True Connoisseurship: The Collection of Ezra & Cecile Zilkha
True Connoisseurship: The Collection of Ezra & Cecile Zilkha
A RARE SET OF FOUR GEORGE IV SILVER-GILT RENAISSANCE-STYLE BEAKERS, JOHN BRIDGE, LONDON, 1828
Auction Closed
November 20, 10:09 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A RARE SET OF FOUR GEORGE IV SILVER-GILT RENAISSANCE-STYLE BEAKERS
JOHN BRIDGE, LONDON
1828
copied from a set of German haufebechers of circa 1590, the cylindrical bodies engraved with insects above swags, the rims cast with amusing scenes representative of the months and their Zodiac signs, the pedestal bases cast with Zodiac signs in interlaced strapwork with trophies between, engraved with initial and Royal Ducal coronet on base
marked on bodies
29 oz 10 dwt
837 g
height 3 1/2 in.
8.7 cm
A Collector, Christie’s, New York, April 28, 1992, lot 162
The initial and royal ducal coronet are those of Adolphus Frederick, 1st Duke of Cambridge (1771-1850), seventh son of George III.
These appear to be copies of a set of four antique silver-gilt “foreign cyder cups” purchased by John Bridge at the famous sale of the Duke of York in 1827, and fit the new taste for Historicist silver shared by the Prince Regent and the Royal Dukes and fostered by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell and Kensington Lewis.
The 1st Duke of Cambridge engaged the Royal Goldsmiths, Rundell, Bridge and Rundell to bid on his behalf at the Duke of York sale, where he acquired a Shield of Achilles by Philip Rundell and a pair of Mannerist-style ewers by Edward Farrell. It is probable that the four “foreign cyder cups", engraved and embellished with friezes of minute figures and landscapes, of old Flemish design…contained in a box of purple morocco, lined with blue velvet” were purchased by Bridge on behalf of the Duke, Christie’s, March 19-22, 1827, lot 97- a set of six, sold as three pairs, of which two were bought by Bridge. Six of the cups made by Bridge in 1828 were described as “copies of old German cups” and were sold in the sale of the 2nd Duke of Cambridge (1818-1904) who inherited his father’s collection of silver including the Achilles Shield and the Farrell ewers (Christie’s, London, June 6 ,1904, lot 86)
Three beakers by Eustachius Hohman, Nuremberg, circa 1590, formerly in the Pringsheim Collection which appear to be identical to the present lot were sold Christie’s, Geneva, November 9, 1976, lot 251 and may be part of the set of “four foreign cyder cups” listed above. The same scenes appear on a pair of beakers by Gallus Wernlein, Nuremberg, 1592-94, Moscow State museum, Kremlin illus. Nürnberger Goldschmiedekunst, 1541-1868, no. 576, p. 933 while similar engraved insects and swags may be found on a Satzbecher by Heinrich Mack, Nuremberg, 1612-1626, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illus. op. cit. no.579 p. 934.
The scenes are taken in part from The Months by Virgil Solis (1514-1562), who himself drew on Hans Sebald Beham (1500-1550).
See Michèle Bimbenet-Privat and Alexis Kugel, Chefs-d'oeuvre d'orfèvrerie allemande Renaissance et Baroque, Faton, Paris, 2017, nos. 15-16, pp. 110-111 (Chateau d'Ecouen, Louvre).