TWO CONTINENTAL RECTANGULAR SILVER PLAQUES, PROBABLY NETHERLANDISH, 17TH CENTURY |

First embossed and chased with Mercury and Argus after Paul van Vianen, fitted reeded frame; the other cast and chased with the Judgement of Paris, with incised and painted scratch weights, unmarked

The first plaquette closely follows Paul van Vianen’s design for a silver example of 1610, now in the Rijksmuseum. There are minor differences in the trees and background but otherwise the image is the same, with Mercury pulling out his sword to decapitate the sleeping guardian of Io who Jupiter has turned into a cow. The other plaquette is influenced by the prints of this scene after Raphael, such as those of Marcantonio Raimondie (1480-1534).