scholarly journals The Unsurpassed Silversmithing Techniques of Adam van Vianen: His Silver Ewer Unravelled

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 216-243
Author(s):  
Joosje van Bennekom ◽  
Ellen Van Bork ◽  
Arie Pappot

The magnificent gilded silver ewer Adam van Vianen made in 1614 to commemorate his brother Paulus van Vianen who had died the previous year in Prague, is the pinnacle of the kwabstijl, and of Dutch silversmithing in general. The execution of the raising and embossing is exceptional and had never seen before. Von Sandrart specifically stated in his book that Adam made the whole object out of one piece of silver. It is quite possible that Adam van Vianen applied himself to a quest that many sculptors undertook in the Renaissance: making an object under the most challenging circumstances in their area of expertise. A ewer traditionally consists of a body, foot, handle and a lid with a hinge, which are soldered or screwed together. Adam van Vianen, however, integrated all these separate parts into one dynamic, swirling form, and the absence of clearly separated parts seems to confirm that the ewer is made out of a single piece. To determine once and for all whether the ewer is made out of one piece of silver sheet, an expert team researched the ewer with the aid of X-radiography and formulated a theory as to the way the ewer’s handle was constructed. The research also covered the alloy in Adam van Vianen’s ewer and other objects by his hand in the Rijksmuseum’s collection, and outlined the background of available knowledge on silversmithing in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, and the products available at that time. Finally, reconstructions of silver refining were carried out using two contemporary sources: Bergbuchlein und Probierbuchlein by Calbus of Freiberg (and unknown authors), Leipzig 1524, and Lazarus Ercker’s Beschreibung: Allerfürnemisten Mineralischen Ertzt, und Bergwercks arten … Prague 1574. The complete alloy research in the Rijksmuseum laboratories showed that the alloy was very different from alloys used by other Dutch silversmiths in the same period. A surprising outcome that could very well be connected to the demands Adam van Vianen made on his material.

1960 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 338-339 ◽  

At the conclusion of the two International Telecommunication Union (ITU) conferences held in Geneva in 1959—the Plenipotentiary (October 14 to December 16) and the Administrative Radio (August 17 to December 17)—two international documents were officially signed by the representatives of 85 and 84 countries respectively, namely: 1) the new Convention, replacing the International Telecommunication Convention of Buenos Aires, 1952; and 2) the new Radio Regulations, replacing those of Atlantic City, 1947. The Convention was to take effect on January 1, 1961, and the Radio Regulations on May i, 1961. Some additional protocols had to be signed as well, so that certain decisions (for example, the elections of the newly-constituted Administrative Council, the Secretary-General, and the Deputy Secretary-General, and changes made in the budget system) could take effect forthwith. Numerous recommendations and resolutions were also adopted, and decisions concerning the way ITU was organized, how it was run, and its future development were reached by the Plenipotentiary Conference, the chairman of which was Mr. J. D. H. van der Toorn, head of the Netherlands delegation. The chairman of the Radio Conference was Mr. Charles J. Acton, head of the Canadian delegation.


Author(s):  
Adam Teller

This chapter addresses how, though the majority of the refugees from the Commonwealth who traveled westward ended up in the empire, a significant number made for a place outside it: Amsterdam. The major city in the Seven Provinces, the part of the Netherlands that had broken free of Habsburg control in 1581, Amsterdam had become one of Europe's major trading emporia and a bastion of mercantilism by the seventeenth century. The cosmopolitan atmosphere of the port city supported the development of more tolerant attitudes to strangers and non-Christians, while economic need and mercantilist ideology led the urban authorities to encourage the settlement of groups with wealth and economic skills, regardless of their background. This opened the way for Jews. Though it did not explicitly welcome Jewish settlement, Amsterdam's willingness to tolerate not only the presence of Jews but also the creation of Jewish communal bodies and communal buildings made it something of a magnet for Jews. The chapter then looks at the strength and centrality in Amsterdam Jewish society of the Portuguese Jews, as well as the significance of the Sephardi–Ashkenazi divide in the treatment of the refugees.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amélie Couvrat Desvergnes ◽  
Leila Sauvage ◽  
Jan de Hond ◽  
Paolo D’Imporzano ◽  
Matthias Alfeld

AbstractA scrapbook compiled between 1660 and 1687 by Gesina ter Borch (1631–1690), a female artist from the small town of Zwolle in the Netherlands, contains an intriguing painting on paper of a full-length portrait of a young Iranian. Although the figure wears the attributes in vogue at the Safavid court of Isfahan, certain elements seem rather incongruous and peculiar. The general composition appears static and rigid, an impression reinforced by an unusual black painted background. Stylistic differences within the painting were also observed, hinting at alterations to the original painting. To investigate the history of the painting and to reconstruct the original composition and identify the later additions, perhaps made by Gesina herself, the painting was examined with different imaging and analytic techniques available at the Conservation and Science Department of the Rijksmuseum. This allowed the research team to discriminate between pigments used for the original composition and pigments used to conceal damaged areas of the painting and added pictorial elements. After interpreting scientific results, as well as historical findings, it was possible to shed light on the use of specific pigments, namely lead white and smalt, and on the possible misinterpretation of some details, such as the cup held by the young man. The results of macro X-ray fluorescence scanning (MA-XRF) and lead isotope analysis, viewed in the light of information about the economic and cultural exchanges between Iran and the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, fed new theories about the origin and history of this painting. The painting, originally made in Iran in the style of Riza Abbasi, the head of the Emperor Shah Abbas’ library, ended up in Gesina ter Borch's workshop and may have been ‘restored’ by the artist to improve its condition and to match her tastes.


