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A German parcel-gilt silver model of a nef with enameled figures, Matthaus Bair (Bayr), Augsburg, 1590-1595
Description
- A German parcel-gilt silver model of a nef with enameled figures, Matthaus Bair (Bayr), Augsburg, 1590-1595
- silver and gilt silver
- Haut. 42 cm, 1048 g; 16 1/2 in. high, 33 oz 14 dwt
Literature
Helmut Seling, Die Kunst der Augsburger Goldschmiede 1529-1868, Vol. II, Munchen, 1980, Nos. 161 and 162 ;
Nüremberg Goldschmiedekunst, Vol. 2, Nuremberg, 2007, Nos. 124 and 128, and Vol. 3, No. 880 ;
Charles Oman, Medieval Silver Nefs, exh. cat. Victoria & Albert museum, London, 1963, pl. XV.
Catalogue Note
Similar cups, the oldest dating from the last quarter of the sixteenth century, are published by H. Seling (op cit., No. 161 and 162), others are in the collections of the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Kassel and the Schweizerisches Landesmuseum in Zürich (see Nüremberg Goldschmiedekunst, op. cit., Nos. 128 and 124).
The particularly well preserved shimmering of the sailors' clothing enamelled in polychrome is a rare feature that adds to its preciousness. His anthropomorphic stem in the form of Hercules can be found only on a few examples such as the cup of the Kremlin's collections, supported by a naiad (see Nüremberg Goldschmiedekunst, op cit., No. 122), and one formerly in the collection of Carl Mayer de Rothschild (his sale, Paris, 1911, No. 63; fig. 1), its stem being in the form of a satyr. The latter was also attributed by H. Seling to the goldsmith Matthaus Bair (see H. Seling, op.cit., Vol. 3, No. 880).