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Lot Essay
The present cup is attributable to the circle of silversmiths under the patronage of Augustus the Strong of Saxony. Johann Melchior Dinglinger and Johann Heinrich Köhler, the official Court Jewellers in the 1720s, produced silver-gilt cabinet pieces, jewellery, and military decorations for the celebrated Green Vaults (Grnes Gewölbe), the royal treasury in Dresden. Dinglinger and his two brothers, one an enameller and the other a jeweller, were active at the Court as early as 1693, and J.M. Dinglinger officially became Court Jeweller in 1698. Both Dinglinger and Köhler created silver-gilt and gem-set mounts for earlier treasures, mostly natural curiosities, already in the Saxon Electors's collection. In 1723 Köhler was ordered to supervise the restoration of 155 pieces.
A 17th century nautilus cup, partly re-mounted by Köhler in 1724, was undoubtedly part of this official restoration, and remains in the Green Vaults (Dirk Syndram, Das Grne Gewölbe zu Dresden, 1994, p. 87, pl. XV). Like the present cup, it is surmounted by a silver-gilt crouching dragon, and has an openwork upper stem. The similarly carved helm on the interior of the present shell suggests that it too may be 17th century. Köhler also re-mounted a 17th-century turbo shell in 1724 (Syndram, p. 211, fig. 6).
The mounts of the present cup, however, with their distinctive intertwining of drapery and regènce strapwork, relate most closely to the work of the Dinglingers. In particular, the mounts of a sardonyx cameo, the centerpiece of J.M. Dinglinger's Three Ages of Man garniture of 1728, exhibit similarly complex scrolling architectural elements combined with drapery swags. The silver-gilt surfaces of the garniture are matted and stipple-engraved, as they are on the shell mounts, stem, and foot of the present cup. (Joachim Menzhausen, The Green Vaults, 1970, no. 102). The Dinglinger brothers's famous silver tableau, The Court of Aureng-Zeb, completed in 1707 on the occasion of the Moghul's birthday, combines dragon finials and tasseled lambrequin decoration, both seen on the present cup (Menzhausen, no. 132). Dinglinger's characteristic lambrequins also appear on the plinths for the Obeliscus Augustalis of 1722 (J.L. Sponsel, Das Grne Gewölbe zu Dresden, 1925-1932, vol. III, p. 260, pl. 47). The attributions of the above works at the Green Vaults are based on early inventories; the Court silversmiths were not required to mark their works. Dinglinger's cabinet pieces were in demand in other European courts, most notably that of Peter the Great in Russia, and it is possible that this unmarked piece was made for nobility outside of Saxony.
A 17th century nautilus cup, partly re-mounted by Köhler in 1724, was undoubtedly part of this official restoration, and remains in the Green Vaults (Dirk Syndram, Das Grne Gewölbe zu Dresden, 1994, p. 87, pl. XV). Like the present cup, it is surmounted by a silver-gilt crouching dragon, and has an openwork upper stem. The similarly carved helm on the interior of the present shell suggests that it too may be 17th century. Köhler also re-mounted a 17th-century turbo shell in 1724 (Syndram, p. 211, fig. 6).
The mounts of the present cup, however, with their distinctive intertwining of drapery and regènce strapwork, relate most closely to the work of the Dinglingers. In particular, the mounts of a sardonyx cameo, the centerpiece of J.M. Dinglinger's Three Ages of Man garniture of 1728, exhibit similarly complex scrolling architectural elements combined with drapery swags. The silver-gilt surfaces of the garniture are matted and stipple-engraved, as they are on the shell mounts, stem, and foot of the present cup. (Joachim Menzhausen, The Green Vaults, 1970, no. 102). The Dinglinger brothers's famous silver tableau, The Court of Aureng-Zeb, completed in 1707 on the occasion of the Moghul's birthday, combines dragon finials and tasseled lambrequin decoration, both seen on the present cup (Menzhausen, no. 132). Dinglinger's characteristic lambrequins also appear on the plinths for the Obeliscus Augustalis of 1722 (J.L. Sponsel, Das Grne Gewölbe zu Dresden, 1925-1932, vol. III, p. 260, pl. 47). The attributions of the above works at the Green Vaults are based on early inventories; the Court silversmiths were not required to mark their works. Dinglinger's cabinet pieces were in demand in other European courts, most notably that of Peter the Great in Russia, and it is possible that this unmarked piece was made for nobility outside of Saxony.