AN IMPORTANT GERMAN SILVER-GILT MOUNTED LEATHER SHOE MAKER'S GUILD CUP

Details
AN IMPORTANT GERMAN SILVER-GILT MOUNTED LEATHER SHOE MAKER'S GUILD CUP
NUREMBURG, CIRCA 1580, MAKER'S MARK A FLOWER

Formed as a leather shoe on four small silver-gilt ball feet, tooled with rosettes and fluer-de-lys and on one side with lacing hooks, the silver-gilt border engraved with scrolling foliage above a stiff leaf band, the removable domed cover chased with a band of masks and strapwork and surmounted by a lion rampant finial supporting a shield engraved with a housemark, the pointed toe mounted with a silver-gilt stylized dolphin and hung with a bell, marked on cover flange, the collar and cover also struck with later French control marks--8 1/2in. (21.6cm.) long

Lot Essay

Other examples of this extremely rare form of welcome cup include an unmarked example in the Fowler Collection, now belonging to U.C.L.A, California and another, similar in form to the present example, in the Morgan Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art.