description

Cristoffel Radijs (Den Haag 1725 - Den Haag 1782)

The Hague, 1726
diameter: 15,2 cm.

Provenance

Private collection

Detail Description

Of circular section, the flat and smooth independent cover beautifully engraved with the coat-of-arms of the Seven United Provinces, a shaped shield below a crown containing a Dutch Republic lion passant to left below a crown, holding a sword in his right claw, and a bundle of seven arrows in his left claw, the shield held to either side by another larger lion passant wearing crown, both standing on a banderole below with the text CONCORDIA RES PARVAE CRESCUNT (‘Unity makes small things grow’, in Dutch Eendracht maakt Macht), the heraldic motto of the Dutch Republic, the smooth edge with reeded banding to upper and lower rim, containing two holes through which the silk cord of the wax seal was attached to a document of political bearing, possibly a treaty between the Netherlands and another country, or a commission confirming the appointment of an ambassador or high-ranked army officer.



In the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amstrdam, is a silver seal-box, made by a hitherto unidentified silversmith, possibly in The Hague in 1663, of which the cover is engraved with a device with coat-of-arms below a crown, surrounded by a chain and held to either side by a crowned sheep passant, holding a banner with fleur-de-lys pattern; this box is presumably commissioned by Cornelius Lampsins (1600 Vlissingen 1664), and is related to a diploma given by King Louis XIV, in which Lampsins was appointed Knight of the Order of St Michel and Baron of Tobago (inv. n° NG-388.0).