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Lot Essay
This important double-cup is in the Gothic revival style that Hans Petzolt (1551-1633) pioneered at the end of the 16th Century. Other examples based on forms of a century or so earlier (cf. fig. 2) by Petzolt are recorded including one with more attenuated stems dating from 1600-1610 now in the Bayerisches National Museum in Munich (see the exhibition catalogue, Wenzel Jamnitzer und die Nurnberger Goldschmiedekunst 1500-1700, Germanisches National Museum, Nuremberg, 28 June-15 September 1985, cat. no. 71).
Another example, and one that is closer to Gothic prototypes, is in the collection of the Armoury, Moscow (MZ 227/1-2). This cup was presented to Tsar Mikhail Romanov in 1644 by the ambassador of Christian IV of Denmark and Norway. It was one of a number of gilded pieces given to the Tsar by this embassy which was to negotiate the final terms of the marriage of the King's son to the Tsar's daughter. (B. Shifman and G. Walton, eds., Gifts to the Tsars; 1500-1700, Treasures of the Kremlin, New York, 2001, pp. 294-5, cat. no. 90).
Although with a pure Renaissance finial of the Goddess, the Diana cup in the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin follows also essentially a late Gothic/early Renaissance form. Indeed Otto van Falke (op. cit., p. II) claimed that the Gutmann double cup is, 'together with the Diana cup in possession of the German Emperor, the most magnificent evidence of this Gothic current in the late 16th century'.
Several other leading Nuremberg makers adopted this style including Hans Beutmuller who made a similar double cup set underneath with a medal of the Emperor Rudolph II (E. Alfred Jones, The Objects in Gold and Silver and the Limoges Enamels in the Collection of the Baroness James de Rothschild, London, 1912, p. 98 pl. XL). Peter Wiber also made a very similar cup to the present example some twenty five years later (Wenzel Jamintzer exhibition catalogue, op. cit., cat. no. 101).
Hans Petzolt became, after the death of Wenzel Jamnitzer in 1585, the leading Nuremberg goldsmith. He had become a master in 1578. Between then and his death he produced a large number of objects of which 40 or so are extant. From the Nuremberg city records we know that at various times between 1595-1614 he was commissioned to produce a total of 64 lobed and eighteen pineapple cups as well as two salt-cellars for presentation to visiting dignitories. From 1604 to 1609 he worked at the Prague court of that great patron of the arts, Rudolph II and there certainly met perhaps the other greatest silversmith of the age, Paul van Vianen.
One of the most striking aspects of his work is his virtuosity and his mastery of varied styles. The superb turbo-shell cup with triton and dolphin stem and half-length mermaid cover in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Budapest (J. Hayward, op. cit., p. 383, pl. 479) in the very latest fashion contrasts with the revivalist style that this cup so perfectly exemplifies.
fig 1. German silver-gilt double-cup, Nuremberg, circa 1500, (Inv. No. V. 414 a, b)
Courtesy of the Museum Für Kunstandwerk, Leipzig
(We are grateful to Dr. Ernst Ludwig Richter of Stuttgart for much of the information on the Starck family.)
Another example, and one that is closer to Gothic prototypes, is in the collection of the Armoury, Moscow (MZ 227/1-2). This cup was presented to Tsar Mikhail Romanov in 1644 by the ambassador of Christian IV of Denmark and Norway. It was one of a number of gilded pieces given to the Tsar by this embassy which was to negotiate the final terms of the marriage of the King's son to the Tsar's daughter. (B. Shifman and G. Walton, eds., Gifts to the Tsars; 1500-1700, Treasures of the Kremlin, New York, 2001, pp. 294-5, cat. no. 90).
Although with a pure Renaissance finial of the Goddess, the Diana cup in the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin follows also essentially a late Gothic/early Renaissance form. Indeed Otto van Falke (op. cit., p. II) claimed that the Gutmann double cup is, 'together with the Diana cup in possession of the German Emperor, the most magnificent evidence of this Gothic current in the late 16th century'.
Several other leading Nuremberg makers adopted this style including Hans Beutmuller who made a similar double cup set underneath with a medal of the Emperor Rudolph II (E. Alfred Jones, The Objects in Gold and Silver and the Limoges Enamels in the Collection of the Baroness James de Rothschild, London, 1912, p. 98 pl. XL). Peter Wiber also made a very similar cup to the present example some twenty five years later (Wenzel Jamintzer exhibition catalogue, op. cit., cat. no. 101).
Hans Petzolt became, after the death of Wenzel Jamnitzer in 1585, the leading Nuremberg goldsmith. He had become a master in 1578. Between then and his death he produced a large number of objects of which 40 or so are extant. From the Nuremberg city records we know that at various times between 1595-1614 he was commissioned to produce a total of 64 lobed and eighteen pineapple cups as well as two salt-cellars for presentation to visiting dignitories. From 1604 to 1609 he worked at the Prague court of that great patron of the arts, Rudolph II and there certainly met perhaps the other greatest silversmith of the age, Paul van Vianen.
One of the most striking aspects of his work is his virtuosity and his mastery of varied styles. The superb turbo-shell cup with triton and dolphin stem and half-length mermaid cover in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Budapest (J. Hayward, op. cit., p. 383, pl. 479) in the very latest fashion contrasts with the revivalist style that this cup so perfectly exemplifies.
fig 1. German silver-gilt double-cup, Nuremberg, circa 1500, (Inv. No. V. 414 a, b)
Courtesy of the Museum Für Kunstandwerk, Leipzig
(We are grateful to Dr. Ernst Ludwig Richter of Stuttgart for much of the information on the Starck family.)