13-14 September 2018
Location: Auditorium Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum will organize an international two-day symposium on the occasion of the exhibition Kwab. Dutch Design in the Age of Rembrandt, that is to be held at the Rijksmuseum. The exhibition showcases the most important examples of objects featuring kwab– or auricular ornament, a wonderfully curious seventeenth-century phenomenon characterized by organic and fantastical forms. First developed in the works of the silversmiths Paulus and Adam van Vianen, it later found expression across a whole range of decorative arts.
Thursday September 13
12:45-13:15 Registration
13:15-13:20 Welcome by Taco Dibbits – General Director
13:20-13:25 Introduction by Robert van Langh – Head of the Department of Conservation
Session 1
13:25-13:50 Rob Erdmann (Rijksmuseum/University of Amsterdam) – On filming Adam van Vianen’s ewer (title TBA)
13:50-14:15 Tessa Murdoch (Victoria and Albert Museum) – Virtuouso chasing: Cooqus and the Van Vianen Tradition
14:15-14:40 Huub Baija (Rijksmuseum) – Old and new research on auricular gilding
14:40-15:00 Discussion
Session 2
15:30-15:55 Jan Dorscheid (Rijksmuseum) – Two carved auricular banisters: wooden foundry patterns or unique craftwork
15:55-16:20 Arie Pappot (Rijksmuseum/University of Amsterdam) – Beeldsnijders and Geelgieters, the use of wooden foundry patterns in the Netherlands
16:20-16:45 Paul van Duin (Rijksmuseum) – Dressed in black. Technical aspects of mid- seventeenth-century French ebony cabinets
16:45-16:55 Discussion 16:55-17:00
Closing remarks by Reinier Baarsen 17.00-18.00
Drinks
Friday September 14
10:15-10:20 Registration
10:20-10.30 Welcome
10:30-10:55 Introduction by Reinier Baarsen – Senior Curator of Furniture
Session 1
10:55-11:20 Dirk Jan Biemond (Rijksmuseum) – Patrons of Art: virtuoso goldsmiths and their clientèle in the Dutch Republic
11:20-11:45 Jet Pijzel-Domisse (Gemeentemuseum, The Hague) – Hans Coenraet Brechtel and auricular ornament in The Hague
1:45-12:00 Matthew Winterbottom (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) – John Cooqus: Goldsmith to the court of Charles II
12:00-13:15 Discussion
13:15-13:40 Lunch break Session
13:40-14:05 Reinier Baarsen (Rijksmuseum) – Drawings by Johannes Lutma the Elder
14:05-14:30 Esther van der Hoorn (University of Groningen) – Van Vianen silver in the collection Grill
14:30-14:15 Eloy Koldeweij (Cultural Heritage Agency) – Reflections on mirror boxes and other gilt leather artefacts, ambitious entrepreneurs and high fashion
14:45-15:15 Discussion
15:15-15:40 Break Session
15:40-16:05 Ine Castelijns van Beek (Rijksmuseum) – Dutch church interiors: auricular ornament in wood Johan ter Molen – The influence and the application of auricular ornament in Friesland and Groningen
16:05-16:20 Discussion
16:20-16:30 Closing remarks by Reinier Baarsen
16:30-18:00 Drinks
17:00-18:00 Private viewing of the exhibition
For more information and registration: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/whats-on/symposiums/symposium-kwab-new-discoveries