SOUTH GERMAN, 1590-95, WITH UNRECORDED AUGSBURG TOWN AND MAKER'S MARKS, PROBABLY SPURIOUS

Reminiscent of the chased lobes of gothic examples, cups and covers formed as bunches of grapes (Traubenpokal) emerged as a favorite form of display plate in the late 16^th century. The tree trunk form stem mounted with a climbing woodsman was particularly popular in Nuremberg, and likely relates to a circa 1525 drawing by Nuremberg engraver and master goldsmith Ludwig Krug (1488-1532). A circa 1620 example with similar stem by Heinrich Mack, Nuremberg, was sold as part of the Eric Albada Jelgersma Collection, Christie’s, London, 7 December 2018, lot 541.

The openwork trefoil foot of the present cup is a curious and rare feature found on only a small number of German cups dating from 16^th century-early 17^th century, most stemming from Nuremberg. Likely derived from a design by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), the earliest known example with an openwork foot is a circa 1510 Nuremberg apple form cup (Apfelpokal) in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg (Schroder, 2012, p. 126). A Nuremberg cup with woodsman stem and openwork foot by Andreas Robner was sold Lempertz, Cologne, 29 May 2020, lot 703. A 1609-1629 cup by Hans Weber, Nuremberg at the Louvre, Paris, features an openwork foot mounted with fully modeled apples (inv. No. OA 628). A similar example at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia is similarly applied with shells (95.22).