Nef, ship-shaped table ornament
Object No. A6070
Nefs or elaborate table centrepieces made from precious materials in the form of a ship were made in Europe from at least the 13th century. Traditionally they were placed in front of the most important person at the table. The earliest designs were simpler and could have served as salts or possibly to drink from. By the 14th century, nefs had become more complex and in the 16th century some evolved into elaborate automata with moving figures and music. It is those spectacular renaissance showpieces that inspired Viennese gold and silversmiths like Karl Bender in whose workshop this nef was made between 1875 and 1892. These imaginative makers created a wide range of decorative pieces to satisfy the needs of the growing numbers of collectors who 'wanted expensive looking Renaissance objects yet who did not mind whether they were of the period or simply 'in the style of the original'. (H. Ricketts, Objects of Vertu, 1971, p 94). As enamel painting on metal, usually copper, was a distinctive feature of renaissance decorative arts, it was also integral to renaissance revival, the most fashionable revivalist style at the time. Alongside Limoges and Paris, Vienna was a key centre. Profusely painted with scenes inspired by classical mythology and with decorative renaissance motifs, the nef is a fine example of the revival of 16th century enamelwork from Limoges, a town in south-western France famous for its production. The widespread interest in Limoges enamels, followed the 1866 retrospective exhibition held in Limoges and reached its peak in the late 1880s when three major exhibitions were held in France and Germany. Competing with such leading Viennese firms as Hermann Ratzersdorfer and Hermann Bohm, and possibly copying some of their designs, Bender appears to have made a wide range of decorative objects, from miniature clocks to ornate vessels and dishes. Like that of his competitors, his stock varied in quality and his cheaper products were not punchmarked. Proudly stamped with his maker's marks in several places and possibly made for export, this nef must have been among Bender's showpieces and today belongs to a relatively small number of these imposing 19th century ornaments which have survived. Eva Czernis-Ryl, Curator, 2017
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Summary
Object Statement
Nef (ship-shaped table centrepiece), copper / silver / gilt / enamels / blister pearls, Karl Bender, Vienna, Austria, c. 1874-1892
Physical Description
Nef (table centrepiece) in the form of a copper sailing ship (galleon) part-gilt and painted in enamels with various scenes from classical mythology and incorporating small silver figures. The boat-shaped sweetmeats container has detachable cover in the form of a square-rigged, three-masted deck with high poop deck and sailors. It is supported by an enamelled cast-silver figure of two-tailed Nereid (mermaid), her body set with blister pearls, kneeling on top of a spreading ovoid foot. The foot extends into a low, octofoil base painted with enamels and gilt, and decorated with eight cast-silver winged hippocampi (seahorses). A cast-silver and enamelled winged mermaid torso extending into an acanthus-shaped shell in place of her fish tail, is attached to one end of the container (forepeak) to form figurehead of the ship. Various mythological scenes decorate both the exterior and interior of the container, all sails and the foot. These include the elaborate scene on the foremast sail 'The marriage of Neptune and Amphitrite', who ride in a cockle-shell chariot drawn by hippocampi over the waves of the sea amid a retinue of Tritons, Nereids and Amoretti. The five scenes on the deck are painted in square reserves set against embossed scrolling bands of gilt background. The five oval scenes on the foot are reserved against enamelled ground with grotesque ornament. A similar grotesque frieze with mermen and Tritons blowing conch-shell trumpets, decorates the container's interior along the rim and above the large central scene 'Neptune rescuing Amymone from the satyr'. The three mast pennants and the openwork gallery around the deck, all silver figures and the openwork side frieze of the octofoil base are champlevé enamelled in red, blue, green, yellow, black and white. The interior of the hollow foot is painted with a continuous landscape with gothic and classical ruins which also feature on the backs of the smaller sails.
DIMENSIONS
Height
685 mm
Width
450 mm
Depth
210 mm
PRODUCTION
Notes
The nef was made in the workshop of Karl Bender, located from 1875 until 1880 at Wienstrasse 63 and continuing from 1881 until 1892 at Grüngasse 25 (ref. Waltraud Neuwirth, Wiener Gold and Silberschmiede und ihre Punzen, 1867-1922, Vienna, 1976, p102). Between 1836-42, Bender trained under the Vienna goldsmith Germann Leuchter (also known as Hermann Leichter). He specialised in revivalist gold and silver objects and those in enamel and hardstone. The metal bases for painted enamel scenes were prepared with a grounding under coats of white enamel.
HISTORY
Notes
The word nef meaning "ship," is taken from the old French and refers to a particular type of essentially ceremonial object that evolved in France during the Middle Ages. According to R W Lightbown, one of the earliest references to a nef is in a document of 1239. During the succeeding centuries it fulfilled a number of functions, the chief of these being analogous to the role of the great salt in England, to mark the place of the most important person at table. Some documents suggest that nefs were used to drink from, to contain eating utensils while the early sixteenth century Burghley Nef, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, was used as a saltcellar. Although fine nefs of later periods are known, such as a seventeenth-century gold nef no longer extant, belonging to Louis xiv, and Napoleon's nef of 1804 by Henri Auguste, now in the Musée Malmaison, the greatest period of production seems to have come to an end quite early in the sixteenth century. Examples such as the Burghley Nef and the Schlüsselfelder Nef of 1503 in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, represent the last renaissance flowering of the form as a goldsmith's showpiece. They continued to be popular in Germany during the late 16th and early 17th centuries and inspired 19th century metalsmiths and enamellers influenced by historicism and in particular the neo-renaissance or renaissance revival style. Ref: www.gilbert-collection.org.uk
SOURCE
Credit Line
Bequest of C R Thornett, 1972
Acquisition Date
14 March 1972
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