A Dutch silver coffee urn

A Dutch silver coffee urn

A square coffee-urn with rounded corners embellished with detachable lion’s heads suspending loose rings and issuing four tall paw feet, resting on a plain base with smooth borders raised on four gadrooned feet. The urn has a plain upper border with double reeded rims above broad vertical gadroons. The side is applied with a loose plain tap with a black wooden handle. The slightly domed square cover has rounded corners and sinks towards the centre where a lion is reclining. The urn can be heated by a circular plain burner with reeded bands.

Diederik Lodewijk Bennewitz was the most important designer and silversmith of his time. His commisioners included many wealthy inhabitants of Amsterdam and its surrounding villages. The silversmith’s remaining notebooks disclose interesting information about the firm: Bonebakker’s archive reveals: ‘Sold 17 April 1815: A coffee-urn with lion, lion’s heads and gadroons to Mr Haas, House of Bontemantel, Herengracht (270) in Amsterdam.’