Nautilus Cup
Artist: Jan Jacobsz. van Royesteyn (Dutch (Utrecht), ca. 1549-1604)
Date: 1596
Dimensions:
H: 11 3/8 in. (28.8 cm)
Medium: silver gilding and nautilus shell
Classification: Metalwork
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott
Object number: 1973.53
Label Text:Dramatic and beautiful wonders of the natural world, shells of the nautilus mollusk native to the Indian Ocean were prized features of a “cabinet of curiosities” during the second half of the 16th century. Even more prized were nautilus shells mounted as cups in decorative gold or silver frames.
This cup’s gilded-silver mount masterfully combines mythical creatures, imaginative sea motifs, dramatic storytelling, and technical virtuosity. The shell, a modern replacement, is held aloft by a bearded satyr (part-goat forest spirit), who rides a sea monster emerging from the roiling waves on the cup’s foot. Tritons (sea gods with human heads and torsos and fish tails) make up the strap mounts. The cup’s wide rim is engraved with a scene of a sinking ship, panicked figures, and monstrous marine creatures in a stormy sea. A large, ferocious monster, his open jaws revealing razor-sharp teeth, incorporates the inner curl of the shell. A nude heroic figure with a sword and shield steadies himself on top of the monster, ready to battle it.
This cup’s gilded-silver mount masterfully combines mythical creatures, imaginative sea motifs, dramatic storytelling, and technical virtuosity. The shell, a modern replacement, is held aloft by a bearded satyr (part-goat forest spirit), who rides a sea monster emerging from the roiling waves on the cup’s foot. Tritons (sea gods with human heads and torsos and fish tails) make up the strap mounts. The cup’s wide rim is engraved with a scene of a sinking ship, panicked figures, and monstrous marine creatures in a stormy sea. A large, ferocious monster, his open jaws revealing razor-sharp teeth, incorporates the inner curl of the shell. A nude heroic figure with a sword and shield steadies himself on top of the monster, ready to battle it.
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