Turned cup and cover with inserts and original case

Unidentified|Royal Workshop, Copenhagen

ca. 1620–50 · Maple, plum: turned, carved, stippled; partly stained · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Made with a technologically advanced lathe, this turned goblet, with a large set of inserted cups and its custom case, would have been at home in a courtly Kunstkammer, or art cabinet, of the Northern Renaissance. Collectors not only valued works of art like this cup for their beauty, but also for the artistic and technological advancement required for their production. Scientific and artisanal knowledge was equated with the practical wisdom, self-mastery, and moral virtue required of a successful leader. A lathe (and an artisan) able to produce such precise ornamentation would have been rare, and this cup may have been made either by the master turners in the Alpine town of Berchtesgarden or the workshop of the Danish King Christian IV.

Artist

Unidentified|Royal Workshop, Copenhagen

Date

ca. 1620–50

Medium

Maple, plum: turned, carved, stippled; partly stained

Culture

Southern German, most probably the Prince-Provostry of Berchtesgaden OR Danish, Copenhagen

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Purchase, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Acquisitions Fund, 2022.