An Imperial Presentation German parcel-gilt silver cup and cover, Georg Winkler, Augsburg, 1690

Emma Budge née Lazarus, Hamburg (1879-1937) The forced sale of her estate: Paul Graupe, Berlin, Die Sammlung Frau Emma Budge Hamburg, 27-29 September 1937, lot 213.

Helmut Seling, Die Augsburger Gold -und-Silberschmiede 1529-1868, Munich , 2007, no. 1733 (b)

The engraved verse around the medals heightened in red, read:

Leopold: Der Grosse Leopold, dem Gott und Menschen Hold, liessmir diss Gnaden Zeichen, zu Augspurg überzeichen. The great Leopold, who is treasured by God and the people, gave me this as a symbol of his grace, at Augsburg

Eleonor: Als man mit Freüden da, in der Reichs Kron sah, Eleonor AENL prangen, Nach Leopolds verlan-gen. When one saw with joy the Imperial Crown on Eleonor as Leopold ordered

Joseph: Auch der gross KeŸssers Sohn, Joseph, die Römlisch Kron, als die neű Sonne, dem Reich zu Troft und Wonne. Also the great emperor‘s son, Joseph, the Roman crown, as the new sun, for the empire‘s comfort and joy

And at the disc in the cover, heighted in black:

Allergnädigste Erkantnuß / Ihro Röm. Kayserl. Majestät / LEOPOLD I deß Großen / durch / Ihro Gnaden H. Graf Ferdinand Ernst / Von Mollahrt, Kayserl. Hoff Camer- / Rath und Obrist Küchelmeistern / allergnädigst übergeben, an / Georg Großen, Lechmeistern in Augspl / wegen seines rühmlichen Fleißes, und / treugeleister Arbeit / den 1. Februar,. A. 1690 / in Augspurg

All gracefully acknowledged His roman imperial majesty Leopold I the Great through His Grace H(err) Ferdinand Ernst Von Mollart, imperial chamberlain and ‘Obersthofküchenmeister‘ All gracefully given to-Georg Grossen‚ Lechmeister‘ in Augsburg because of his fine and endless diligence and faithfully given work. On 1st February 1690 In Augsburg. 

This cup was presented to Lechmeister Georg Grossen, by the Emperor at the time of the Imperial diet held in Augsburg in early 1690. As Lechmeister, (title taken from the River Lech) Grossen had been responsible for the city’s water since 1658. A brilliant man, he had supplied the emperor with engineering designs and the latter chose his attendance at this imperial diet to thank him with this cup.

The diet of Augsburg of 1690 had two main objectives for the emperor: to ratify the terms of the Treaty of Augsburg of 1686, against France, and have the imperial couple’s son Joseph, made King of the Romans, giving him hereditary rights to the Imperial crown.

The first was received with great enthusiasm, the second with less, being a move to make the Imperial crown permanently hereditary in favour of the Hapsburgs. None the less approval was given and the gathering of the most important people in the empire at the diet, provided the setting for the enactment of this achievement.

Eleonore Magdalena of Neuburg, (third wife of the emperor) mother of the heir, was crowned Holy Roman Empress in Augsburg cathedral on 19th January and their son Joseph was crowned King of the Romans on the 26th.

The scheme of the cup is both personal and political. Human likenesses in standing cups are rare and usually confined to the representation of renowned leaders, so unusually Georg Grossen himself is modelled in the figural stem with measuring rod and air of elegant authority. Politically though he literally supports the cup above, representing the imperial crown, the emperor and the new legitimacy of crowned empress, mother of the heir apparent, and continuance of the Habsburg dynasty.

Lechmeister Georg Grossen came to Augsburg from Venice as a clever but illiterate 16-year-old. His great intelligence and diligence was noted and despite the usual opposition to foreigners, he was taken under the wing of certain well-connected builders who taught him the trade (including how to read and write). He became a highly skilled engineer and mathematician, able to supply the emperor with novel inventions and designs for the complicated movement of water. He became Lechmeister of Augsburg in 1658 and died in Ulm in 1695.