This gilded silver cup is a rare survival. Although it represents a standard seventeenth-century form, the contemporary inscription round the rim identifies it as a 'Bath gift' (or, in German, 'Badgeschenk'), a type of gift associated with the health-giving thermal baths of Switzerland. By the seventeenth century, town councils were careful to honour important visitors to their thermal baths with a valuable gift, such as an inscribed silver or silver-gilt cup. The scene engraved in the bowl of the cup depicts a feast described in the Old Testament (Genesis 43.34). Joseph invites his brothers, who are estranged from him, to a lavish feast at his house. It is an appropriate subject to decorate a cup intended as a gift to honour a governor of Zurich, the identity of whom is unknown today.
Physical description
Deep tazza or standing bowl, on inverted baluster stem with bell shaped foot bearing an inscription on the outside of the rim, and an engraved scene on the inside of the bowl that shows Joseph honouring his brothers with a feast (Genesis 43.34).
Place of Origin
Zurich, Switzerland (made)
Date
1675-1680 (made)
Artist/maker
Boller, Hans Rudolph (maker)
Matthäus Merian, born 1593 - died 1650 (The scene on the inside of the dish is copied from an engraving by Merian., Engraver)
Materials and Techniques
Silver-gilt, engraved
Marks and inscriptions
German, engraved in gothic script around the outer rim of the bowl of the cup:
: Joseph sein · Brüdere : ein · mahl-Zeit gab: sein · Herz zu öffnen · es · ein anlaβ · war: Ein · geschir ins Bad wir thunddar-reichen: Eüch · Herr · Statthalter · zum Liebes zeichen
Marks indicating words contracted over 'Brüdere' (over 'ere'), 'zu' (over'u'), 'anlaβ' (over 'β'), 'thunddar-reichen' (over 'u') and 'zum' (over 'u'). 'Joseph gave a dinner for his brothers; it was an occasion to open his heart. We donate a vessel at the bath to you Oh Governor, as a sign of love.'
On upper side of lip:
a duck, with outstretched wings on two leaves, in a shield-shaped punch, the maker's mark of Hans Rudolph Boller of Zurich (born 1625, master 1648, died after 1682).
the letter 'Z' cancelled with a diagonal line, in a shield-shaped punch, town mark for Zurich.
The Arabic number '1411', engraved on the underside of the foot-rim.
Dimensions
Diameter: 10.50 cm foot, Height: 24.30 cm, Diameter: 19.8 cm Across the rim of the bowl
Object history note
This gilded silver cup is a rare survival. Although it represents a standard seventeenth-century form, the contemporary inscription round the rim identifies it as a 'Bath gift' (or, in German, 'Badgeschenk'), a type of gift associated with the health-giving thermal baths of Switzerland. By the seventeenth century, town councils were careful to honour important visitors to their thermal baths with a valuable gift, such as an inscribed silver or silver-gilt cup. Sixteenth-century depictions of these baths show naked men and women seated in open-air baths around a floating table; the most important among them are offered wine in a shallow, footed cup similar to this one (Preiswerk-Lösel: 1991, plate 93, p. 114). The cup now in the V&A was presented to an un-named governor of Zurich. It is a particularly striking gift, as in theory the puritan religious strictures of Zurich town council prohibited such expenditure (Lösel: 1983, p. 70).
Hans Rudolf Boller, who made the cup, was born in 1625, the son of a Regensburg minister. He was apprenticed to the Zurich goldsmith Melchior Trüb between 1639-43 (Lösel: 1983, p. 162). Little of his work survives. There is a spoon bearing his mark in the V&A (449-1873), and his other three works are all cups, two of these in the form of heraldic beasts (a lion and a lynx).
The scene engraved in the bowl of the cup depicts a feast described in the Old Testament (Genesis 43.34) and derives from illustrations by the engraver Matthäus Merians for an illustrated Bible of 1625. The skilled execution of the engraving on the cup suggests this was the work of a professional engraver (Lösel: 1983, p. 72).
The Museum purchased the cup from Messrs Goldschmidt, Frankfurt, in 1872.
Descriptive line
Silver gilt cup on a high, baluster-shaped stem.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Silver, ed. Philippa Glanville, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996. ISBN 1851771891
Colour photograph and brief descriptive text on p. 30.
Preiswerk-Lösel, Eva-Maria. Kunsthandwerk. Ars Helvetica, Die visuelle Kultur der Schweiz, vol. 8. Disentis: Desertina, 1991. ISBN 3856371591
See plates 94 a and 94 b (p. 115) for black and white photo of cup and detail of the scene engraved in the bowl.
Lösel, Eva Maria. Zürcher Goldschmiede Kunst vom 13. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert. Zürich: Zürich Buchverlag Berichthaus, 1983. ISBN 3855720479
See p. 72 and pp. 162-3. Black and white images of cup and detail of bowl, plates 88 and 88a.
Historisch-biographisches Lexikon der Schweiz, ed. by Heinrich Türler, Marcel Godet and Victor Attinger, 7 vols. Neuenburg: Administration des Historisch-Biographischen Lexikons der Schweiz, 1921-1934.
See under 'Baden' for the importance of thermal baths in Switzerland and the exchange of gifts associated with these places.
Schneider, Jenny. Vorlagen für das schweizerische Kunstgewerbe. Zeitschrift für Schweizerische Archäologie und Kunstgeschichte. 1956, vol. 16.
Labels and date
14. TAZZA
Silver-gilt
Zurich, Switzerland, around 1680.
Mark of Hans Rudolph Boller.
The engraved scene shows the Old Testament scene of Joseph feasting [with] his brothers in Egypt. The inscription translates as "Joseph gave a dinner for his brothers; it was an occasion to open his heart. We donate a vessel into the bath to you Oh Governor, as a sign of love".
627-1872 [26/11/2002]
Materials
Silver; Gold
Techniques
Engraving; Gilding; Raised
Categories
Metalwork
Collection code
MET
