Pair of Stags

Two gilt silver stags with large antlers majestically pose on elaborate tiered bases with a pedestal. Probably originally designed as table ornaments, either facing or turning away from a large ornament or a surtout de table used during banquets at a hunting lodge, they brought the outdoors into the elaborate dining rituals of the court. Raising their heads and perking up their ears, the animals stand at the alert on a surface embossed to resemble a forest floor littered with leaves, twigs, and stumps of grass.

Johann Ludwig Biller the Elder, a German silversmith who worked for the royal courts of Northern Europe, used a sand-casting technique to make the stags, modeling the pieces in sections and then adding finely tooled details.