Two late 18th Century Silver Filigree Caskets
by Hendrik Boshart (1732 - 1801) of Middleburg, Holland.
Update 14 April 2023.
updated again 22 August 2023.
See my post with higher resolution photographs of the Fries Museum Caskets and some further examples of adapted filigree caskets.
https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-two-f-ries-museum-silver-filigree.html
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Since writing this post I have reviewed the evidence and no longer believe that these two caskets were manufactured by Boshart.
I now think that both of these caskets are earlier - late 17th/ early 18th century and have been adapted for use as tea caddies.
They are certainly not the only examples of caskets that have been adapted as tea caddies.
There are two examples of Caskets which appear to have been adapted in the Fries Museum as yet not examined closely.
https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/01/17-th-century-silver-filigree-casket-in.html
I have contacted the Fries Museum and hope to hear back from them in due course.
Update - I now have much better detailed photographs of the two Fries Museum casket / tea caddies.
https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-two-f-ries-museum-silver-filigree.html
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and another in the Museum of Fine Art, Boston USA. (below).
Adapted by James Perry, London in the Late 18th Century.
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/53295
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The Two Tea Caddies in Middleburg Town Hall Collection.
If these two caddies are late 18th century then they would present us with some serious problems with dating other pieces of silver filigree -
If these caskets are late 18th Century and made in Middleburg it throws into serious doubt the age of many pieces thought to be 17th Century. I have not yet located any other silver filigree objects made by Boshart.
It would also make a mockery of attributions to craftsmen in Goa, Batavia or other South East Asian manufacturers.
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The anomalies; -
The style is 17th Century, but the archives say late 18th century.
The quality is of the workmanship is first class.
Was Boshart working in the style of the 17th Century?
Note to self - we need to know more of his ancestors, relatives and apprenticeship.
NB the hinge mounts which are very similar to the Khalili Casket and other related silver filigree caskets.
see my post -
https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/01/spectacular-and-large-silver-gilt.html
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Hendrik Boshart (1732 - 1801).
Middleburg. Zeeland, Southern Holland.
1771.
Size - 17 x 17 x 12.5 cms.
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Size 12.5 x 10.5 x 13.5 cms.
I will contact the Town Hall and ascertain whether there is any further history.
There are no obvious marks.
Images from the Zeeland Archives.
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For Comparison.
Fries Museum.
Silver Filigree Casket.
12 x 13.5 x 17.5 cms.
I need higher resolution photographs for a real comparison.
When I first created this post the point of it was to suggest that perhaps some of this type of object are not 17th/ 18th century as has been previously considered but made later in the 18th century.
I have reassessed this and no longer believe that these caskets are late 18th century but were definitely manufactured at an earlier period.
This research is very much in its early days, but I believe the attribution to workshops in Goa or other Southern Asian countries still need to be seriously reconsidered.
The Goan attribution previously used for many of these objects can now be be safely dismissed. Hugo Miguel Crespo of Lisbon University assures me that there is no evidence of any filigree manufacture in Goa.
Important update see my post -
https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-two-f-ries-museum-silver-filigree.html
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