Lot Essay
Christoph Jamnitzer (1563-1618) was the most talented descendant of Wenzel Jamnitzer (1508-1585), founder of the Mannerist school of goldsmithing in Nuremburg. Wenzel established Nuremburg as a center of silver design in the 16th century, leading the movement away from pure Renaissance forms toward Mannerist and Gothic revival styles. This beaker, by his grandson Christoph, continues the Gothic Revival tradition introduced by Wenzel in the 1560s. Like his grandfather and father, Hans, Christoph made silver for the Holy Roman Emperor, and his masterpiece is the "Triumph" ewer and basin commissioned by Rudolph II, "one of the most impressive monuments of the last and most sophisticated phase of Mannerist goldsmiths' work" (John Hayward, Virtuoso Goldsmiths, London, 1976, p. 222).
The etched scenes on the border of this beaker are closely related to Jamnitzer's preparatory drawings for the border design of the "Triumph" basin (illustrated in H.W. Williams, Jr., "Four Drawings Attributed to Christoph Jamnitzer," The Art Bulletin, v. XIX, no. 1, 1937, pp. 112-116). In particular, the etching of the Apollo and Daphne scene on this beaker is virtually identical to the Apollo and Daphne scenes both in the drawings and in the stipple-engraved rim of the "Triumph" basin. The Victoria and Albert Museum, which owns the pen-and-wash drawings, firmly attributes the hand to Jamnitzer. Some scholars in the past have assumed that these drawings were not designed by Jamnitzer but were created by another artist in the Prague Hofwerkstatt specifically for the "Triumph" basin. However, the appearance of one of the scenes from the drawings on this beaker, which is not associated with Prague, provides important additional evidence in support of curÿent scholars' consensus that these drawings are in fact in Jamnitzer's own hand.
There are two other etched beakers by Christoph Jamnitzer identical to the present example and apparently from the same set, one in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin, numbered 10 on the base, and one recently sold at auction, numbered 6, suggesting that there were at least ten originally (Klaus Pechstein, Goldschmiedewerke der Renaissance, Berlin, 1971, no. 70; Sotheby's Geneva, 14 May 1990, lot 176). While Sotheby's expresses uncertainty regarding the designer of the etchings, Pechstein attributes the etchings on the Berlin beaker to Jamnitzer based on their general similarity to the drawings of the "Triumph" basin. The discovery of the present beaker, the only one of the three which exactly matches the "Triumph" drawings, substantiates the attribution of the etchings on the Berlin beaker and on the entire set. Further, a comparison of these etchings with those in Christoph Jamnitzer's printed book of ornament, Neuw Grotteskenbuch, of 1610 reveals the same hand and similar designs of both figures and landscape (C. Jamnitzer, op. cit., Nuremburg, 1610, rpt. Graz, Austria, 1966, esp. figs. 37, 39, 42).
The form of these beakers combines the lingering Renaissance taste for horizontal bands of decoration with the Mannerist penchant for complex outline. The rim is formed as a Gothic quatrefoil, which breaks the shape of the cup into four vertical sections. Characteristic of Christoph Jamnitzer is this division into four lobes, anarrow stem above a spreading quatrefoil foot, beaded borders, and scrolled brackets, all of which appear on Jamnitzer's famous silver-gilt ewer in the Grunes Gewolbe, Dresden (Hayward, op. cit., fig. 516).
The other known related beakers, all made by followers of Christoph Jamnitzer in Nuremburg around 1620, are: a pair by Franz Fischer etched with Biblical scenes, from the J.P. Morgan collection, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1; a pair by Hans Uten etched with harvesting scenes, from the William Beckford collection recorded in the Lansdown Crescent inventory of 1844, now at the Toledo Museum of Art 2; one by Hans Uten and one by Hans Uten and Georg Koler etched with Biblical scenes, both from the William Beckford collection, now remaining in Brodick Castle 3; a pair by Franz Fischer etched with Biblical scenes, from the same set as the Metropolitan pair, now at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin 4; and a single by Hans Uten embellished with niello, in an unknown collection 5.
1 E. Alfred Jones, Catalogue of the Gutman Collection of Plate, now the Property of J. Pierpont Morgan, London, 1907, pl. XLV, nos. 1 and 8.
