Covered Beaker

Hans Greiff

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This lavish silver beaker from the medieval town hall of Ingolstadt, in Bavaria, bear clear witness to the prosperity of the city and its residents, above all the fraternal members of the town council. The town hall boasted a treasury full of silver, and an on-site pub or "Trinkstube," in addition to its predicable tall towers and a fine clock. The town council members and guild leaders who gathered for meetings there appear to have taken the responsibility for celebration seriously. On the base of this example, kneeling knights hold the painted arms of a mayor of Ingolstadt, Hans Glätzle, in whose honor it was given to the town treasury. But did Glätzle himself pay for this ostentatious silver beaker? Arms found on the inside of the lid could be those of the bakers’ guild, but have also been interpreted as that of the barbers or the bathhouse attendants! The weight of the silver in Marks and Lots (old units of measurement) is written on the underside of the beaker, along with the city’s hallmark, a rampant (standing) panther. Although there is no maker’s mark, the Ingolstadt goldsmith Hans Greiff likely created this beaker to honor Mayor Glätzle, whom Greiff would succeed as mayor in 1498.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art