REVIEW: JEWELLERY, SILVER & OBJECTS OF VERTU: 28 NOVEMBER

A rare example of 16th century German silverwork made a significant impact in this sale, soaring way past its £2,000-3,000 estimate to sell for £24,000 to an overseas collector.

The object in question is a late 16th century German silver and ‘lemon’ parcel-gilt ‘monatsbecher’ – month beaker – by Hans Erne, Strasbourg, dating to c.1580 and of flared design, the decoration being emblematic of the month of May.

Standing 10cm high, the beaker is finely engraved below the rim with a broad band of panels, beneath which is the inscription ‘SECHT / WELCH / EIN / MENSCH / ISTDAS / DER / MEY / BRINGT / BLIEMLEIN / MANIGFAT / MACHT / FRISCH / GEBLVET / IVNG / VND / ALT’ (translating as ‘The month of May brings magnificent flowers and makes fresh blooms you and old.’)

The foot has a further band of engraved decoration of fruit and foliage, reserving three panels of a stag and hounds, and the base with assay scrape, maker’s mark conjoined ‘HE’, and town mark for Strasbourg.

As Frances Noble, Associate Director and Head of the Jewellery Department at Noonans, explained: “These small German beakers were made in sets of a dozen, one for each month of the year, and used almost exclusively in German-speaking countries. They were fashionable between the early 16th and mid 17th centuries. This example is engraved in the manner of Virgil Solis (1514-1562), a German draughtsman, skilled in engraving, etching and woodcut, and one of Nuremberg’s most prolific printmakers and book illustrators.”

The engraved or embossed scenes are often allegorical and inspired by the Labours of the Months. The month of May was associated with courtship and merrymaking and can be seen here in the depiction of figures playing backgammon and drinking in a boat and in the couple bathing together.

Further references to the month of May include the depiction of lily-of-the-valley or ‘Maiglöckchen’ in German, translating literally as ‘little May bells’, together with the panel depicting ‘twins’ amidst clouds representing the astrological sign for Gemini, against which is visible the numeral ‘5’ for the month of May. A similar silver and parcel-gilt ‘monatsbecher’ by Courakt Grenter, Strasbourg, c.1560, can be found in the Salting Collection at the V&A (Room 62, The Foyle Foundation Gallery).

Noonans are grateful to the Goldsmiths’ Hall Library for assistance in researching the maker’s mark.