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Lot Essay
This nautilus shell is part of a group of thirty three similarly decorated shells ‘alla cinese’ (Chinese style) identified by H.U. Mette in Der Nautiluspokal, Munich, 1995. The oriental character of the engraving was used in the Inventory of Cosimo II’s ‘Guardaroba’ in 1618 in reference to two nautilus sauceboats carved with Chinese figures in the collection of the Medici, dated before 1578 with mounts by the French goldsmith Francois Crevecueur (see M. Mosco, The Museo degli Argenti, Collections and Collectors, Florence, 2004, p.176-177). Such shells were probably carved in Guangzhou also known as Canton as explained by R. W. Lightbown in Oriental Art and the Orient in late renaissance and baroque Italy (Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institute, Vo. XXXII, London, 1969, p. 239) in the last quarter of the 15th century to be mounted by goldsmiths all over Europe. Indeed the carving using a technique similar to that for intaglio contrasting the mother-of-pearl under layer with the matt outer layer of the shell to enhance the decoration, was done by sailors inspired by Chinese porcelain and arts carried on those ships going to Europe. These were subsequently sold on arrival and mounted by goldsmiths all over Europe.
Several examples of nautilus cup adorned with Chinese motifs were thus made in Italy, with the most striking example being the one on a claw foot in the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum now attributed to Padua (WB.114) but also in Southern Germany.
In Nuremberg it was Bartel Jamnizter who made a specialty of these nautilus cups including one made, circa 1590, fitted with Chinese carved shells held by a mermaid kneeling on a bed of seaweed. It is very similar in overall composition to the present one and is now in the Württembergisches Landesmuseum in Stuttgart (see K. Tebbe, Nuremberg, 2007, Band I, Teil II, p. 888, No 467). Jamnizter created several of these cups at the end of the 16th century, all mostly on the same model, which certainly had an impactful influence on other Southern German goldsmiths in Nuremberg but also in Augsburg, notably Melchior Bair.
Several examples of nautilus cup adorned with Chinese motifs were thus made in Italy, with the most striking example being the one on a claw foot in the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum now attributed to Padua (WB.114) but also in Southern Germany.
In Nuremberg it was Bartel Jamnizter who made a specialty of these nautilus cups including one made, circa 1590, fitted with Chinese carved shells held by a mermaid kneeling on a bed of seaweed. It is very similar in overall composition to the present one and is now in the Württembergisches Landesmuseum in Stuttgart (see K. Tebbe, Nuremberg, 2007, Band I, Teil II, p. 888, No 467). Jamnizter created several of these cups at the end of the 16th century, all mostly on the same model, which certainly had an impactful influence on other Southern German goldsmiths in Nuremberg but also in Augsburg, notably Melchior Bair.