Cup
Description
Artist: Jakob Zimmermann
Signed “j. zimmermann k. hofdrechsler u.sculpteurmünchen”
The theme of the cup is Bacchus, the ancient Roman god of wine, who is on the cover as an infant. The scene on the barrel shows Silenus, an old rural god and one of Bacchus’s principal followers. Silenus is usually depicted as he is here — in a state of helpless inebriation, wearing vines around his head, and supported by a raucous crowd of satyrs and maenads.
Jakob Zimmermann — whose signature is inscribed under the base of the cup — describes himself as “K[önigliche] Hofdrechsler und Sculpteur” (royal court turner and sculptor). Zimmermann established his workshop in Munich around 1863 and supplied King Ludwig II of Bavaria with many works in ivory and meerschaum during the 1860s and 1870s. Collections of vessels of ivory, wood, and other materials, often of astonishingly intricate and virtuoso design, formed an important constituent in princely kunstkammers (cabinets of curiosities).
Sir Ratan Tata Art Collection
Collection
European Decorative Art
Object Type
Decorative Art Vase
Material
Ivory
Schools/Culture/Period
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Technique
Ivory carving
Date
Second half of the 19th century
Location
Munich, Germany
Dimension
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