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Wager Cup

1580-1600 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Stürzbecher, or “somersault cup”, is a German term for a vessel with a stem but no foot; when empty it must stand inverted. It is a type of wager cup, popular in Germany and Holland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which required the drink to be consumed entirely before the cup could be put down. Often broken drinking glasses were re-made into stürzbecher but glasses were also made specifically to be mounted in silver. The glass and mounts of this cup appear to be contemporary and so it is difficult to establish whether this cup had a previous incarnation.

Vetro a retorti was a glassmaking technique developed in Venice in the sixteenth century and practised in the Netherlands contemporaneously. It involves laying parallel canes of glass, which have threads embedded within them in vertical or spiral patterns. These canes are then flattened and fused together with heat to achieve the resulting glass.

Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world's great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Raised and cast silver-gilt with <i>vetro a retorti</i> glass
Brief description
Conical vetro a retorti glass bowl with silver-gilt mounts; Holland or Flanders, late 16th century.
Physical description
Conical vetro a retorti glass bowl with white filaments with a compressed spherical knop. The openwork silver-gilt mount has stamped and engraved decoration. It is surmounted by an openwork cage with reeded and corded bands with applied pendant rings. Within the cagework is a pendant bell, topped by a baluster-and-foliage finial.
Dimensions
  • Height: 25.5cm
  • Diameter: 14.5cm
  • Weight: 300g
Updated with measurements taken 14/08/08
Gallery label
(Gallery 70, case 6) 5. ‘Somersault cup’ (Sturzbecher) 1580–1600 A Sturzbecher or ‘somersault cup’ is a stemmed vessel with no foot on which to balance. Since it must either be held or placed upside down, its contents had to be consumed in a single gulp. Southern Netherlands (now Belgium), possibly Antwerp Glass and gilded silver Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.47-2008(16/11/2016)
Credit line
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Object history
Provenance: Baron van Steengarcht. Lord Astor of Hever. Sale, Chritie's, Geneva, lot 67, November 17, 1983. Acquired by Arthur Gilbert from S.J. Phillips Ltd, London, 1983.
Historical context
The German term 'Stürzbecher' means "somersault cup" and refers to a type of vessel with a stem but no foot, which must thus stand inverted when empty. It falls into the general categoryof wager cups, the contents of which were supposed to be consumed at a single draft.
Summary
Stürzbecher, or “somersault cup”, is a German term for a vessel with a stem but no foot; when empty it must stand inverted. It is a type of wager cup, popular in Germany and Holland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which required the drink to be consumed entirely before the cup could be put down. Often broken drinking glasses were re-made into stürzbecher but glasses were also made specifically to be mounted in silver. The glass and mounts of this cup appear to be contemporary and so it is difficult to establish whether this cup had a previous incarnation.

Vetro a retorti was a glassmaking technique developed in Venice in the sixteenth century and practised in the Netherlands contemporaneously. It involves laying parallel canes of glass, which have threads embedded within them in vertical or spiral patterns. These canes are then flattened and fused together with heat to achieve the resulting glass.

Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world's great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.
Bibliographic reference
Schroder, Timothy. The Gilbert collection of gold and silver. Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 1988, cat. no.140, pp. 519-21. ISBN.0875871445
Other numbers
  • SG 162 - Arthur Gilbert Number
  • 1996.85 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
Collection
Accession number
LOAN:GILBERT.47-2008

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Record createdJune 19, 2008
Record URL
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