This type of small flat oval bowl with six or eight concave lobes and handles was very popular throughout Central and Southeastern Europe during the seventeenth century. The form derives from models produced in the German-speaking area. The dramatically swirling foliage around the single flower in high relief, together with the sensitively applied partial gilding, testify to the refinement of Hungarian goldsmithing.
The circulation of Northern European floral and leaf patterns in Hungary and Transylvania is evident in drawings by Andreas Tar of about 1680 (Baroque Splendor: The Art of the Hungarian Goldsmith. Exh. cat. by István Fodor et al. Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts. New York, 1994, p. 48, fig. 6).

Literature
Judit H. Kolba. Hungarian Silver: The Nicolas M. Salgo Collection. London, 1996, p. 63, no. 41.

References
Elemér Kőszeghy. Magyarországi ötvösjegyek a középkortól 1867-ig / Merkzeichen der Goldschmiede Ungarns vom Mittelalter bis 1867. Budapest, 1936, no. 1001 [maker’s mark].
Eva Toranová. Goldschmiedekunst in der Slowakei. Translated by Helene Katrinaková. Hanau, 1982, p. 225, nos. 257-258.
For a similar bowl see, István Heller. Ungarische und siebenbürgische Goldschmiedearbeiten. Munich, 2000, fig. II, no. 8.

[Wolfram Koeppe 2015]