12 1994,  p. 42 and 44.
Johann Heinrich Darjes was born in Boddien, Mecklenburg, in 1692. He became a master goldsmith in 1733, married twice and died in 1760.