Centerpiece in the shape of a deer Sibiu at the end of the 17th century, hallmarked JO (Johannes ONG(J)ERT junior, 1689-1734) silver, gilded, cast, embossed, chased, engraved; Coral. This piece was designed according to the models highly prized in the well-known German goldsmith centers of Nuremberg and Augsburg. From there, this type of drinking vessel, as well as others in the shape of animals, has spread throughout Europe. The wonderful, very decorative piece is a soaring deer with coral antlers, made using the ronde-bosse technique. The detachable head is finished with a smooth collar. The appearance of the deer and the anatomical details of its body are very well worked out, the fine-haired coat is reproduced by tiny indentations, all this with the most perfect mastery that a goldsmith can attain. The oval, arched base shows in relief a vast rural landscape (houses and bushes on the hills around a valley with a river). H. 39.5 cm, approx. 2620 g. The master goldsmith Johannes Ong(j)ert spent his apprenticeship in the workshop of Sebastian Hann in the years 1689-1693, a period in which his master also made a similar piece (probably 1692). His master's mark can also be found on several other pieces (three pyxis, two cups and a paten) from ecclesiastical and museum collections; In 1879, the Brukenthal Museum purchased from the Sibiu Tailor Brotherhood a cup made in 1694, on which are engraved the names of the two heads of the goldsmiths' journeymen, one of whom is ''Jo[hann]. Onger[t] A[u]rifaber''. Lit.: Köszeghy (1936), stamp no. 1448; Guy Marica (1972), p. 160, cat. No. 34; Wollmann (1998), issue 1/2, pp. 1-5; Slotta-Wollmann-Dordea (1999), cat. No. 173; Dâmboiu (2008), pp. 228, 395, 439, 461.