Moss-agate tazza. Stone-cutting: south German, probably the Palatinate or Idar-Oberstein, ca 1650. Mount: south German, ca 1650. Moss agate; mount: silver cast, embossed, engraved and fire-gilt. Height 9.5 cm. © Kuntskammer Georg Laue

Published in: Georg Laue: Tresor. Treasures for European Kunstkammer, Munich 2017, p. 104, pp. 199-200, Cat. No. 10.

Since the late Middle Ages, intricately carved cups and vessels made from semi-precious stones such as rock crystal, jasper, agate or lapis lazuli have been regarded as some of the most precious works of art a prince could own. In particular, they were usually kept in the most secluded and secure room in the castle: the treasury. Vessels made of agate or rock crystal were considered even more valuable due to the material properties of these rare minerals, which had an aura of the sacred and were believed to have healing properties for a variety of ailments. As a result, most Renaissance hardstone vessels are preserved in museums of princely origin.

The austere form of the bowl and its baluster foot are typical of hardstone vessels carved in the mid-seventeenth century in the Palatinate and the Idar-Oberstein region. The warm, iridescent tonality of the moss agate is underscored by the fire-gilt silver mount, which is distinctively skeuomorphic with its lacy pointed fringe and stylised cord above the node and the flaring foot. Moss agate bowls of identical form with similar mounts are in the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt , the Museo degli Argenti in Florence and the Green Vault in Dresden. More agate bowls of the same type in the Royal Danish Treasury @rosenborgcastle and the Museo del Prado in Madrid attest to the popularity of works made by south German stone-cutters as princely collector’s items in the seventeenth century.

Precious hardstone vessels from the Palatinate and the Idar-Oberstein region were highly prized by prominent collectors during the Baroque period. For example, the inventory of the estate of Cardinal Jules Mazzarin, one of the greatest collectors of paintings, sculptures and pretiosa around 1650, lists several vessels „of agate made in Germany“. The elegant moss-agate tazza, with its warm colour and translucent structure, would certainly have attracted the attention of such an ambitious collector as Mazarin.