Pair of Dutch gold Bible clasps

Pair of Dutch gold Bible clasps

Hendrik Tollenaar Wunsch

Amsterdam, 1794

The clamping arms are cast and very finely chased with garlands and ribbons, beneath which are oval medallions featuring allegorical scenes, floral tendrils, and fluted columns. The attachments and clasps represent personifications of Virtues surrounded by laurel wreaths, namely Caritas (Charity), Fides (Faith), Spes (Hope), and Fortitudo (Fortitude). The inside of the upper clamping arm is engraved with the initials H.M.H, and the lower with the year 1794.

The binding contains The New Testament, published by De Erven J. Allart, The Hague, 1817, The Book of Psalms and Hymns, Evangelical Hymns, and the Catechism. The book was given to A. M. H. E. Kluyt by her aunt M. Rieldekoter-Kluyt, according to an inscription inside the book.

Hendrik Tollenaar was born in Amsterdam around 1756 as the son of Teunis Tollenaar (a cornsheaf setter) and Johanna Knoop. His mother’s second husband was Johannes Wunsch, who had been a goldsmith in Amsterdam since 1749. Hendrik Tollenaar followed in his stepfather’s footsteps by also being registered as a goldsmith with the Amsterdam gold and silversmiths’ guild (18-1-1788) after obtaining the burgher ship of Amsterdam (16-1-1788). To this end, he took the goldsmith’s test on January 11,1788 by making “a golden wayer’s bracket”. A few months later, on April 12, 1788, he was baptized in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Amsterdam with his mother and stepfather as witnesses. From that moment on, he added the name Wunsch to his own name. In 1797 he married Maria Elisabeth Jolles, daughter of Abraham Jolles. His address was in the Bloemstraat at that time. In 1798 he is registered as an active goldsmith. He is no longer mentioned on the list of 1807 and was apparently no longer active. He must have died after 1809, because on 2 March 1809 the couple Tollenaar Wunsch-Jolles is still mentioned as witnesses at the baptism of Hendrik Anthonie, son of Mattheus Coenraedts and Alida Johanna Jolles. Hendrik Tollenaar Wunsch did not die in Amsterdam, but in Barneveld on 12 April 1836 at the age of 79. He survived his wife Maria Elisabeth Jolles, who died on 21 September 1831, also in Barneveld.  Hendrik Tollenaar Wunsch must also have been a talented draughtsman, as evidenced by the drawing “sitting nude, seen on the back” from 1788, the year he also started as a goldsmith. He received the 2nd prize for this drawing.

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