Double Standing Cup
ca. 1570
Silver, embossed; chased, engraved and matted.
58 cm (height)
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collections, on deposit at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza
Inv. no. (
DC0845.1-2
)
This piece consists of two cups joined together. Many cups of this kind were wedding gifts and were used at banquets – an indication of the owners’ high status. Each cup has a lobed convex bowl, a frieze running round the rim, and a foot, all profusely decorated. This model was developed in Nuremberg and Augsburg around the mid-16th century. The engraved lobes alternate with chased female faces, a typical German decoration of the second half of the sixteenth century. The cup was acquired by Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza before 1930 and bequeathed to his son Hans Heinrich.