Silver beaker in the form of a Berkemeyer glass
For Philipp von Partenheim (1535-1603)

South German, probably Nuremberg, dated 1599
Stuttgart, ca 1620

Silver embossed, chased, punched, etched, parcel-gilt and with basse taille enamel
Coat of arms on the underside and inscription ‘W.1599.M’
Height 9 cm
Upper diameter 8.5 cm
Weight 130 g

Provenance: France, private collection

Published in: Laue, G.: Tresor. Treasures for European Kunstkammer, Munich 2017, p. 130, pp. 217-218, Cat. No. 27

This Renaissance beaker boasts strikingly unusual decoration: the lower part of the wall is decorated with round knops shaped like cockleshells. Both this three-dimensional decoration and the form of the bowl, which is an inverted cone, flared at the top, were inspired by the prunt-covered beakers blown in glass at German and Dutch glassworks that are usually called 'Berkemeyer glasses'. The underside of this silver Berkemeyer is decorated with a coat of arms in basse taille enamel that bears the date ‘1599’. It is the coat of arm of the Lords of Partenheim who resided in the Rhine-Hesse region near Mayence in the late 16th century. There is a silver vessel of the same type, made by the Nuremberg goldsmith Sebald Buel in 1578-1580, in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The present Renaissance beaker bears neither city nor maker’s marks, but the high quality of the workmanship speaks unequivocally for a master goldsmith from south Germany, probably from Nuremberg.