Objets d'Art

Mother Of Pearl Inlaid Slate Panel, Signed Jan Vischer

Period

ca. 1660

Material

slate, mother of pearl

Sizes

(height) 26.00cm. (width) 32.00cm.

Description

This slate tablet with inlayed mother of pearl was made by Jan Visscher witness the fact that it was signed with his full name. We see three different kinds of birds and four insects. The birds are seated on branches and three insects fly over them. The fourth insect is about to be devoured by the bird in the middle. The scene is flanked by flowering plants. Details of the depicted birds, insects, plants and flowers are engraved in the mother of pearl.
In its appearance this plaque bears a resemblance of the work of Dirck van Rijswijck (1596-1679) from Amsterdam. Van Rijswijck became famous for his with mother of pearl inlayed slate table tops and paintings in the 50s and 60s of the seventeenth century. The famous Dutch poet Vondel extolled van Rijswijck’s work in a poem and Cosimo de Medici (1624-1723) visited his atelier in 1667.

Although nothing can be said with certainty concerning Jan Visscher, it is generaly assumed that he was an apprentice of Dirck van Rijswijck. Considering the high quality of the engraving, it is suggested that this master was the very same person as the renowned engraver Johannes de Visscher (1633-after 1692) who was famous for his printwork after Nicolaes Berchem (1620-1683) and other 17th century Dutch masters. He was born in Haarlem and moved to Amsterdam in 1658, when Dirck van Rijswijck had reached the pinnacle of his career.

As an engraver he was familiar with the tools that were used to carve mother of pearl, because they were essentialy the same as the tools to chase copper plates for prints. The fact that in 1692 he answered a late calling as a painter’s apprentice at the age of 56, shows that he was open to new techniques and challenges. He was a student of Michiel Carreé (1657-1727), who painted in the style of Nicolaes Berchem.

This type of inlayed plaques is very rare. There are only three specimen known of the hand of Jan Visscher. One is to be found in the Rijksmuseum and another in the Württembergisches Landesmuseum in Stuttgart. Number three is the on display here. The earliest mention of a plaque by the hand of Jan Visscher stems from the ‘Historische tentoonstelling van Amsterdam’ in 1876. At that occasion the plaque that is nowadays to be found in the Rijksmuseum is described. That plaque shows a remarkable resemblance with this one; three birds, several insects but with a much less eleborate flanking of plants and flowers.

Provenance:
Aronson Antiquairs Amsterdam 1971, vgl Catalogus Delft 23e kunst en antiekbeurs p. 71