Lot Essay
The gothic cups and beakers on which this beaker is modelled were produced in Burgundy and Germany for a period of some seventy-five years from the mid-fifteenth century. Elaborately mounted and gem-set, they were meant solely for display. Their high degree of finish and decoration intended as a demonstration of the skill of the goldsmith and the power or wealth of the individual who commissioned them. Seen as works of art they were displayed with small bronzes and curiosities in a Schatzkammer. One of the earliest of such treasure houses was that formed by Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria and refered to in a decree of 1565 and later copied in Dresden, Munich and Würzburg
The revival of these gothic forms was a consequence of the late 18th century and early 19th century antiquarian interest in the art and craftsmen of the gothic and renaissance ages. This was first seen in England in the second of half of the eighteenth century with the gothick revival architecture of Stawberry Hill and the collections of curios formed by Horace Walpole (1717-1797) and later with the fabulous Renaissance style gold and silver gilt-mounted hardstone objets, by the goldsmiths Paul Storr and John Harris, amassed by the collector and connoisseur William Beckford (1749-1844). The nineteeth century saw an interest in a more academic and correct form of revivalism. Historicism swept through Europe and, as in England, the gothic style acquired a strong following in Germany. The movement was stimulated by strong religious, romantic and patriotic feelings, resulting in projects such as the completion of Cologne Cathedral with the addition of the western towers, a project which started as early as 1825. Later in the century men such as the goldsmith Reinhold Vasters (1827-1909) and the antiquarian and dealer Frédéric Spitzer (1815-1890) were to show the degree to which gothic works of art and the works of the nineteenth century could be both married and copied. Vasters, who started his working life restoring the treasures of the Cathedral of Aachen, was later to become known for his liturgical silver in the romanesque and gothic styles and also for the works which Spitzer passed off as being medieval, either reworked remnants of an original piece or modern reproductions. The life and work of Reinhold Vasters is discussed at length in Y. Hackenbroch's article 'Reinhold Vasters, Goldsmith', in The Metropolitan Museum Journal, 1986, vol. 19/20, p. 163-268
The form and decoration of this beaker is drawn from medieval examples such as the Fürstenberggischer Lehensbecher, circa 1480 and the beaker made for Emperor Frederick III, Burgundy, 1425-75, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, both illustrated in C. Hernmarck, The Art of the European Silversmith, 1430-1820, London, 1977, nos. 25 and 28. Both these beakers, the present lot and a Nuremberg beaker in the Victoria and Albert Museum, circa 1465, illustrated in C. Hernmarck, op. cit., no. 30, follow the same basic form. The tapering cylindrical body rests on three heraldic beast feet and the slightly domed cover is surmounted by a heraldic or floral finial. Each is decorated with characteristic bands of repeating fleur-de-lis and gothic pinnacles derived from architectural forms
The use of crystal for the body of the beaker derives from examples such as a silver-gilt mounted rock-crystal tankard, by Diebolt Krug, Strasbourg, third quarter of the 16th century, in the Gilbert Collection, illustrated in T. Schroder, The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver, Los Angeles, 1988, no. 133. One of the largest sources for rock-crystal in medieval period was in Germany at Freiburg im Breisgau
The fine 'pointillé' engraving under the foot and on the interior of the cover is thought to have originated in Paris in the late 14th century and then spread through Northern Europe. It is seen on objects produced in the Netherlands and Germany in the first half of the 15th century. A monstrance, Cologne, dated 1414, decorated with the same form of light punched decoration is in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn, and is illustrated, along with other examples of the work, in J. M. Fritz, Goldschmiedekunst der Gotik in Mittleuropa, Munich, 1982, pl.442. For other examples of this type of decoration see R. W. Lightbown, Secular Goldsmith's Work in Medieval France, London, 1978, pls. XXV and LVI
This beaker and cover is perhaps the example recorded on an undated list in French of Renaissance works of art and French Furniture, including the pendule de cartonier known to have been in Baron Gustave's collection (lot 29) - Vase avec couvecle argent, décor de bossages, Allemagne, XVIe siècle
The revival of these gothic forms was a consequence of the late 18th century and early 19th century antiquarian interest in the art and craftsmen of the gothic and renaissance ages. This was first seen in England in the second of half of the eighteenth century with the gothick revival architecture of Stawberry Hill and the collections of curios formed by Horace Walpole (1717-1797) and later with the fabulous Renaissance style gold and silver gilt-mounted hardstone objets, by the goldsmiths Paul Storr and John Harris, amassed by the collector and connoisseur William Beckford (1749-1844). The nineteeth century saw an interest in a more academic and correct form of revivalism. Historicism swept through Europe and, as in England, the gothic style acquired a strong following in Germany. The movement was stimulated by strong religious, romantic and patriotic feelings, resulting in projects such as the completion of Cologne Cathedral with the addition of the western towers, a project which started as early as 1825. Later in the century men such as the goldsmith Reinhold Vasters (1827-1909) and the antiquarian and dealer Frédéric Spitzer (1815-1890) were to show the degree to which gothic works of art and the works of the nineteenth century could be both married and copied. Vasters, who started his working life restoring the treasures of the Cathedral of Aachen, was later to become known for his liturgical silver in the romanesque and gothic styles and also for the works which Spitzer passed off as being medieval, either reworked remnants of an original piece or modern reproductions. The life and work of Reinhold Vasters is discussed at length in Y. Hackenbroch's article 'Reinhold Vasters, Goldsmith', in The Metropolitan Museum Journal, 1986, vol. 19/20, p. 163-268
The form and decoration of this beaker is drawn from medieval examples such as the Fürstenberggischer Lehensbecher, circa 1480 and the beaker made for Emperor Frederick III, Burgundy, 1425-75, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, both illustrated in C. Hernmarck, The Art of the European Silversmith, 1430-1820, London, 1977, nos. 25 and 28. Both these beakers, the present lot and a Nuremberg beaker in the Victoria and Albert Museum, circa 1465, illustrated in C. Hernmarck, op. cit., no. 30, follow the same basic form. The tapering cylindrical body rests on three heraldic beast feet and the slightly domed cover is surmounted by a heraldic or floral finial. Each is decorated with characteristic bands of repeating fleur-de-lis and gothic pinnacles derived from architectural forms
The use of crystal for the body of the beaker derives from examples such as a silver-gilt mounted rock-crystal tankard, by Diebolt Krug, Strasbourg, third quarter of the 16th century, in the Gilbert Collection, illustrated in T. Schroder, The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver, Los Angeles, 1988, no. 133. One of the largest sources for rock-crystal in medieval period was in Germany at Freiburg im Breisgau
The fine 'pointillé' engraving under the foot and on the interior of the cover is thought to have originated in Paris in the late 14th century and then spread through Northern Europe. It is seen on objects produced in the Netherlands and Germany in the first half of the 15th century. A monstrance, Cologne, dated 1414, decorated with the same form of light punched decoration is in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn, and is illustrated, along with other examples of the work, in J. M. Fritz, Goldschmiedekunst der Gotik in Mittleuropa, Munich, 1982, pl.442. For other examples of this type of decoration see R. W. Lightbown, Secular Goldsmith's Work in Medieval France, London, 1978, pls. XXV and LVI
This beaker and cover is perhaps the example recorded on an undated list in French of Renaissance works of art and French Furniture, including the pendule de cartonier known to have been in Baron Gustave's collection (lot 29) - Vase avec couvecle argent, décor de bossages, Allemagne, XVIe siècle