Dutch silver-mounted brush
Attributed to Johannes Londerseel (Immerseel), Rotterdam, 1713
122 grams silver; 13,5 cm wide, brush in total ca. 21 cm
The plain rectangular silver mount with cut corners and stepped border is mounted on the wooden part of the long-haired brush. Fully marked at the reverse and displaying essay stripes.
The earliest silver object, attributed to Johannes Londerseel, as stated in the exhibition catalogue Zilverschatten, published in 1991, is a small pepper caster, dated 1719. This brush mount, however, was made in 1713 and therefore appears to be the earliest known piece made by this Rotterdam master.
There is a possibility that Johannes Londerseel (Immerseel) has manufactured the silver-gilt bodebussen for the city of Rotterdam in 1693. From the documents it becomes clear that he was commissioned to make six silver beakers for the vroedschap in Rotterdam in 1716. His name appears in notary files in Rotterdam from 1711 till 1720.
If Londerseel and Immerseel are indeed the same person, the silversmith’s active periode must have lasted from ca. 1693 till 1735 and thus this brush is not his earliest work, that has survived the centuries.
Associated literature:
-Exhibition catalogue, Meesters in Zilver, werk van Rotterdamse zilversmeden, Rotterdam, 1966
-N. I. Schadee, Zilverschatten, drie eeuwen Rotterdams zilver, Rotterdam, 1991, pp. 90-91, and pp. 218 and 226.
