Preparatory Drawing for an Illustration of a Seventeenth-Century Dutch Tankard from the Demidov Collection 1879

This is a preparatory drawing by C. Prosdocimi for an illustration of a 17th-century Dutch tankard from the Demidov Collection. It gives us a glimpse into the world of luxury goods and the artistic practices surrounding their documentation. The tankard itself, with its intricate designs and scenes of hunting, speaks to the wealth and status of its owner in the Dutch Golden Age. Prosdocimi’s drawing, with its precise rendering, highlights the Dutch Republic’s economic prosperity and the global reach of its trading networks in the 1600's. The lion on top is an important symbol of Dutch national identity. The tankard is part of the Demidov collection; the family rose to prominence through the iron industry. To understand this drawing fully, we might turn to sources on Dutch material culture, the history of collecting, and the Demidov family's industrial wealth. Art like this, is not just about aesthetics, but about the social and institutional frameworks that give it meaning.