.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This impressive beaker is a rare example of late 17th century Russian silver, inspired by Western designs including German cups and beakers. The decorative imagery on such pieces usually drew on mythological figures and classical decorative motifs for inspiration, resembling the European tradition.
The Sybils depicted on this piece were female prophetesses in Greek and Roman mythology, who were thought to have foretold the birth of Christ. Each Sybil has a name inscribed above it, which is a Russian translation of the prophetesses’ geographical origins. Among them are Persina (Persian), Lubika (Libyan), Delphina (Delphic), Khimera (Cimmerian), Simia (Samian), Dimophila (Demophile of Cumaean), Elisponta (Hellespontine), Phragia (Phrygian). Below each Sybil is a prophetic pronouncement. For example, the inscription under the eighth Sybil reads ‘God the Lord will repel the strong ones on Earth and defeat those with pride, as God’s mercy’.
Comparable beakers are held in the collections of the State Historical Museum in Moscow, the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire (inv. 159.2.19461). For more information and other comparable beakers, see A. von Solodkoff, Russian Gold and Silver, Fribourg, 1981, no. 1; and Z.Z. Bernyakovich, Russian Silver Wares of the XVIIth - Beginning of the XXth Century in the State Hermitage Collection, Leningrad, 1977, no. 11. A similar beaker from the collection of Eugène Lubovitch was sold Sotheby's, Zurich, 22 November 1978, lot 125.
The Sybils depicted on this piece were female prophetesses in Greek and Roman mythology, who were thought to have foretold the birth of Christ. Each Sybil has a name inscribed above it, which is a Russian translation of the prophetesses’ geographical origins. Among them are Persina (Persian), Lubika (Libyan), Delphina (Delphic), Khimera (Cimmerian), Simia (Samian), Dimophila (Demophile of Cumaean), Elisponta (Hellespontine), Phragia (Phrygian). Below each Sybil is a prophetic pronouncement. For example, the inscription under the eighth Sybil reads ‘God the Lord will repel the strong ones on Earth and defeat those with pride, as God’s mercy’.
Comparable beakers are held in the collections of the State Historical Museum in Moscow, the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire (inv. 159.2.19461). For more information and other comparable beakers, see A. von Solodkoff, Russian Gold and Silver, Fribourg, 1981, no. 1; and Z.Z. Bernyakovich, Russian Silver Wares of the XVIIth - Beginning of the XXth Century in the State Hermitage Collection, Leningrad, 1977, no. 11. A similar beaker from the collection of Eugène Lubovitch was sold Sotheby's, Zurich, 22 November 1978, lot 125.