Lot 193. Museum-quality silver cup and cover with the coat of arms of the grand master Archduke Maximilian III, presumably Germany or Austria-Hungary, dated on plaque 1595. Approximately 546g. Height 35cm. Estimate 25,000 - 30,000 EUR. Lot sold 43,000 EUR. © Van Ham

Silver, applies. On circular base with profiled rim and bulbous, raised center short shaft with strong knob. On it ram heads alternating with fruit in relief. High, slightly conical cuppa decorated with scrolls. In each of three upright oval medallions a unicorn, deer, or respectively a bear set against a wide landscape scenery. Between them high flower arrangements in amphora vases, very delicately chased and on punched ground. The slightly domed slip lid with scrolls, reclining putti and fruit in relief. Its center raised pedestal-like with a supporter in armor. On the shield the coat of arms of the barons of Bobenhausen. The Grand Master Archduke Maximilian III and date 1595. Along the rim circumscription: ' MAXIMIL · DG · ARCHID · AVST · MAG · PRVSS · ATMINIST · ET · ORD · TEVTO · MAGIS · D · D '. 

Marked on the foot: Presumably assayer's mark with G and maker's mark with G (...) both largely indistinct. Lemberg duty mark 1806-07 for taxable, marked pieces and Austrian-Hungarian exemption stamp for older works of silver 1809/10 (Tardy pp.65 and 74). Condition A / B.  

Provenance: Friedrich Wilhelm Waffenschmidt Collection, Cologne. 

Literature: Beuing, Raphael: The Treasury of the Teutonic Order. Sources and Studies on the History of the Teutonic Order, vol.70, Weimar 2015. 

Note: This cup is not only remarkable in its masterly quality, but also owing to the historic link between the two coats of arms engraved in it.
Master of the Teutonic Order Henry of Bobenhausen of Mergentheim, who held this position from 1572 to 1590. Yet, the engraving does not depict his coat of arms as Grand Master, but just the heraldic animal of the Barons of Bobenhausen: the fox with a dead goose in its jaws. 
His term in office was characterized by major conflicts with Emperor Maximilan II. As a consequence, he was assigned a cohabitutor from 1585 onwards, leaving him practically disempowered. In 1590 he was forced to resign for good, deceased in 1595. His co-author and successor in office was none other than Archduke Maximilian III, whose coat of arms as Grand Master was added to the year of his predecessor's decease - thus the year of his definitive assumption of the office.

The treasure of the Teutonic Order still today holds an impressive welcome from the possession of Heinrich von Bobenhausen. The vessel is worked in the form of his heraldic animal, a fully sculpted fox with a goose in its mouth. It comes from the hand of the Nuremberg silversmith Paulus Tullner and is dated 1565 (Beuing, 2015, p.132, cat.-Nr.99). Since the masters of the Teutonic Order had the right to withhold the estate of deceased Order members, this welcome was also part of the Order's treasury, as shown in an inventory of 1606. This may also have been true for the here present cover cup, as only the existence of both coats of arms and the year 1595 would be explained. The Grand Master Archduke Maximilian III. itself contributed to probably the most extensive increase of the treasure. 

Although the collection of the treasury of the Teutonic Order has undergone a varied history over the centuries and suffered many losses, especially during the wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, its present size and quality is an impressive testimony to the history of the Order, his Grand Master and Knights of the Order.