Splendid and Heavy Late 17th Century Dutch-Colonial Silver Filigree Salver

Indonesia, Batavia (Jakarta) or possibly Padang, West Sumatra, 2nd half 17th century

Diam. 22.9 cm
Weight 551 grams

This filigree-work was probably done by Chinese masters working in Southeast Asia. Because in style, it is very similar to the famous filigree writing box with the arms of Stadholder William III (dated before 1689), which was collected by Tsar Peter the Great, now in the Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg. Indonesia is the most likely place for this salver to have been made. In the second half of the seventeenth-century silver filigree came into fashion at the European courts. Much of it was imported by the VOC in Amsterdam where Amalia van Solms, her grandson William III and representatives of many royal and noble houses such as Louis XIV, Peter the Great, the German Electors and the Danish Kings greedily collected filigree from the East.