Strauss & co - 22 October 2012, Cape Town

450 A Batavian silver commemorative salver (Gedachtenisblad), maker’s initials SW, mid 18th century square with canted corners, the rimmoulded with shell and leaf decoration, the centre engraved with the inscription ‘Gedachtenisse VanWillemMaunts Cruse Aan Cabo de Goede Hoop Geboren Den 2 July Anno 1671 Tot Batavia Als Oud Bailluw Overledn Den Laatsten February Anno 1734’, the reverse with further inscription and two paper labels, restorations, 1030g, 36cm square R20 000 – 30 000 Silver plates and salvers of this form were popular commemorative gifts in the Dutch East Indies in the eighteenth century. These plates were presented to friends and family members at weddings, important anniversaries and at funerals, usually bearing inscriptions with names and dates. LITERATURE Guss Röell & Deon Viljoen, Uit verre streken, The European contact with India, Indonesia, China, Japan and the Cape of Good Hope, 17th- 20th Centuries, Cape Town & Maastricht, June 2010 cf. V.O.C.-Zilver, Zilver uit de periode van de Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, 17de en 18de eeuw, Collective Haags Gemeenstemuseum, Mei 1983, where a similar example is illustrated on page 39 450 451 detail detail 130