拍品專文
This remarkable and highly important survival from the reign of King Henry VIII had, until 1950, been in the collection of the Earls of Malmesbury, where it remained un-noticed until its discovery by Arthur Grimwade in that year.
Its importance to the study of early English silver lies chiefly in the fact that it has no other surviving counterpart in English silver. It reflects the grafting of eraly German Renaissance design on the basic late Gothic form exemplified by such well know cups as that if 1520 at Christ's College, Cambridge or the earlier Leigh Cup of 1499 belonging to the Mercer's Company. The use of an openwork calyx is met with on German cups of the period. This cup would appear to be the only known exapmle of English manufacture, although a collar of scrolled acanthus leaves adorns the stem of the communion cup of the St. Andrew's, Norwich, made abpout 1568 by the local silversmith William Cobbold, well known as the maker of the Reade Salt.
When the catalogue of the collection of Sir James Caird was published in 1955 the cup's importance to the study of English silver, particularly its relationship to Continental designers and craftsmen, was fully appreciated. However references to similar motifs to that found on the cup were associated only with the designs of Albrecht Altdorfer (c.1480-1538) and Hans Brosamer (c.1500-1554), particularly the use of lobes in conjunction with scrolled acanthus foliage.
The closest design yet found, however, is a drawing by Hans Holbein now in the Oeffentliche Kunstlammlungen, Basel, of circa 1532, illustrated in J. Hayward, Virtuoso Goldsmiths 1540-1620, pl. 37. Hans Holbein the Younger, first arrived in England in 1526 and although employed by Sir Thomas More, he did not succeed immediately to the court appointment. He attained this position in 1535 and until his death in 1545 remained a court servant, producing five portraits, as well as designs for jewellers and goldsmiths. The design illustrated op. cit. may well have been commissioned by his friend Hans of Antwerp. Certainly Han's name appears on the drawing and although his recommedation for the Freedom of the Goldsmiths' Company was not made until 1537, Han's had lived and presumably worked in London from 1511. He had on occasions fallen foul of the warders of the Company and it seems strange that such an obviously gifted goldsmith could have worked in London for so long without becoming a Freeman of the Company that controlled his profession. As Hayward observes op. cit. p. 112, 'Presumably he had eluded control by working for the court or those associated with it.' Unfortunately the maker's mark found on the cup, being a device or 'merchants mark' rather than initials, will probably mean that the maker may never be accurately identified.
Its importance to the study of early English silver lies chiefly in the fact that it has no other surviving counterpart in English silver. It reflects the grafting of eraly German Renaissance design on the basic late Gothic form exemplified by such well know cups as that if 1520 at Christ's College, Cambridge or the earlier Leigh Cup of 1499 belonging to the Mercer's Company. The use of an openwork calyx is met with on German cups of the period. This cup would appear to be the only known exapmle of English manufacture, although a collar of scrolled acanthus leaves adorns the stem of the communion cup of the St. Andrew's, Norwich, made abpout 1568 by the local silversmith William Cobbold, well known as the maker of the Reade Salt.
When the catalogue of the collection of Sir James Caird was published in 1955 the cup's importance to the study of English silver, particularly its relationship to Continental designers and craftsmen, was fully appreciated. However references to similar motifs to that found on the cup were associated only with the designs of Albrecht Altdorfer (c.1480-1538) and Hans Brosamer (c.1500-1554), particularly the use of lobes in conjunction with scrolled acanthus foliage.
The closest design yet found, however, is a drawing by Hans Holbein now in the Oeffentliche Kunstlammlungen, Basel, of circa 1532, illustrated in J. Hayward, Virtuoso Goldsmiths 1540-1620, pl. 37. Hans Holbein the Younger, first arrived in England in 1526 and although employed by Sir Thomas More, he did not succeed immediately to the court appointment. He attained this position in 1535 and until his death in 1545 remained a court servant, producing five portraits, as well as designs for jewellers and goldsmiths. The design illustrated op. cit. may well have been commissioned by his friend Hans of Antwerp. Certainly Han's name appears on the drawing and although his recommedation for the Freedom of the Goldsmiths' Company was not made until 1537, Han's had lived and presumably worked in London from 1511. He had on occasions fallen foul of the warders of the Company and it seems strange that such an obviously gifted goldsmith could have worked in London for so long without becoming a Freeman of the Company that controlled his profession. As Hayward observes op. cit. p. 112, 'Presumably he had eluded control by working for the court or those associated with it.' Unfortunately the maker's mark found on the cup, being a device or 'merchants mark' rather than initials, will probably mean that the maker may never be accurately identified.