Standing Cup
after 1632 (made)
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This gilded, silver cup commemorates the death of the Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Lützen in 1632. It is one of four examples known today (a fifth cup of this type was exhibited in Dresden in 1906, but its present whereabouts are unknown). Although all these cups are unmarked, they have been attributed to the workshop of the Frankfurt goldsmith Paul Birckenholtz (died 1634) because their cast and applied decoration resembles that on other cups known to be by him. Elaborately-designed cups in precious materials were made to mark a number of different occasions, and were collected as much for their workmanship as their symbolic significance. One of these cups was kept by Wilhelm V, Landgrave (prince) of Hesse in his display of treasures and curiosities at his residence in Kassel. An inscription in Dutch added to the base of the V&A cup in 1644 suggests it may have been presented as a christening gift.
Object details
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Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
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Materials and techniques | Silver, parcel gilt, with applied figures cast in silver |
Brief description | Standing cup and cover, silver, parcel gilt, with a bust of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, on the lid knop; Germany, after 1632, probably Paul Birckenholtz (1561-1653) |
Physical description | Silver, parcel gilt, a bust of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden (1611-1632) on the lid knop; the outer surface of the cup applied with a cast rosette and four oval frames of scrollwork and stems adorned with fruit, containing the following pairs of allegorical figures: Faith (holding the Cross and book) and Justice (holding a sword and scales); Hope (holding a torch and book) and Peace (wearing a plumed helmet and holding a palm branch and shield); Prudence (holding a mirror and a serpent) and Fortitude (wearing a helmet and holding a column); Charity (with one breast bared and holding a cup and shell, and Patience, (wearing a helmet with two plumes and holding a lowered baton). The stem in the form of a heraldic lion rampant, wielding a sword and a round shield; the foot decorated with four trophies of arms and a rosette. |
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Credit line | Given by Col. Waldo-Sibthorp |
Object history | This cup is one of five, unmarked, examples listed in Rosenberg (1923), II, no. 2031, pp.82-4). The present whereabouts of one of these cups is unknown; of the remaining four, one is exhibited at Kassel, in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, one forms part of the ducal collections at Brunswick (this may be identified with the example displayed at the Munster Landesmuseum, 2015) and one passed to the British Museum in 1898 as part of the Waddesdon Bequest, the legacy of Baron Ferdinand Rothschild. See Tait, II (1988), cat. no. 52, pp.278-9; Koch, III (1991), cat. no. I.11.20, p.83. A lidded cup with the same iconography and an inscription (identical?) under the lid, but with two later handles and a squat stem that does not incorporate a heraldic lion, was formerly in the possession of the 6th Earl of Rosebery at Mentmore House, Buckinghamshire. It was sold at Sotheby's, London, in May 1977: see Mentmore (1977), lot 688 (p.117). The cups have been assigned to the workshop of Paul Birckenholtz (the Elder) because a number of their decorative features resemble those on a 1629 commemorative cup made for the University of Marburg (see Tait, 1988, p.280 and Koch, 1991, vol III, cat. no. 1.11.21, p.84 for the Marburg cup). Birckenholtz was born at Aachen in 1561, and learned his trade first in Antwerp (1578-1582), then in Paris (1582-85) and finally in Rome (1585-89). He moved to Frankfurt in 1590 and became Master of the Frankfurt Goldsmiths' Guild in 1591. His first wife, Susanna Heidenreich, was the daughter of the jeweller Steffan Heidenreich; his second marriage was to Barbara de Fosse, daughter of Johann de Fosse from Bruges. His career appears to have been successful: he was the Frankfurt assay master ('Schaumeister') in the years 1601, 1608, 1619 and 1627, and rented two shops from the Frankfurt town council between 1608 and 1633. He is the Master of the Frankfurt Goldsmiths' Guild with the highest number of identifiable surviving works, and he was also responsible for a number of striking ornament designs for goldsmiths. He died on 19th March, 1634. His son, also called Paul, became a jeweller. (See Koch, 1991, vol. III, pp.82-83.) The cup now in the V&A was bequeathed to the Museum in 1898 by Colonel F. R. Waldo-Sibthorp. |
Historical context | The cup commemorates the death of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, at the battle of Lützen (near Leipzig, on the eastern side of Germany) in November 1632. Frankfurt -am-Main had allied itself to Adolphus's Protestant cause in 1631, therefore it is unsurprising that Birckenholtz, a Frankfurt goldsmith, should have produced a series of cups to commemorate both Adolphus's death on the battlefield and the Protestant victory. Two of the cups are known to have entered the collections of high-ranking German nobles. One was acquired by the Landgrave (a German rule of a particular territory, or a prince) Wilhelm V of Hesse (Landgrave 1627-1637). Wilhelm displayed it in his Kunstkammer at Kassel, where it has remained. The other is in the collection of the Duke of Brunswick. The Dutch inscription added on a plaque attached to the base of the V&A cup suggests that by 1644 it was in the Low Countries, in the possession of a woman called 'Leonoor'. The inscription describes a cup with an image of the Old Testament saint, John the Baptist ('Jan Battista') and explains how Leonoor presented it to an unknown recipient on 7th February, 1644. Although the bust of Gustavus Adolphus on the knop is quite unlike a representation of John the Baptist, the insistence on baptism in the inscription suggests it was a christening gift. For evidence of valuable gifts, including cups, presented in England in the 16th and 17th centuries, see Glanville (1990), pp. 27-8 and 71. |
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Summary | This gilded, silver cup commemorates the death of the Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Lützen in 1632. It is one of four examples known today (a fifth cup of this type was exhibited in Dresden in 1906, but its present whereabouts are unknown). Although all these cups are unmarked, they have been attributed to the workshop of the Frankfurt goldsmith Paul Birckenholtz (died 1634) because their cast and applied decoration resembles that on other cups known to be by him. Elaborately-designed cups in precious materials were made to mark a number of different occasions, and were collected as much for their workmanship as their symbolic significance. One of these cups was kept by Wilhelm V, Landgrave (prince) of Hesse in his display of treasures and curiosities at his residence in Kassel. An inscription in Dutch added to the base of the V&A cup in 1644 suggests it may have been presented as a christening gift. |
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Collection | |
Accession number | 1885-1898 |
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Record created | June 24, 2009 |
Record URL |
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