Forged, repoussé, and chased silver.
Height: 29 cm.
Base: 10.5 × 10.5 cm.
Silver weight: 327 gr.
Hallmarks on one edge of the base.
Trace of a burn mark on one edge of the base.
Condition: very good—as shown in the photo.
Rare on the antique market.
JOHANN JACOB RATHS (1784 Gdańsk – August 1, 1859 Gdańsk), goldsmith. Grandson of Wilhelm (September 7, 1699 – November 23, 1772), a goldsmith born in Gdańsk, who obtained citizenship of the city on February 12, 1728. Son of the goldsmith Carl David Raths (April 7, 1736 – April 17, 1796), who, as of January 24, 1765, held confirmation of Gdańsk citizenship as a so-called Bürger-Kind (child of Gdańsk citizens; on June 21 of that year, his brother Johann Gottlieb obtained merchant citizenship on the same basis), who ran a workshop in rented premises in a tenement house belonging to goldsmith Friedrich Wilhelm Sponholtz on Goldschmiedegasse (Złotników Street), and his second wife since 1779, Anna Agata, daughter of Salomon Seybrowski. Brother of jeweler Carl Friedrich Raths (1782 Gdańsk – December 20, 1814, Gdańsk), an apprentice of master Johann Gottlieb Ulrich, David Wilhelm, Johann Eduard, and Emilia Christina (1787 Gdańsk – 1812 Gdańsk), the first wife of Carl Stumpf.
He obtained his master’s license in 1811 at Christian Wandel’s workshop. On December 9, 1811, he was granted Gdańsk citizenship. From 1829 to 1833 and in 1836, he served as senior member of the Gdańsk goldsmiths’ guild; in 1835, he was a “kompan” (deputy senior member) (see goldsmithing).
From 1817 to 1859, his workshop and shop were located in a townhouse he had purchased at Goldschmiedegasse 32 (Złotników Street). Around 1820, he used the mark “JR” in an oval field, known from a votive plaque in the church in Puck; later, he used “J.RATHS.” In 1908, his work was documented in the church in Malbork. The collections of the National Museum in Gdańsk include a silver plaque of the millers’ guild and a silver sugar bowl from his workshop; the Gdańsk Museum holds a silver sugar bowl, table spoons, and an engraved cup.
