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Lot Essay
This lot is accompanied by a manuscript note giving the basic details of Johann Wilcke von Hacke's life. Although some dates differ, the main facts are confirmed in the Funeral sermon printed after his death in 1683 and now in the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel.
He was born in 1606 at the Ohr estate near Hamelin and, with the exception of a military career from 1625-1637 when he served in the Danish, Swedish and Imperial armies, he seems to have spent most of his life in the area immediately East and South of Hamelin. In 1655 he was appointed by Duke Georg Wilhelm of Brunswick-Lunenburg district magistrate of Lauenstein and, four years later, mining supervisor and senior inspector (Berghauptmann and Oberinspektor) in the Hartz Mountains, one of the most prolific silver mining areas of Germany. In 1666 he became senior magistrate (Oberhauptmann) for the districts of Harburg, Moisburg and Winsen an der Luhe.
He married no less than five times. His fourth marriage in 1650 was to Engal Catharine Hahn who died in 1658. In the following year, that in which he was appointed Berghauptmann, he married Hedwig von Wolff(en) who appears to have in due course adopted his "job-title". As the last coins in the tankard are dated 1661 and he was promoted to Oberhauptmann in 1666 when, presumably, she would have described herself as Oberhauptmanin, the tankard must have been made between these dates.
Why Hedwig received this tankard appears to be unrecorded but there seems to have been a tradition in the area of local towns presenting valuable silver objects to the representatives of the dukes of Brunswick-Lunenburg. The very careful selection of coins, all dating from a two year period, is unusual and appears to indicate that the tankard was either a presentation or ordered to commemorate a very specific occasion.
Henning Hahn, the brother of Johann Wilcke von Hake's fourth wife Engal Catharine, married, secondly, Ottilie von Wolfenn, the sister of his fifth and last wife, Hedwig. It is through this connection that the tankard passed into the family of the present owners.
Although the town mark on this tankard bears a striking similarity to that attributed by Marc Rosenberg to Merseburg in Saxony (Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen III, Frankfurt, 1923, no. 3408). That mark is taken from a ewer and basin, also with the maker's mark CB, presented to Merseburg Cathedral by Christiane of Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein in 1666 but the quality of the tankard is far superior. It is highly probable that this mark in any case was wrongly attributed to Merseburg in the first place. In any event, given what is known of the von Hake's history in the 17th Century, it seems much more likely that the tankard would have been made in the Brunswick-Lunenburg vicinity.
As regards the coins, the magnificent five-thaler coin in the cover is very rare (G.Welter, Die Münzen der Welfen seit Heinrich dem Löwen, Braunschweig , I-III, 1971,1973, 1978, no. 1564 and J. Davenport, Large Silver Coins of the World, Wisconsin, 1991, p. 68, no. 194 ). The coin is signed with the initials HS probably for Henning Schlütter, mint-master at Zellerfield (1625-1672) in the Hartz mountains who worked for the Harburg branch of the Ducal house of Brunswick-Lunenburg from 1636. It is worth noting that the half-thaler was apparently not minted in 1661 so the silversmith would not have been able to find examples that exactly match in date the thalers he selected.
We are grateful to Professor Dr. Ernst-Ludwig Richter for his considerable help in cataloguing this tankard.
We would also like to thank the Herzog August Library, Wofenbüttel for allowing us access to the printed funeral sermon and Richard Bishop of Spink for his comments on the coins.
CAPTION
Detail of Miners at Work from the Imhoff standing cup, by Hans Petzoldt, Nuremberg, 1624, after a print by Virgil Solis.
Courtesy of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection
He was born in 1606 at the Ohr estate near Hamelin and, with the exception of a military career from 1625-1637 when he served in the Danish, Swedish and Imperial armies, he seems to have spent most of his life in the area immediately East and South of Hamelin. In 1655 he was appointed by Duke Georg Wilhelm of Brunswick-Lunenburg district magistrate of Lauenstein and, four years later, mining supervisor and senior inspector (Berghauptmann and Oberinspektor) in the Hartz Mountains, one of the most prolific silver mining areas of Germany. In 1666 he became senior magistrate (Oberhauptmann) for the districts of Harburg, Moisburg and Winsen an der Luhe.
He married no less than five times. His fourth marriage in 1650 was to Engal Catharine Hahn who died in 1658. In the following year, that in which he was appointed Berghauptmann, he married Hedwig von Wolff(en) who appears to have in due course adopted his "job-title". As the last coins in the tankard are dated 1661 and he was promoted to Oberhauptmann in 1666 when, presumably, she would have described herself as Oberhauptmanin, the tankard must have been made between these dates.
Why Hedwig received this tankard appears to be unrecorded but there seems to have been a tradition in the area of local towns presenting valuable silver objects to the representatives of the dukes of Brunswick-Lunenburg. The very careful selection of coins, all dating from a two year period, is unusual and appears to indicate that the tankard was either a presentation or ordered to commemorate a very specific occasion.
Henning Hahn, the brother of Johann Wilcke von Hake's fourth wife Engal Catharine, married, secondly, Ottilie von Wolfenn, the sister of his fifth and last wife, Hedwig. It is through this connection that the tankard passed into the family of the present owners.
Although the town mark on this tankard bears a striking similarity to that attributed by Marc Rosenberg to Merseburg in Saxony (Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen III, Frankfurt, 1923, no. 3408). That mark is taken from a ewer and basin, also with the maker's mark CB, presented to Merseburg Cathedral by Christiane of Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein in 1666 but the quality of the tankard is far superior. It is highly probable that this mark in any case was wrongly attributed to Merseburg in the first place. In any event, given what is known of the von Hake's history in the 17th Century, it seems much more likely that the tankard would have been made in the Brunswick-Lunenburg vicinity.
As regards the coins, the magnificent five-thaler coin in the cover is very rare (G.Welter, Die Münzen der Welfen seit Heinrich dem Löwen, Braunschweig , I-III, 1971,1973, 1978, no. 1564 and J. Davenport, Large Silver Coins of the World, Wisconsin, 1991, p. 68, no. 194 ). The coin is signed with the initials HS probably for Henning Schlütter, mint-master at Zellerfield (1625-1672) in the Hartz mountains who worked for the Harburg branch of the Ducal house of Brunswick-Lunenburg from 1636. It is worth noting that the half-thaler was apparently not minted in 1661 so the silversmith would not have been able to find examples that exactly match in date the thalers he selected.
We are grateful to Professor Dr. Ernst-Ludwig Richter for his considerable help in cataloguing this tankard.
We would also like to thank the Herzog August Library, Wofenbüttel for allowing us access to the printed funeral sermon and Richard Bishop of Spink for his comments on the coins.
CAPTION
Detail of Miners at Work from the Imhoff standing cup, by Hans Petzoldt, Nuremberg, 1624, after a print by Virgil Solis.
Courtesy of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection