A 17TH CENTURY GERMAN TURNED IVORY CUP

the knopped stem over the stepped, spreading base,

18cm high

This lot is subject to CITES.

Often the highlight of a Wunderkammer collection, turned ivory cups of this type were symbols of great wealth and power during the 16th and 17th centuries. Ivory was an incredibly valuable and precious material, and only the most wealthy could partake in the fashionable princely pastime of turning this material and producing these wonderous objects. For example, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando de' Medici was one such nobleman, who produced a turned ivory cup which is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. These exceptional objects were produced by aristocrats using the newly invented, much more accurate lathes that were made in the early 16th century; the earliest known lathe for ivory turning was made for Emperor Maximillian I between 1500 and 1518. It became fashionable for princes and aristocrats to seek instruction from the talented ivory carvers of the day to learn this sophisticated skill, for example Augustus the Strong was instructed by Georg Wecker in Dresden and Rudolf the First employed members of the Zink family.

Auction comparables: See Christie's, London, 7 July 2011, lot 591, and Christie's, London, 9 July 2009, lot 56 for other 17th century examples.