A German Silver-Plated Nautilus Cup, designed by Franz von Stuck, executed by WMF, Geislingen, Late 19th Century

Von Ostini records that the Nautilus was one of the first sculptural works created by Stuck, pre-dating the Glaspalast exhibition in Munich in 1892 (when he displayed the famous Athlet) and finding its origins in two illustrations that Stuck designed in the 1880s: firstly a drawing for the Allegorien und Embleme portfolio published by Gerlach & Schenk, Vienna 1882/84, vol. 2, no. 82; and secondly for a calendar illustration for the month of October published in the Fliegende Blatter, 1889, no. 2306.

Stuck himself owned a bronze version of the present model which mounted a real nautilus shell and appears as a prop in some of his paintings. It stood on his living-room cabinet until 1909 (see Bierbaum, op. cit., p. 79). Versions in silver-plate were executed by WMF, Geislingen.