Details
A GERMAN SILVER-GILT DOUBLE-CUP (doppelpokal)
Circa 1500, probably Nuremberg, maker's mark only, possibly a stag's head, also struck with French control marks, the enamelled medallions probably late 19th Century
Each on octafoil foot, the centre repoussé and chased with bosses above fluted bands, the stem chased with swirling flutes with openwork foliage above, the bowls chased with lobes and swirling ornament with applied openwork foliage and ropework band, the border of the outer cup engraved with dogs, birds and scrolling flowers and foliage, each applied underneath the base with a circular medallion, one enamelled with a winged monster emerging from waves, with scrolling quatrefoils, the other with scrolling foliage above flag pennant ornament, traces of maker's mark on each base, also struck with French control marks
145/8 in. (37 cm.) high overall
each cup 7½ in. (19 cm.) high
Gross weight 27 oz. (841 gr.)
Provenance
Frederic Spitzer, Paris, circa 1890; his sale [Catalogue des objets d'art et haute curiositié antiques, du moyen-âge et de la Renaissance composant l'importance et précieuse Collection Spitzer...], Chevalier & Mannheim, Paris, 17 April-16 June 1893, lot 1707 (sold 5,000 francs).
Sir Julius Wernher, 1st Bt. (1850-1912), Bath House, London, by whom bequeathed, with a life interest to his widow, Alice, Lady Wernher, subsequently Lady Ludlow (1862-1945), to their son
Sir Harold Wernher, 3rd Bt., G.C.V.O. (1893-1973), Bath House, London, and from 1948, Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire, and by descent.
Literature
A. Darcel, La Collection Spitzer, 1891, p. 10, no. 7.
1913 Bath House Inventory, p. 132, no. 656, in the safe.
1914 Wernher Inventory, p. 88, no. 440.
M. Rosenberg, Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen, Frankfurt, 1925, III, no. 3721b, where this piece is cited and the mark read as an early Nuremberg town-mark.
C. Hernmarck, The Art of the European Silversmith, 1430-1830, London, 1977, p. 26, fig. 65, as Nuremberg, circa 1500.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
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