Precious cutlery

The 40-piece, exquisitely decorated Augsburg cutlery set by David Altenstetter (active 1573-1617) was certainly never intended to be used for daily meals. This new addition to the Maximilian Museum in Augsburg can be considered a sensation: This is because it is the oldest known complete cutlery set ever and thus found its way into the Guinness Book of World Records. Rediscovered in 2005, as it were, this impressive partially gilded silver ensemble was auctioned at Christie’s in London for around £1.2 million and has now been given to the Maximilian Museum on permanent loan by a sponsor.

From the 16th to the end of the 18th century, Augsburg was regarded as the leading goldsmith metropolis in Europe, whose silverware was coveted at European courts and was supplied as far afield as the Tsarist Empire. You can get an idea of this at the Maximilian Museum in Augsburg: both in the so-called silver vault on the first floor and on the second floor in the “Felicitas Hall” with its antechambers, a wide variety of historical tableware is on display, including a veritable ensemble of silver furniture. The cutlery named after its maker, the goldsmith David Altenstetter, can now also be admired there. It comprises – a novelty at the time – twelve stylistically coordinated three-piece spoon, fork and knife sets as well as three matching salt cellars.
For a long time, spoons were used solely as cutlery. From the Renaissance onwards, people often carried their own knife in a sheath on their belt. The fork was only added to the cutlery set for individuals in the 17th century. This is why the Altenstetter cutlery set, dated 1615, is the oldest surviving example of the now common trinity of identically designed knife-fork-spoon sets. David Altenstetter, who came from Colmar, was probably resident in Augsburg from 1570. When he married in 1573, he became a master craftsman. He soon rose to office and dignity, working for Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria and in 1610 as chamber goldsmith to Emperor Rudolf II. In the treasury of the Munich Residence, for example, Albrecht V’s house altar, richly decorated with deep-cut enamel, can be admired, as can an equally richly decorated table clock in Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum. In Augsburg, he held the office of Vorgehers from 1587 to 1595 and was a councillor from 1588 until his death in 1617. He is also responsible for the enamel medallions of the famous “Pomeranian Art Cabinet”. Its mediator, the important Augsburg art agent Philipp Hainhofer, praised him in a letter as follows: “Among the most skillful and famous masters, Altenstetter also makes such beautiful artwork with his enamel work, but Altenstetter surpasses them all and has a completely different style…” (quoted from Georg Laue).

The goldsmith Altenstetter proudly marked each of the twelve knife handles of the showpiece cutlery presented here with “D. A. F.” for “David Altenstetter Fecit”. This partially gilded cutlery embodies the early type with thin, angular handles, round spoon bowls, two-pronged forks and pointed knife edges. The most unusual feature, however, is the splendid colorful deep-cut enamel decoration on all the cutlery handles: In bright colors, it combines symmetrical tendrils, flowers and garlands; which is extended on the salt cellars to include deer, parrots, guenons, brown bears, butterflies, dragonflies, vases and bundles of musical instruments. The cutlery also impresses with its good preservation: only on the main ornaments of the knives were there older resinous putties. Restoration measures were therefore kept to a minimum. The restorer Karolin Rapp, who works at the Maximilan Museum in Augsburg, cleaned the cutlery surfaces with ethanol to remove any remaining residues of cleaning agents, as residues of silver cleaning agents can accelerate the progression of glass corrosion in the long term. She has also built suitable holders for the museum presentation.