Post ‑medieval European Ambers in Britain, Tankards in the British Museum, and the Biographical Data of Seventeenth‑Century Bernsteindreher in Königsberg

This contribution takes two tankards in the British Museum, London, as its starting point. It considers these artefacts in detail, highlighting some of the possible influences underlying their making (prints, other artefacts, relationships with goldsmiths and their work) as well as their place among other ambers in Georgian and Victorian England by considering ownership, sale and acquisition. It explores how early photography has led to these tankards becoming highly referenced within amber studies, and how this has also led to the perpetuation of particular opinions and arguments. Foremost among these have been judgements around quality and the work of the craftsperson Jacob Heise. In its second half, this essay presents new biographical data around amber craftspeople in early and mid 17th century Königsberg, suggesting that the master Lorenz Schnipperling is worthy of greater consideration for many finely wrought ambers from this period still surviving today. The article is accompanied by three extensive appendices dealing with the British Museum’s European ambers dating to after 1500, sales of amber in England, and amber craftspeople in 17th-century Prussia. This contribution takes two tankards in the British Museum, London, as its starting point. It considers these artefacts in detail, highlighting some of the possible influences underlying their making (prints, other artefacts, relationships with goldsmiths and their work) as well as their place among other ambers in Georgian and Victorian England by considering ownership, sale and acquisition. It explores how early photography has led to these tankards becoming highly referenced within amber studies, and how this has also led to the perpetuation of particular opinions and arguments. Foremost among these have been judgements around quality and the work of the craftsperson Jacob Heise. In its second half, this essay presents new biographical data around amber craftspeople in early and mid 17th century Königsberg, suggesting that the master Lorenz Schnipperling is worthy of greater consideration for many finely wrought ambers from this period still surviving today. The article is accompanied by three extensive appendices dealing with the British Museum’s European ambers dating to after 1500, sales of amber in England, and amber craftspeople in 17th-century Prussia.