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Hümpen with the Coat of Arms of Elector Johann Georg IV of Saxony

Hümpen with the Coat of Arms of Elector Johann Georg IV of Saxony

CultureGerman
Date1692
MediumGlass, enamel, and gilding
DimensionsOverall: 11 3/8 × 5 × 5 inches (28.89 × 12.7 × 12.7 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: the Charles T. and Marion Thompson Fund and the Lillian M. Diveley Fund
Object number2024.20
Inscribed"Hoffkellerey Dreßden 1692" Above the coat of arms the initials of Johann Georg IV, "I.G.D.4.HZ.S.I.C.B.E.V.W.C." [Johann Georg der 4. Herzong zu Sachsen, Jülich, Cleve, Berg, Engern und Westfalen, Churfürst]
MarkingsLarge mark on pontil
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 110
DescriptionThick-walled, tall, cylindrical vessel resting on an applied foot ring decorated with a row of two parallel white dashes. Kicked-in base with large pontil mark. Painted with the large Saxon coat of arms (Gesamtwappen) in polychrome enamels, enhanced with gold. Above the coat of arms the initials of Johann Georg IV, "I.G.D.4.HZ.S.I.C.B.E.V.W.C." [Johann Georg der 4. Herzong zu Sachsen, Jülich, Cleve, Berg, Engern und Westfalen, Churfürst]. Inscribed and dated "Hoffkellerey Dreßden 1692"Exhibition History

Hoffkellerei, Residenz, Dresden, Germany, from at least 1880–1924.

Moritzburg Castle, Mortizburg, Saxony, Germany, 1924–1945

Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Schloss Pillnitz, Dresden, Germany, 1945–1999

The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), Maastricht, Netherlands, 2024

Gallery Label
This ceremonial glass sports the arms of Elector Johann Georg IV of Saxony, who governed from 1691–1694. For centuries, Germanic rulers combined brightly colored enamels, gilding, and clear glass to commemorate their reigns.
Provenance

House of Wettin, Residenzschloss and later Schloss Moritzburg, Dresden, Germany, 1692-1945 [1];

 

Confiscated by Soviet occupiers and administered by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Schloss Moritzburg and Schloss Pillnitz, near Dresden, inv. no. 39504, 1945-1999 [2];

 

Restituted to the House of Wettin by the state of Saxony, 1999 [3];

 

Purchased from the House of Wettin by Rudigier Fine Art Ltd., London [4];

 

Purchased from Rudigier Fine Art Ltd. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2024.

 

NOTES:

 

[1] This glass is included in a description of objects in the Residenzschloss Hof-Kellerei as: “Zwei Stück. 1692 und 1693. Wappen Kurfürst Johann Georgs IV” in Friedrich August O‘Bryn, Die Hof-Silberkammer und die Hof-Kellerei zu Dresden (Dresden: Wilhelm Baensch, 1880), 168. Following the establishment of the Weimar Republic in 1918/19 and the end of monarchical rule in Germany, the state was granted the power to confiscate former royal property in exchange for compensation. In an agreement between the former royal House of Wettin and the state of Saxony dated 9 August 1924, the Wettins received Schloss Moritzburg and several thousand works of art, including this glass, which was inventoried at Moritzburg in 1928 (no. A 70; this number is written on the bottom of the glass). With thanks to Dr. Barbara Bechter, Provenance Research and Collection History, Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, for her assistance documenting the provenance of this object.

 

[2] Following the confiscation of the museums and former royal and noble residences in and around Dresden in 1945, large numbers of seized artworks were transferred to the Soviet Union. Control over a smaller group of objects, including this glass, was given to the Dresden State Art Collections, which administered Schloss Moritzburg as a museum of Baroque art beginning in 1946. This glass is included in a 1 December 1954 inventory of Moritzburg (no. G 242; this number is written on the bottom of the glass). In 1963, the Museum für Kunsthandwerk (today Kunstgewerbemuseum) was reestablished at Schloss Pilllnitz (after its original building in the Dresden city center was damaged during the bombing of Dresden in 1945) and this glass was moved to Schloss Pillnitz. It is included as one of five humpen in the Museum für Kunsthandwerk in Gisela Haase, Sächsiches Glas vom 17. Bis zum Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts: Katalog von Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Schloß Pillnitz (Dresden: Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden, 1974), 55, cat. no. 50 (inv. nos. 39504, 39409-11, 39408).

 

[3] Kulturstiftung der Länder, “Die Schätze des Hauses Wettin,” Patrimonia 186 (2000).

 

[4] According to object documentation provided by Rudigier Fine Art Ltd., Nelson-
Atkins curatorial file.

Published References

Friedrich August O’Bryn, Die Hof-Silberkammer und die Hof-Kellerai zu Dresden (Dresden: Officin von Wilhelm Baensch): 168;

Gisela Haase, Sächsisches Glas vom 17. bis zum Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts Ausstellung im Museum für Kunsthandwerk Dresden Schloß Pillnitz, exh. cat. (Dresden: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, 1975): no. 50, p. 55.

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


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