A German Silver-Gilt Standing Cup, Ex Collection of J. P. Morgan

19th century, probably Hanau, in the Renaissance style, a screw-and-rod construction comprised of twelve parts; the cover featuring a putto and shield above a relief scene of figural and serpentine motifs, engraved “Cave autem vobis ne graventur corda vestra crapula et ebrietate” (“Therefore beware, let not your hearts be weighed down with carousing and drunkenness,” Luke 21:34); over a base with a neoclassical frieze depicting a scene from the Gesta Romanorum. The shoulder with mask decoration, the shaft with lion mask and herm figures, the base with alternating reclining nude figures, and the foot chased with arabesques. Marked to the foot with three hallmarks including the united arms of the Dukes of Bavaria and the Electors Palatine, an unidentified shield mark, and a 19th century French weevil import mark. XRF testing indicates sterling silver content.

10 3/4 in.

24.35 troy oz.

From a Private Collector, Davie County, North Carolina

Spitzer Collection, Paris, 1893, lot 1729
J. Pierpont Morgan
J. P. Morgan, 1937, inventory
The Morgan Collection: Highly Important English and Continental Silver and Objects of Vertu, Christie's, New York, October 26th, 1982, Lot 63

Literature:
E. Alfred Jones, Illustrated Catalogue of the Collection of Old Plate of J. Pierpont Morgan, P. 92, Plate LXXXII (As German 16th Century)
Christie's, The Morgan Collection: Highly Important English and Continental Silver and Objects of Vertu (New York: Christie's, 26 October 1982), Lot 63.

Slight tilt, some rubbing to the gilding and minor pitting. The putti with loss to the arm.