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Cup thumbnail 2
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Not currently on display at the V&A

Cup

ca.1565-75 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The covered cup was a status symbol and a standard form of display plate in northern Europe in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The cups were made in many different sizes - some in Moscow's Kremlin Museum are over a metre high. This cup is decorated with Mannerist ornament associated with the famous Nuremberg goldsmith, Wenzel Jamnitzer (1508-85).

This object would once have been part of the buffet. The buffet of plate was an important feature of medieval and Renaissance banquets. Often made of oak or walnut, buffets usually stood at the side of a dining room, their shelves filled with tablewares. Gold and silver vessels were displayed to convey a sense of the owner's wealth. Normally these vessels were used for the service of food and drink, but on great state occasions they would be set out purely for display.

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

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Standing Cup
  • Cover
Materials and techniques
Embossed, chased, cast and engraved silver-gilt, enamel
Brief description
Silver-gilt cup and cover, Cologne, ca.1565-75
Physical description
The cup stands on a waisted, domed foot embossed with a band of trelliswork and masks; the upper part of the foot is chased with strapwork, masks, and sprays of fruit, and the underside has an applied cast circular plaque with a mask and strapwork. The spool-shaped stem is cast and chased with masks and with applied demifigure brackets. The lower part of the bowl is chased in a manner similar to the foot and has a cylindrical section above, which is decorated with cast panels of figures and birds within a strapwork surround and with small applied enamelled panels of birds and foliage. The spreading lip is chased with a band of ogival arch forms and engraved with a frieze of hunting scenes. The border of the raised cover has cast fruit; the cover is embossed with strapwork, fruit, and masks and has three applied panels of figures and strapwork. The finial is formed as a soldier with a spear and shield above a fluted plinth.
Dimensions
  • Height: 33cm
  • Diameter: 12.2cm
  • Weight: 780g
Updated with measurements taken 14/08/08
Marks and inscriptions
  • Cologne (On the foot, lip, and cover)
  • Mark of a merchant, rather than a maker (On the foot, lip, and cover)
Gallery label
(Gallery 70, case 2) 7. Cup and cover 1565–75 The covered cup was a status symbol and a standard form of display plate in northern Europe during the Renaissance period. The cups were made in many different sizes. Some, now in Moscow’s Kremlin museum, are over a metre in height. Cologne, Germany; maker’s mark in the form of a merchant’s sign Gilded silver and enamel Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.540:1, 2-2008(16/11/2016)
Credit line
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Object history
Provenance: Baron Carl von Rothschild, Frankfurt. Baron Lionel von Rothschild, London. Victor Rothschild, sale, Sotheby's, lot 206, 28/04/1937. Sale, Christie's, Geneva, lot 254, 09/11/1976. Sale, Chrsitie's, Geneva, lot 247, 17/11/1983. Acquired by Arthur Gilbert from S.J. Phillips Ltd, London, 1983.
Production
Maker's mark a merchant's mark
Subjects depicted
Summary
The covered cup was a status symbol and a standard form of display plate in northern Europe in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The cups were made in many different sizes - some in Moscow's Kremlin Museum are over a metre high. This cup is decorated with Mannerist ornament associated with the famous Nuremberg goldsmith, Wenzel Jamnitzer (1508-85).

This object would once have been part of the buffet. The buffet of plate was an important feature of medieval and Renaissance banquets. Often made of oak or walnut, buffets usually stood at the side of a dining room, their shelves filled with tablewares. Gold and silver vessels were displayed to convey a sense of the owner's wealth. Normally these vessels were used for the service of food and drink, but on great state occasions they would be set out purely for display.

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 references
  • Rosenberg, Marc. Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen. 4 vols. Frankfurt am Main: Frankfurter Verlags-Anstalt, 1922-28, vol. II, no. 2717.
  • Scheffler, Wolfgang. Goldschmiede Rheinland-Westfalens. 2 vols. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1973, vol. I, no. 2153.
  • Christie's Review of the season. Oxford: Phaidon-Christie's, 1984, p.323.
  • 'Back Home: La Collection Arthur Gilbert', Connaissance des arts, Oct. 1996, No. 532, pp. 76-85, col. pl. (opp. p. 78).
  • Schroder, Timothy. The Gilbert collection of gold and silver, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 1988, cat. no.134, pp. 497-9. ISBN.0875871445
  • Italian Art and Antiques. No. 1, November 1996, p. 52.
Other numbers
  • SG 161 - Arthur Gilbert Number
  • GB 215 - Arthur Gilbert Number
  • 1998.17 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
Collection
Accession number
LOAN:GILBERT.540:1, 2-2008

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Record createdJune 26, 2008
Record URL
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