Adam van Vianen

Adam van Vianen (1568/69-1627) was born in Utrecht. He was apprenticed to a family of silversmiths and shortly after 1590 joined the guild – the union of silversmiths. In addition, he was also a brewer. He remained in Utrecht throughout his life, unlike his well-travelled brother, Paulus. Van Vianen's silverware was fairly conventional at first. It was in 1614 that he adopted the characteristic bold auricular style that was to make him famous. That was when the silversmiths guild commissioned him to make a jug to commemorate his brother, who had died shortly before. He based the design of the jug on the irregular organic forms which had been Paulus's trademark. Van Vianen took on his brother’s mantle and continued producing auricular pieces for the rest of his career.