拍品专文
This cup was originally fitted with a nautilus shell now lacking but mentioned as broken in the 1947 inventory of the diplomatic archives. Erhart produced impressive zoomorphic drinking cups known as Willkommen Pokale including a leaping horse (H. Seling, Die Kunst der Augsburger Goldschmiede 1529-1868, Munich, 1980, vol. II, no. 159), two tripping stags given to the British Museum as part of the Waddesdon Bequest, having been collected before 1866 by Baron Anselm von Rothschild, (H. Tait, Catalogue of the Waddesdon Bequest in the British Museum II. The Silver Plate, London, 1988, nos. 19 and 20, pp. 141-148) as well as another tripping stag sold at Sotheby's, London, 6, July 2010, lot 2 from the collection of Baron Lionel de Rothschild (1807-1879). Only one nautilus cup is recorded in M. Rosenberg, Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen, Band 1 to 4, Berlin 1922, Nr. 366 Nr. 127 as illustrated in Seventeen sheets from the Saxon silver treasure in Weimar, Karlsruhe 1891, plate XI; R3, 3661 and described as a 'Nautilus goblet, with an enameled figure of Jonas on the cover, H. 42.5 cm'.
Christoph Erhart (d.1604) was made a master of the Augsburg Guild of Goldsmiths in 1565, the same year that he married Ursula Spitzmacher who was herself from a family of Augsburg goldsmith: her father Cisimus I was made master in 1529 and at least two of her brothers, Salomon and Cisimus II became master in 1566 and 1576 respectively. It would seem that Erhart had a successful career with a commission from the Hapsburg Court for silver-gilt plate that was to form part of the Emperor's gift to the Turkish Sultan.
Christoph Erhart (d.1604) was made a master of the Augsburg Guild of Goldsmiths in 1565, the same year that he married Ursula Spitzmacher who was herself from a family of Augsburg goldsmith: her father Cisimus I was made master in 1529 and at least two of her brothers, Salomon and Cisimus II became master in 1566 and 1576 respectively. It would seem that Erhart had a successful career with a commission from the Hapsburg Court for silver-gilt plate that was to form part of the Emperor's gift to the Turkish Sultan.