ROCK CRYSTAL LIDDED CUP WITH OCEAN IDYLL - The Embden Collection Workshop of a Milanese family of artists, probably Miseroni (1518–1664) or Saracchi (1556–1657), late 16th century. Rock crystal and setting in fine gold with red colored stones and enamel. The grotesque figure is dominated by a sea monster seen from behind, whose angled legs and long claws clasp the rhombus-shaped cup, its wide-open mouth grotesquely forming the mouth of the cup. On the front of the cup wall is a deeply carved marine idyll with dragon creatures and tritons, capturing the moment of a Nereid being kidnapped above a moving wave. In the spaces between, there is fine foliage with dolphin creatures, snakes, fish, birds, and turtles. The lid is formed by an amphibious hybrid creature rising from the depths of the sea monster's open mouth, the mouth of the vessel, its dragon-like head with its snout dipping into the surface of the lid. The baluster shaft with disc nodus above a curved foot with flower-shaped reducing lenses - possibly added later. The gold mounting is engraved with alternating leaf and frog motifs, inlaid with green translucent enamel and applied with white enamel flowers with red stones (probably rubies) set in gold. H 25 cm. Repairs and cracks. Provenance: The Arlette and Antony Embden Collection, France. Only a handful of Milanese artists in the 16th and 17th centuries were at the forefront of this artistic discipline with their exquisite stone carvings and goldsmith work. The art chambers of the great Renaissance collectors, the Medici in Florence (Museo degli Argenti), the Habsburg ruling dynasty in Vienna and Prague (Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna), the Wittelsbach dukes in Munich (Schatzkammer Residenz) and the dukes of Württemberg (Landesmuseum Württemberg) bear witness to this beyond the borders of Italy. The workshops of the Saracchi family of artists (1556–1657), with Annibale Fontana (1540–1578) as their leading engraver, and the Miseroni dynasty (1518–1664) brought the art of crystal cutting to true mastery and supplied the important European ruling houses in the 16th and 17th centuries. The charming combination of grotesque animal figures and deeply engraved figurative scenes on the cup, depicting mythological, biblical, or secular themes, characterizes a large number of drinking vessels and seems to have been a decorative motif that enjoyed great popularity. The animal mask, whose open mouth forms the rim of the cup on offer, as can only be seen when viewed from above, is a frequently chosen design element. The workshop of the Miseroni brothers produced a jade bowl for Rudolf II, Archduke of Austria, around 1600/50 (Prado, Madrid Inv. No. O000066) and a rock crystal cup in a similar shape (British Museum SLCups.50); A footed bowl with a similar sea scene and frog-like sea creatures clutching the cup was once in the art chamber of the Dukes of Württemberg and is now part of the collections of the Württemberg State Museum (Die Kunstkammer der Herzöge von Württemberg, vol. 2, 2019, p. 526, Inv. No. KK blue 40); a cup clasped by the legs of a hybrid creature with a three-dimensional nereid head and a sea monster, from the workshop of Dionysio Miseronis, is now in London (British Museum Inv. No. 1772,0314.190); a bowl by the Saracchi brothers from 1575/1600 with a mythological marine idyll is in Paris (Musée du Louvre Inv. No.: MR 319), a dragon cup by the Saracchis from 1590 with a similar scene is in Vienna (KHM, Inv. No.: Kunstkammer, 2401), and finally a very similar sea monster clinging with its claws to the cup of another dragon cup is also in Vienna (KHM, Inv. No.: Kunstkammer, 2388). The charming decorative element of green enamel frogs on the gold mount of the cup on offer appears unique – however, on an Italian drinking vessel from 1600 from the Landesmuseum Württemberg (Inv. No. KK blue 67), there are three green enameled, fully sculpted gold frogs, screwed to the bottom of the cup of a rock crystal bowl, seemingly ready to jump out of the bowl at any moment. Basic literature: R. Distelberger, Die Sarachi Werkstatt und Annibale Fontana, in: Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen, Vienna 1975; R. Distelberger, Observations on the Miseroni Stone-Cutting Workshops in Milan and Prague, in: Yearbook of Art History Collections, Vienna, vol. 74, 1978, pp. 79–152. * The full tax is charged on this item marked *, i.e. VAT is charged on the sum will be refunded to Purchasers providing a validly stamped export declaration.