Ewer by Adam van Vianen
The masterpiece of the auricular style: an ewer raised from a single sheet of silver, as if melting.
Adam van Vianen made the ewer in memory of his brother Paulus in 1614. It was so famous that it appears in several Dutch paintings. It is in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Materials: Silver gilt
Manufacture: Raised from one sheet of silver without joins, in soft, flowing forms like the cartilage of the ear.
Forms that flow into each other – ears, shells and faces without clear edges.
The ewer has no joins; the whole form is hammered from one sheet.