2 Sotheby's London, 21 October 1965, lot 119.
3 Malcolm Baker, et al., Beckford and Hamilton Silver from Brodick Castle, London 1980, nos. H9 and H10.
4 Klaus Pechstein, op. cit., nos. 71 and 72.
5 Richard Came, Silver, London, 1961, fig. 33.
(photo captions):
Christoph Jamnitzer, 1597, portrait by Lorenz Strauch (courtesy Fembohausmuseum, Nuremburg)
Silver-gilt beaker etched with mythological scenes, by Christoph Jamnitzer, circa 1600 (courtesy Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin)
Apollo and Daphne, ink-and-wash preliminary drawing, circa 1600, attributed to Christoph Jamnitzer (courtesy of the Board of Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum)
Apollo and Daphne, detail of Christie's beaker
Details, Christie's beaker
The etched scenes on the border of this beaker are closely related to Jamnitzer's preparatory drawings for the border design of the "Triumph" basin (illustrated in H.W. Williams, Jr., "Four Drawings Attributed to Christoph Jamnitzer," The Art Bulletin, v. XIX, no. 1, 1937, pp. 112-116). In particular, the etching of the Apollo and Daphne scene on this beaker is virtually identical to the Apollo and Daphne scenes both in the drawings and in the stipple-engraved rim of the "Triumph" basin. The Victoria and Albert Museum, which owns the pen-and-wash drawings, firmly attributes the hand to Jamnitzer. Some scholars in the past have assumed that these drawings were not designed by Jamnitzer but were created by another artist in the Prague Hofwerkstatt specifically for the "Triumph" basin. However, the appearance of one of the scenes from the drawings on this beaker, which is not associated with Prague, provides important additional evidence in support of curÿent scholars' consensus that these drawings are in fact in Jamnitzer's own hand.
There are two other etched beakers by Christoph Jamnitzer identical to the present example and apparently from the same set, one in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin, numbered 10 on the base, and one recently sold at auction, numbered 6, suggesting that there were at least ten originally (Klaus Pechstein, Goldschmiedewerke der Renaissance, Berlin, 1971, no. 70; Sotheby's Geneva, 14 May 1990, lot 176). While Sotheby's expresses uncertainty regarding the designer of the etchings, Pechstein attributes the etchings on the Berlin beaker to Jamnitzer based on their general similarity to the drawings of the "Triumph" basin. The discovery of the present beaker, the only one of the three which exactly matches the "Triumph" drawings, substantiates the attribution of the etchings on the Berlin beaker and on the entire set. Further, a comparison of these etchings with those in Christoph Jamnitzer's printed book of ornament, Neuw Grotteskenbuch, of 1610 reveals the same hand and similar designs of both figures and landscape (C. Jamnitzer, op. cit., Nuremburg, 1610, rpt. Graz, Austria, 1966, esp. figs. 37, 39, 42).
The form of these beakers combines the lingering Renaissance taste for horizontal bands of decoration with the Mannerist penchant for complex outline. The rim is formed as a Gothic quatrefoil, which breaks the shape of the cup into four vertical sections. Characteristic of Christoph Jamnitzer is this division into four lobes, anarrow stem above a spreading quatrefoil foot, beaded borders, and scrolled brackets, all of which appear on Jamnitzer's famous silver-gilt ewer in the Grunes Gewolbe, Dresden (Hayward, op. cit., fig. 516).
The other known related beakers, all made by followers of Christoph Jamnitzer in Nuremburg around 1620, are: a pair by Franz Fischer etched with Biblical scenes, from the J.P. Morgan collection, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1; a pair by Hans Uten etched with harvesting scenes, from the William Beckford collection recorded in the Lansdown Crescent inventory of 1844, now at the Toledo Museum of Art 2; one by Hans Uten and one by Hans Uten and Georg Koler etched with Biblical scenes, both from the William Beckford collection, now remaining in Brodick Castle 3; a pair by Franz Fischer etched with Biblical scenes, from the same set as the Metropolitan pair, now at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin 4; and a single by Hans Uten embellished with niello, in an unknown collection 5.
1 E. Alfred Jones, Catalogue of the Gutman Collection of Plate, now the Property of J. Pierpont Morgan, London, 1907, pl. XLV, nos. 1 and 8.
2 Sotheby's London, 21 October 1965, lot 119.
3 Malcolm Baker, et al., Beckford and Hamilton Silver from Brodick Castle, London 1980, nos. H9 and H10.
4 Klaus Pechstein, op. cit., nos. 71 and 72.
5 Richard Came, Silver, London, 1961, fig. 33.
(photo captions):
Christoph Jamnitzer, 1597, portrait by Lorenz Strauch (courtesy Fembohausmuseum, Nuremburg)
Silver-gilt beaker etched with mythological scenes, by Christoph Jamnitzer, circa 1600 (courtesy Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin)
Apollo and Daphne, ink-and-wash preliminary drawing, circa 1600, attributed to Christoph Jamnitzer (courtesy of the Board of Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum)
Apollo and Daphne, detail of Christie's beaker
Details, Christie's beaker