
Hubert Felbacq
Head of Department
This auction has ended. View lot details
€10,000 - €15,000
Our European Ceramics specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialist
Head of Department
Provenance:
Private German Collection
This type of marriage or wager cup originated in Nuremberg around 1565. It is a double drinking vessel, or Scherzgefäss, used in a wedding banquet, a skirt-shaped large cup is for the groom and the smaller swivel cup is for the bride. The contents were to be consumed at the same time, making sure not to spill a drop, to bring prosperity and a happy marriage. Silver wager cups are related to glass and silver mounted Stürzbecher or 'somersault cups' a German term for a vessel with a stem but no foot; when emptied it stands inverted. Often made up of a glass cup and silver foot, Stürzbecher were popular in Germany and Holland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which required the drink to be consumed entirely before the cup could be put down.