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Lot Essay
The inscription inside the cover translates:
A wedding gift from the city of Brieg to the most illustrious Prince Lord Frederick
The three inscriptions on the cover translate:
Be mindful of the wife of Lot
There is little sense of shame in wine
Behold the father of the faith of Christians
The inscription on the stem translates:
Life should be compared with a friend, but hatred with death
The Dukes of Liegnitz were sovereign-princes in Silesia and were also styled Dukes of Silesia-Liegnitz and Brieg. Frederick III, Duke von Schlesien zu Liegnitz (22 February 1520-15 December 1570) married Duchess Katharina von Mecklenburg-Schwerin on March 3rd, 1538.
The cup then descended through the Rhumy family, who were courtiers in the Duchy of Liegnitz in the 16th century. In the 19th century, a Rhumy daughter married Otto Förster, a Hungarian collector who lent this cup and two other pieces to the celebrated Budapest silver exhibition in 1884. The early history of this cup is given in the catalogue to the exhibition. Marc Rosenberg wrote in 1922 that he had seen the cup first in Budapest and then a year later at the house of Karl von Rothschild in 1885, with recently added feet and other embellishments in the Rothschild taste. These additions were also described in the Victor Rothschild auction catalogue in 1937, but have since been removed.
This cup is an extremely fine and very early example of Breslau silver. Its superb technical quality and high renaissance design both suggest a Nuremberg-trained master. Another very fine silver-gilt, enamelled and engraved German tankard, thought to be of Dresden origin, is similarly outstanding in its region and attributable to a Nuremberg-trained goldsmith. Interestingly the finials on the present cup and the tankard are cast from the same model (see Christie's, London, 13 June 2001, lot 230), again suggesting influence from South Germany in Breslau and nearby Dresden in the 16th century.
The maker's mark AV or VA monogram was attributed to Franz Bartel by Erwin Hintze in his book on Breslau goldsmiths of 1906, probably based on the partly legible signature under the base of the cup. Rosenberg suggests that the signature represents the designer rather than the silversmith, and that the signature could also be read as that of Wentzel Goldschmidt. In 1884, at the time of its exhibition in Budapest, the signature was read as Hoc opus fecit Wentzeslaus Aelsscher.
CAPTIONS FOR DETAILS:
Detail of cup interior with portrait of Frederick III, Duke of Liegnitz (1520-1570)
Detail of cover interior with arms of the City of Brieg and presentation inscription to the Duke of Liegnitz
Detail of cover with the Sacrifice of Isaac
Detail of cup with Hercules and the Nemean Lion
Detail of rim with engraved procession
Finial of soldier holding a shield with the arms of Liegnitz quartering those of Brieg, as borne by the Dukes of Liegnitz
Detail of cover with triton
Detail of stem with nereid
Detail of stem with bucranium
A wedding gift from the city of Brieg to the most illustrious Prince Lord Frederick
The three inscriptions on the cover translate:
Be mindful of the wife of Lot
There is little sense of shame in wine
Behold the father of the faith of Christians
The inscription on the stem translates:
Life should be compared with a friend, but hatred with death
The Dukes of Liegnitz were sovereign-princes in Silesia and were also styled Dukes of Silesia-Liegnitz and Brieg. Frederick III, Duke von Schlesien zu Liegnitz (22 February 1520-15 December 1570) married Duchess Katharina von Mecklenburg-Schwerin on March 3rd, 1538.
The cup then descended through the Rhumy family, who were courtiers in the Duchy of Liegnitz in the 16th century. In the 19th century, a Rhumy daughter married Otto Förster, a Hungarian collector who lent this cup and two other pieces to the celebrated Budapest silver exhibition in 1884. The early history of this cup is given in the catalogue to the exhibition. Marc Rosenberg wrote in 1922 that he had seen the cup first in Budapest and then a year later at the house of Karl von Rothschild in 1885, with recently added feet and other embellishments in the Rothschild taste. These additions were also described in the Victor Rothschild auction catalogue in 1937, but have since been removed.
This cup is an extremely fine and very early example of Breslau silver. Its superb technical quality and high renaissance design both suggest a Nuremberg-trained master. Another very fine silver-gilt, enamelled and engraved German tankard, thought to be of Dresden origin, is similarly outstanding in its region and attributable to a Nuremberg-trained goldsmith. Interestingly the finials on the present cup and the tankard are cast from the same model (see Christie's, London, 13 June 2001, lot 230), again suggesting influence from South Germany in Breslau and nearby Dresden in the 16th century.
The maker's mark AV or VA monogram was attributed to Franz Bartel by Erwin Hintze in his book on Breslau goldsmiths of 1906, probably based on the partly legible signature under the base of the cup. Rosenberg suggests that the signature represents the designer rather than the silversmith, and that the signature could also be read as that of Wentzel Goldschmidt. In 1884, at the time of its exhibition in Budapest, the signature was read as Hoc opus fecit Wentzeslaus Aelsscher.
CAPTIONS FOR DETAILS:
Detail of cup interior with portrait of Frederick III, Duke of Liegnitz (1520-1570)
Detail of cover interior with arms of the City of Brieg and presentation inscription to the Duke of Liegnitz
Detail of cover with the Sacrifice of Isaac
Detail of cup with Hercules and the Nemean Lion
Detail of rim with engraved procession
Finial of soldier holding a shield with the arms of Liegnitz quartering those of Brieg, as borne by the Dukes of Liegnitz
Detail of cover with triton
Detail of stem with nereid
Detail of stem with bucranium