Conical cup

Pál Zilahy

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The plaquette on this cup commemorates Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II (1552–1612), the great Habsburg collector, who amassed a legendary Kunstkammer (art chamber). He chose Prague as his main residence, transforming the city into a politically tolerant and vibrant artistic center. For this vessel, the goldsmith translated the highly refined conical shape of a sharply tapering glass goblet into an alluring silver cup. Literature Important English, Irish and Continental Silver. Sale cat., Sotheby’s, New York, April 16, 1996, n.p., no. 91. References A cup with a similarly adorned stem was sold by Dr. Fischer Kunstauktionen in Heilbronn, November 27, 2010, no. 1007. Elemér Kőszeghy. Magyarországi ötvösjegyek a középkortól 1867-ig / Merkzeichen der Goldschmiede Ungarns vom Mittelalter bis 1867. Budapest, 1936, no. 997 [maker’s mark]. [Wolfram Koeppe 2015]

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art