print
- Museum number
- 1849,0210.351
- Description
-
Covered goblet with the heads of three angels. c.1520-5
Etching
- Production date
- 1520-1525 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 185 millimetres
-
Width: 111 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- See G. Bartrum, 'German Renaissance Prints', exh. cat. BM 1995, no. 203.
Text from Bartrum 1995
Literature: Bartsch, 93; Hollstein, 116; Winzinger, 206
This and 1849,0210.350 are two examples of Altdorfer's series of twenty-three etchings of elaborate goblets, pitchers an urns. None is dated but they are all fairly close in style. Many were produced as designs for goldsmiths, for there are surviving examples of highly ornate drinking vessels which are very close in style to his work; they would have been produced on commission for wealthy burghers or for sacramental use (see Winzinger, p. 120; Hollstein, Kohlhaussen, 'Nürnberger Goldschmiedekunst des Mittelalters und der Dürerzeit 1240 bis 1540', Berlin, 1968, no. 481). Altdorfer's use of densely modelled backgrounds to emphasise the play of light and shade in his compositions indicates that the etchings were also produced as prints for collectors. His etching of 'Three Ornate Vessels' (Winzinger, 186) shows the objects in front of each other, thus obscuring the designs and turning the composition into a carefully composed still-life rather than a straightforward design for a goldsmith. Good early impressions of these ornament etchings, without rust marks, are extremely rare. Some of the plates survived into the seventeenth century and late impressions with extensive rust damage are more common. A series of small copies of the entire set was made by Hieronymous Hopfer (c. 1500-63) in five etchings (Bartsch, 67-72).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1995 Jun-Oct, BM, 'German Renaissance Prints, 1490-1550', no.203
- Acquisition date
- 1849
- Acquisition notes
- Purchased from Mr Evans
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1849,0210.351
