A pair of Dutch silver casters

A pair of Dutch silver casters

Maker’s mark: GT in oval, for Gregorius van der Toorn (active The Hague, 1738-1770)

Town mark: a stork in a shield below a crown; Date latter: B = The Hague, 1748; Hallmark: Lion rampant in shield below a crown

A pair of large casters, each of baluster, shaped-accolade form, the panelled body on conformingly raised and shaped base, the upper section with detachable, high-domed, pierced, lift-off cover surmounted by a vase finial.

Van der Toorn’s casters manufactured before 1745 are very similar to those made by his father; the ones made after 1765 show the transition from late baroque style via regence to the rococo style. The body and the foot of each caster are made up of curly brace shapes, divided by profiled band work in the Louis XIV-style. The cover embodies characteristics of the regence period and the rococo style and is executed with asymmetrical engraved rococo cartouches within regence trellis work. The cover is surmounted by a vase-shaped knob finial.

Gregorius II van der Toorn was the grandson of Gregorius I van der Toorn, who originated from Rotterdam and had moved to The Hague around 1650; he was the son of Johannes I and Hillegonda van Dillingh and was born around 1715 in The Hague. He became a pupil of the guild in his native city and entered his mark there in 1738. In 1740 he married Jacoba de Wint (a sister of the wife of the Hague silversmith Reynier de Haan), and fathered six children, two of whom also became silversmiths, Pieter and Johannes II. He bought a house at Nieuwe Harderinnestraat and later on Beestenmarkt (next to his son, Johannes II van der Toorn).

‘Gregorius was one of the most prolific silversmiths in The Hague, and his works show that he was one of the best masters of there. The shapes he created were beautiful and his execution faultless’, according to J.W. Frederiks, Dutch silver, Vol. 2, The Hague, 1958, p. 169. Recent researched made clear that Gregorius passed away on 10 June 1771, contrary to 1768.