Author(s):  
Linda MEIJER-WASSENAAR ◽  
Diny VAN EST

How can a supreme audit institution (SAI) use design thinking in auditing? SAIs audit the way taxpayers’ money is collected and spent. Adding design thinking to their activities is not to be taken lightly. SAIs independently check whether public organizations have done the right things in the right way, but the organizations might not be willing to act upon a SAI’s recommendations. Can you imagine the role of design in audits? In this paper we share our experiences of some design approaches in the work of one SAI: the Netherlands Court of Audit (NCA). Design thinking needs to be adapted (Dorst, 2015a) before it can be used by SAIs such as the NCA in order to reflect their independent, autonomous status. To dive deeper into design thinking, Buchanan’s design framework (2015) and different ways of reasoning (Dorst, 2015b) are used to explore how design thinking can be adapted for audits.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-253
Author(s):  
Wu Huiyi ◽  
Zheng Cheng

The Beitang Collection, heritage of a seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Jesuit library in Beijing now housed in the National Library of China, contains an incomplete copy of Pietro Andrea Mattioli’s commentary on an Italian edition of Pedanius Dioscorides's De materia medica (1568) bearing extensive annotations in Chinese. Two hundred odd plant and animal names in a northern Chinese patois were recorded alongside illustrations, creating a rare record of seventeenth-century Chinese folk knowledge and of Sino-Western interaction in the field of natural history. Based on close analysis of the annotations and other contemporary sources, we argue that the annotations were probably made in Beijing by one or more Chinese low-level literati and Jesuit missionaries during the first two decades of the seventeenth century. We also conclude that the annotations were most likely directed at a Chinese audience, to whom the Jesuits intended to illustrate European craftsmanship using Mattioli’s images. This document probably constitutes the earliest known evidence of Jesuits' attempts at transmitting the art of European natural history drawings to China.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-134
Author(s):  
Agung Perdana Kusuma

In the 18th century, although the Dutch Company controlled most of the archipelago, the Netherlands also experienced a decline in trade. This was due to the large number of corrupt employees and the fall in the price of spices which eventually created the VOC. Under the rule of H.W. Daendels, the colonial government began to change the way of exploitation from the old conservative way which focused on trade through the VOC to exploitation managed by the government and the private sector. Ulama also strengthen their ties with the general public through judicial management, and compensation, and waqaf assets, and by leading congregational prayers and various ceremonies for celebrating birth, marriage and death. Their links with a large number of artisans, workers (workers), and the merchant elite were very influential.


2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Kurowiak

AbstractAs a work of propaganda, graphics Austroseraphicum Coelum Paulus Pontius should create a new reality, make appearances. The main impression while seeing the graphics is the admiration for the power of Habsburgs, which interacts with the power of the Mother of God. She, in turn, refers the viewer to God, as well as Franciscans placed on the graphic, they become a symbol of the Church. This is a starting point for further interpretation of the drawing. By the presence of certain characters, allegories, symbols, we can see references to a particular political situation in the Netherlands - the war with the northern provinces of Spain. The message of the graphic is: the Spanish Habsburgs, commissioned by the mission of God, they are able to fight all of the enemies, especially Protestants, with the help of Immaculate and the Franciscans. The main aim of the graphic is to convince the viewer that this will happen and to create in his mind a vision of the new reality. But Spain was in the seventeenth century nothing but a shadow of former itself (in the time of Philip IV the general condition of Spain get worse). That was the reason why they wanted to hold the belief that the empire continues unwavering. The form of this work (graphics), also allowed to export them around the world, and the ambiguity of the symbolic system, its contents relate to different contexts, and as a result, the Habsburgs, not only Spanish, they could promote their strength everywhere. Therefore it was used very well as a single work of propaganda, as well as a part of a broader campaign


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-253
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Stefanowicz

This article undertakes to show the way that has led to the statutory decriminalization of euthanasia-related murder and assisted suicide in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It presents the evolution of the views held by Dutch society on the euthanasia related practice, in the consequence of which death on demand has become legal after less than thirty years. Due attention is paid to the role of organs of public authority in these changes, with a particular emphasis put on the role of the Dutch Parliament – the States General. Because of scarcity of space and limited length of the article, the change in the attitudes toward euthanasia, which has taken place in the Netherlands, is presented in a synthetic way – from the first discussions on admissibility of a euthanasia-related murder carried out in the 1970s, through the practice of killing patients at their request, which was against the law at that time, but with years began more and more acceptable, up to the statutory decriminalization of euthanasia by the Dutch Parliament, made with the support of the majority of society.


1996 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
John Obert Voll

The relationships between Islam and the West are complex. Even theperceptions of those relations have an important impact on the nature ofthe interactions. If the basic images that are used in discussing “Islam andthe West” are themselves ill-defiied or viewed in inconsistent ways, therelationships themselves are affected in sometimes dangerous ways.Inconsistent and contradictory terms of analysis can lead to misunderstandingand conflict.One of the most frequent conceptual mistakes made in discussingIslam and the West in the modem era is the identification of “the West”with “modemity.” This mistake has a significant impact on the way peeple view the processes of modernization in the Islamic world as well as onthe way people interpret the relationships between Islam and the West inthe contemporary era.The basic generalizations resulting from the following analysis can bestated simply: 1) “modernity“ is not uniquely “western”; 2) “the West” isnot simply “modernity”; and 3) the identifixation of “the West” with“modemity” has important negative consequences for understanding therelationships between Islam and the West. Modernity and the West aretwo different concepts and historic entities. To use the terms interchangeablyis to invite unnecessary confusion and create possible conflict’andinconsistency. This article will address the problem of definition and theapplication of the defined terms to interpreting actual experiences andrelationships.Understanding the difficulties raised by the identification of theWest with modernity involves a broader analysis within the frameworkof world history and global historical perspectives. In such an analysis, ...


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