A Nuremberg Renaissance silver goblet
Silver-gilt goblet with a gadrooned base supporting a waisted and finely chased baluster-form shaft with scroll motifs above three female herms. The waisted cuppa with gadrooned motifs amid scrollwork and strapwork. The corresponding lid with a scrolling finial and a gilt plaque engraved with the coat of arms of Betzenstein near Nuremberg with the initials “BR” and “SA” to the interior. Marken: BZ Nürnberg um 1590 - 1600, MZ Hans Petzolt (1578/80 - 1633, GNM Nr. BZ10, 640b), Tremolierstich H 35 cm, weight 551 g.
Marks of Hans Petzolt, around 1590 - 1600.
Hans Petzolt was one of the most productive, popular and talented Nuremberg goldsmiths of around 1600. His works are characterised by their ornate appliques and cast motifs, such as the shaft node seen here. Petzold's patrons included Emperor Rudolf II of Prague and the Bavarian Duke Wilhelm V. His works were apparently also highly sough-after by the council of Nuremberg. For nearly half a century from 1581 onwards, he provided them with numerous items, many of which were intended as gifts for high-ranking recipients. The engraved coat of arms of the city of Betzenburg in the lid of this piece indicates that it too may have been given as a gift by the council.
Provenance
Italian private collection.
Literature
Cf. a chalice by Petzolt made for the Nuremberg patrician family Kress illus. in cat.: Wenzel Jamnitzer und die Nürnberger Goldschmiedekunst 1500 - 1700, Munich 1985, no. 70. Cf. Also the fortuna goblet by this maker in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum and the Diana goblet in the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, both illus. in cat.:GNM no. 332, 352. A goblet almost identical to the present work is housed in the collection of Rudolf-August Oetker, illus. in cat.: Faszination des Sammelns, Munich 2012, no. 2.