Covered Cup

Artist Paul de Lamerie (English, 1688 - 1751)

Date1737

MediumSilver

DimensionsOverall: 14 1/2 × 6 1/2 inches (36.83 × 16.51 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph S. Atha

Object number54-17 A,B

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts

Terms

DescriptionTwo loop handles in the form of snakes, tails below loops, heads at centers between handles. Domed cover with sheaf-like finial surmounted by grape bunch. Cup decorated in repousse with panels of scale pattern, guilloche, and other ornamental designs. Vase with four plain panels alternating with four panels of a shell pattern; four fish masks alternating on rim with sections of scale pattern. Knopped stem swirling upward in alternate gridiron and scale pattern. Cover rim decorated with masks, bows. Engraved griffin on side.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

Upon first glance, this covered cup appears to be a traditional work of 18th-century silver. Then the viewer realizes that the very part of the cup that must be grasped in order to hold it is the very thing that most loathe to touch. A pair of realistic snakes pierces the silver and writhes around the vessel to form scaly handles. This unexpected encounter is achieved with grotesque ornamentation: an unconventional combination of natural forms, earthly creatures and monstrous figures. Paul de Lamerie excelled at adapting myriad European designs and grotesque ornamentation into distinctive creations of exceptional style. Other unexpected creatures, such as lions' faces and marine masks, emerge from the lid and punctuate the base of the cup.

Provenance

Francis Thomas de Grey Cowper, 7th Earl Cowper, KG PC DL (1834 –1905) by 1903;

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph S. Atha, Kansas City, MO by 1954;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1954.

Published References

John Starkie Gardner, F.S.A. Old silver-work, chiefly English, from the XVth to the XVIIIth centuries; a catalogue of the unique loan collection exhibited in 1902 at St. James's Court, London, in aid of the children's hospital, Gt. Ormond street, supplemented by some further fine specimens from the collections of the dukes of Devonshire and Rutland, Earl Cowper, and others. (London: B.T. Batsford, 1903), vii, 85, 86, unpaginated (repro.).

Grimwade, Arthur. Rococo Silver, 1727-1765. Faber Monographs on Silver. (London: Faber, 1974), xv, 27, 28, unpaginated (repro.).

Ellen R. Goheen, The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988), 90-91, 91 (repro.).

Nissenson, Marilyn, and Susan Jonas. Snake Charm. (New York: H. N. Abrams, 1995) 133, 136 (repro.).

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