Known in German-speaking areas as “Schraubflasche”, or “screw-top bottle”, the canister was a favored form in the seventeenth century. They were made in a multitude of shapes using materials ranging from pewter and stoneware and even amber and ivory adorned with metal mounts. Originally, these airtight vessels were used for pharmaceutical purposes to store easily evaporating and costly substances or to transport strong-smelling spices. All four sides of this canister are adorned with gilt frames forming grotesque gilded masks. The arms and abbreviated title letters refer to Count Stephan of Erdődy of Mogyorókerék, a scion of a legendary Hungarian dynasty. A crest on the underside belonged to the then famous physician Samuel Spielberger, who may have received this object as a gift in 1633.

Literature
Elemér Kőszeghy. Magyarországi ötvösjegyek a középkortól 1867-ig / Merkzeichen der Goldschmiede Ungarns vom Mittelalter bis 1867. Budapest, 1936, nos. 1139 [town mark], 1173a [maker’s mark].
Catalogue of European Silver. Sale cat., Sotheby’s, Geneva, November 30, 1982, p. 13, no. 35.
Judit H. Kolba. Hungarian Silver: The Nicolas M. Salgo Collection. London, 1996, p. 47, no. 25.

Exhibited
A Magyar történeti ötvösmű-kiállítás lajstroma. Exh. cat. Országos Magyar Iparművészeti Múzeum. Budapest, 1884, room 5, case 3, p. 10.
Régi ezüstkiállításának leíró lajstroma. Exh. cat. edited by Károly Csányi. Országos Magyar Iparművészeti Múzeum. Museum of Applied Arts. Budapest, 1927, p. 15, no. 75.

[Wolfram Koeppe 2015]