Beaker (Humpen)

Unknown

1612 · Glass · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

The enamel decoration on this beaker features four figures representing different social classes. Above each figure is a Latin inscription describing their role: priests pray, noblemen and knights fight, peasants labor, and merchants “devour all.” The antimerchant sentiment suggests that this work was made for the nobility, rather than a middle-class burgher market, and was likely used in one of the many drinking rituals central to social life in the 1600s.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1612

Medium

Glass

Culture

Bohemian

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Munsey Fund, 1927