Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Wedding Anniversary Plaque, 1785-90

Plaque
Silver, 1785-1790
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This plaque, in the form of a neo-classical temple, is surmounted by an urn and laurel wreaths and encloses two figures. The figural group shows Victory about to crown a woman with a laurel wreath. Above the figures, we see the coat of arms of the city of Leiden, flanked by the arms of two unidentified families.

The work of Christoffel Mittscherlich, a German goldsmith and artist from Amsterdam, in the fashionable Neoclassical style of the Late Eighteenth Century, this magnificent creation of silver in ornate openwork was made to adorn a book cover.

The numerals XXV (25) are engraved in the center. Given this and the appearance of two family arms, we can deduce that this plaque may commemorate a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.