A German Parcel-Gilt Silver Tulip Cup, Sigmund Bierfruend, Nuremberg, Circa 1661-1664

Sotheby's, Paris, 8 November 2012, lot 289

The maker's mark SB over F has been attributed to the Sigmund Bierfreund (fl. 1654-1702) who was born in the east of Prussia in 1619/20.¹ He seems to have specialised in this unusual form of tulip-shaped cup (tulpenpokal) which were made in the second half of the 17th century. Indeed, Rosenberg, who did not know the identity of the maker's mark referred to him as 'Meister der Tulpenkuppen'² and recorded no fewer than ten cups in this form to which can be added at least four more noted since. Eleven are listed in Karin Tebbe et al, Nuremberger Goldschmiedekunst, 1541-1868, pp.60-62; the author describes Bierfreund's cups as having a '...bizarre, compelling charm' in Silver Studies: The Journal of The Silver Society, No. 16, 2004, p.56.

Notes

1. Exh. Cat. Wenzel Jamnitzer und die Núrnberger Goldschmiedekunst 1500-1700, Nuremberg, 1985, no 182

2. Rosenberg, M., Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen (Band III): Deutschland N - Z. Frankfurt a.M., 1925, p.222