COSTER, Arent
(b. ~1500 ?, d. ~1563 Amsterdam)
Netherlandish goldsmith, active in Amsterdam. No biographical data are known about him.
Drinking Horn of the Calivermen's Civic Guard of Amsterdam
This drinking horn with a silver mount of late-Gothic design was produced by Arent Coster, a goldsmith active in Amsterdam. Govaert Flinck included the horn in a group portrait of the Calivermen’s (Arquebusiers) Civic Guard in 1642, almost a century after it was made. The painting emphasizes the importance of communal drinking from the horn, which was an expression of the mutual ties between the governors.
There are some differences between the original decoration of the mount reproduced in Flinck’s painting and the present-day composition. This is probably the consequence of alterations made in the 19th century.