Page 239 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

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SCHLUSSELFELDER SHIP
1503
Nuremberg
silver, partly gilt, enamel, and paint
79*43-5 (3^8 xi 7V 8)
s
references: Oman 1963, 18-19, 21-24, P^ - xv-xvii;
Nuremberg 1971, 367, no. 660; Fusi 1977, #9-90,
95, pi. 9; New York and Nuremberg 1986, 224-227,
no. 81
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, on
permanent loan by Schlusselfeldersche Stiftung

Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century carracks are best tained tranchoirs (dishes used for cutting and suggested that the ship may have been commis-
known today from their representation in manu- eating meat) in silver or gold (for nefs in medieval sioned by Wilhelm's rich uncle, Matthaus Lan-
scripts (see Villain-Gandossi 1985), paintings, and France, see Lightbown 1978, 30-31). dauer, who died in 1515 and who is best known for
engravings. The Livro das Armadas (Academia The ship is a carrack, a merchant ship "heavily having ordered Diirer's altarpiece, the Adoration
das Ciencias, Lisbon), for example, is an invaluable built, with carvel planking, with large and well- of the Trinity (Kunsthistorisches Museum,
document showing the principal fleets of the Por- developed castles, three-masted, square-rigged on Vienna). The ship was certainly made in Nurem-
tuguese. More impressive still is a Netherlandish fore and main with lateen mizzens" (Parry 1963, berg, as a reversed N, a well-documented mark,
painting in the National Maritime Museum in 64). It closely resembles the vessel shown in the has been punched on the foresail.
Greenwich showing the arrival of the Infanta Bea- engraving of a carrack (kraeck) by Master WA The name of the goldsmith who made the ship
triz of Portugal at Villefranche in 1522, with a with an Anchor. The ship itself is supported by a is unknown. One name that has been proposed
squadron of Portuguese carracks; one of them, in double-tailed mermaid, cast in silver. Only the is that of Albrecht Diirer the Elder (1423-1502),
the foreground, can be identified as the Santa swelling foresail is inflated; the sails of the other father of the famous painter. Not enough is
Caterina de Monte Sinai, a ship built in Cochin two masts are furled. Various small flags fly in known of the style of individual masters in
(India) in 1511 (Greenhill 1982, 60-61). Three- the wind; engraved on them are images of saints Nuremberg at this period to identify the ship's
dimensional ship models are rare. One such is Catherine, George, Sebastian, and Nicholas, as maker on that basis; for example, Albrecht Diirer
the fifteenth-century wooden carrack that was well as a lion, the symbol of Saint Mark, and the the Elder's only identified work is the little silver
made as an ex-voto for the church of Mataro in enameled coat of arms of the Schliisselfelder statuette which he is shown holding in a drawing
Catalonia (Maritiem Museum "Prins Hendrik," family. A dragon forms the figurehead, furnished in silverpoint (Albertina, Vienna) which is most
Rotterdam). Another is a more splendid object with anchors and grappling irons. Both the probably a self-portrait. A more likely candidate
altogether—the Schliisselfelder ship. forecastle and poop have battlement arcading. The would be another goldsmith, Hans Frey (1450-
Completed in 1503, this ship was originally boat is heavily armed and full of activity. The 1523), who was the painter Diirer's father-in-
used as a wine container; the whole superstruc- masts all support crow's nests with soldiers in law and was famous for constructing complex
ture can be lifted off and the hull filled. The ship's them. Some sailors are on the rigging, probably mechanical devices, especially table fountains.
utilitarian function is emphasized in an inscrip- unfurling the sails, while others are lifting ballast. According to Johann Neudorffer's Nachrichten
tion on a colored drawing after the vessel (Kunst- Some are armed, while others are involved in von Kiinstlern (Accounts of Artists) (1547), "he
bibliothek, Berlin), made by Jakob Mores, a various occupations — eating and drinking, understood how to force water up by means of air.
goldsmith from Hamburg: 'The silvergilt ship making music, playing cards, or just standing He made numerous figures of men and women
weighs 26 marks. When you remove the upper around. Among the varied crowd can be discerned out of hammered copper. These were then filled
part, the lower section becomes a drinking vessel a cook, a monk, a fool, a washerwoman, and even with water that emerged from their heads due to
7
that holds two measures of drink/ More precisely, an embracing couple. the pressure of the air. These ornamental foun-
the ship can hold 2.33 liters. In the Middle Ages The Schliisselfelder ship was provided with a tains were portable and could be carried from
silver ships were used as table decorations, but black leather case, ornamented on the front with room to room." Albrecht Diirer himself made a
generally to hold table utensils and napkins, as a pattern of scrolls against a punched background few drawings for such table fountains (Strauss
in the case of the nef (ship) described in a 1380 and lined with red leather and velvet. The case 1974, 1:456-465, nos. 1499/1-1499/5); the most
inventory of the goods of Charles v of France, bears the date 1503. The ship's first owner seems famous of them (British Museum, London)
which also contained the king's languier to test to have been Wilhelm Schliisselfelder (1483- clearly indicates the action of the silver plunger,
food for poison (see cat. 12), his spoon, and his 1549), who bequeathed it to his seven sons, who which is to force the liquid up through tiny pipes.
little knife and fork. Other nefs, such as the vessel drew lots for it in 1567. In 1503 Wilhelm Schliis- Most interesting, however, are the painted silver
owned by Jean, duke of Berry, and illustrated in selfelder was only twenty years old; since his figures, which recall the seventy-two tiny figures
a miniature of his Tres riches heures (1416), con- father had died in 1493, it has been convincingly on the Schliisselfelder ship. J.M.M.

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