A carved jasper goblet
Turned and polished jasper with silver gilt mountings. The shallow, globular cup supported on a column shaft and a slightly domed base. The corresponding domed lid with a round, flat finial. The upper section of the shaft and the finial fitted with vermeil collars and connected by a chain. The base fitted with a moulded vermeil band with engraved foliage. H 23 cm.
The mountings attributed to Nuremberg, the stone presumably from Zöblitz in Saxony, circa 1650 – 70.
Literature
Cf. an identical goblet made from pale green serpentine in a Belgian private collection, also with unmarked silver mountings, in cat. Magie de l´Orfèvrerie Vol. II Faste et Elégance. Cinq siècles d´orfèvreries européennes dans les collections privées, Antwerp 2004, no. 151, p. 163. Cf. Also the dark brown serpentine goblet on the next page with vermeil lid crowned by a figure of Bacchus (ibid., no. 152, p. 164 f.) For more on this design cf. the 'Vierbecher-Willkomm' made for Prince Elector Johann Friedrich of Saxony, called the Magnanimous, in the ownership of the house of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha (cat. Wenzel Jamnitzer und die Nürnberger Goldschmiedekunst 1500 - 1700. Goldschmiedearbeiten - Entwürfe, Modell, Medaillen, Ornamentstiche, Schmuck, Porträts, Nuremb-Munich 1985, no. 14, p. 217 f.) A serpentine vessel of identical form with arms of the Prince Bishop of Paderborn Ferdinand II von Fürstenberg (16621 - 1683) is housed in the Diözesanmuseum Paderborn, on loan from Michael von Fürstenberg (in Hoyer, Sächsischer Serpentin. Ein Stein und seine Verwendung, Leipzig 1995, p. 124). Cf. Also a tankard with identical mountings formerly housed in the Jahn collection (in Hoyer, Sächsischer Serpentin. Ein Stein und seine Verwendung, Leipzig 1995, no. 81).