Dutch silver sugar caster
Dirk Blom
Amsterdam, 1765
The exceptionally large, baluster-shaped caster, embellished with floral twigs was made in Louis XV style. Naturalistic elements such as flowers and foliage characterize Blom’s work. The name Blom actually means ‘flower’. A pair of candelabra (1764) and a basket (1767) of his hand were exhibited in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam during the Rococo exhibition in 2001/2002.
Dirk Blom (1734-1770), son of Dirk Blom and Johanna van Ouweren, became a member of the Amsterdam silversmiths’ guild in 1754 and married Marie Wijngaard in the same year. He lived at Tuinstraat in Amsterdam and was a service worker, who apparently was familiar with a pair of casters, which were made by the Amsterdam silversmith Johannes Schiotling in 1765. Although they differ in detail, the similarity of the body, embellished with floral twigs, is striking.
Provenance:
H.P Rahusen, Amsterdam (?- 1971)
Sotheby’s London, 11 February 1971, lot nr. 158
Gorevic, London, 1971
Premsela & Hamburger, Amsterdam
Private collection, France
Associated literature:
K.A. Citroen, Amsterdamse zilversmeden en hun merken, Amsterdam, 1975, nr. 1097, p. 211