The present cup illustrates the Strasbourg tradition, brilliantly represented at the end of the 16th century, of drinking vessels engraved with scenes related to the months of the year. Such scenes, often borrowed from famous Ornamentists such as Mathias Zündt, Peter Flötner or Jost Amman, provide fascinating illustrated accounts of domestic life in various classes of society in the then particularly prosperous and culturally active Alsace (cf. A set of five beakers by Georg Kopenhaupt, Christie's Geneva, 17th May 1994, lot 171).
The scenes engraved on this cup relate to the three Zodicacal signs of Taurus (April-May), Virgo (August-September) and Capricorn (December-January) and represent typical rural activities for those periods of the year: milking the cow and making butter, harvesting in the fields, slaughtering and preparation of swine. These scenes are close to that representing Virgo on what appears to be the only other piece of silverwork known by de Bry: a beaker preserved in the Musée de l'Oeuvre Notre Dame, Strasbourg. The present cup, more elaborate in design and workmanship, has also a frieze of chased ornament in common with the beaker.
Théodore de Bry was born in Liège in 1528 and, being a Huguenot, fled from there to the Free Imperial Town of Strasbourg where he became a goldsmith, entering his mark in 1560. He returned to Liège in 1588 and then went to Frankfurt-am-Main where he established a printing and engraving house, famous for numerous prints of emblems and ornaments. He died there in 1598.