Antique Tankard the Triumph of Silenus by Gerard Van Opstal Flemish, 1880

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Unique 19th Century plaster remake from a A tankard with a bulbous body decorated with nine figures; the handle is … Read more Unique 19th Century plaster remake from a A tankard with a bulbous body decorated with nine figures; the handle is shaped like a panther's head. The base mount is made of chased, gilded silver; the lid is of ivory, featuring openwork vine branches. Silenus, precariously balanced on a satyr's shoulders, is supported by an old man. Two bacchantes, a female satyr, and two putti make up the god's entire Bacchic retinue—a rather decorous bacchanal, typical of the good-natured inventiveness of Gérard Van Opstal.

After first developing his craft in his native Brussels and Antwerp, Flemish sculptor Gerard van Opstal moved to Paris around 1642 on the invitation of Cardinal Richelieu. Finding employment assisting a decorative sculptor, he contributed to many of the new architectural structures built for the king and members of the court. Soon, however, Van Opstal received his own commissions and in 1651 was give the title of sculpteur des bâtiments du roi (Sculptor of the King's Buildings). He specialized in the low-relief friezes of classical mythological subjects such as tritons, nereids, and centaurs that decorated the many palaces and hôtels particuliers in and around Paris. Members of the court also prized Van Opstal's ivory reliefs, carved in a dramatic, fluid style inspired by Peter Paul Rubens.

In 1648 Van Opstal helped found the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris. He was repeatedly elected rector of the academy, a post he held at the time of his death in 1668. See less