LOOFS, Adam

(b. ~1645 Den Haag, d. 1710 Den Haag)

Dutch silversmith. In the 1670s he worked in Paris where he became familiar with the Louis XIV style. He returned to The Hague as court goldsmith to William (Willem) of Orange. He was appointed ‘Gold and silversmith-in-ordinary and steward of the silver’ to Stadholder Willem III. As steward of the silver he was responsible for the custody and condition of the gold and silver objects in the palaces in The Hague and of those in the country houses of the stadholder and his wife, Princess Mary.

Loofs’s oeuvre is closely related to that of the French silversmiths of the late 17th century. The objects are generally monumental in structure, symmetrical in form, and decorated with motifs borrowed from classical antiquity.

Silver candlestick

This candlestick with a female figure as the stem is an early example in Dutch silver of the influence of the French style popular at the court of Louis XIV. Louis XIV’s interiors were emulated all over Europe. Foreign goldsmiths came to Paris to absorb the latest designs and techniques, as the Dutch-born Adam Loofs did before returning to the Hague.

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Two pilgrim bottles

In 1680, Adam Loofs became silver steward at the court of Willem III in The Hague. He made silver furniture, and silver bowls, plates, wine coolers and bottles, including the two pilgrim bottles shown in the picture. The bottles are decorated with the coat of arms of William, the first Duke of Devonshire to whom the bottles were given by King Willem III. The shape of these silver-gilt bottles derives from the leather bottles carried by pilgrims in the Middle Ages.

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