Description
This partridge was made in Nuremberg, Germany around 1600. It carries
the mark of Jörg Ruel and is made of silver, parcel-gilt,
mother-of-pearl, rubies and
emeralds.
Commentary
Many sixteenth-century German vessels were made in the form of birds
and animals with detachable heads. This cup was formerly in the
collection of baron Leopold de Rothschild in London. A similar
cup in the form of a partridge marked by F. Hillebrand is in the
Green Vaults in Dresden
An object as precious as this would have
been intended purely as a work of art and would have had pride of
place in a princely treasury or Schatzkammer.
More information about this object will
be added soon.
Glossaries
gilding - the embellishment
of silver, bronze or other material with a thin layer of gold parcel-gilt - silver that is gilded in some areas but not in others
mother-of-pearl - the hard pearly internal layer of various
kinds of oysters, mussels and other shells
the
Gilbert silver