Lot 30. The Koffler Ostrich Cup. A German parcel-gilt silver, enamel and gem-set ostrich-form cup and cover, Mark of Andreas I Wickert, Augsburg, 1651-1654; 47.6 cm high; 2,382 gr. Price realised USD 478,800 (Estimate USD 500,000 – USD 800,000). ©  Christie's Images Ltd 2025

Formed as a walking ostrich, the vessel stands on a domed oval base with crimped rim, chased with plants, rockwork and stumps and with applied cast lizards, the ovoid-shaped body of polished silver, engraved on the front with a coat-of-arms and onto which are soldered the tail feathers and raised wings, the cast head and neck are detachable and embellished with a pale blue enameled collar set with rubies, underside of base engraved with various sets of later initials and dated 1708, marked on body and base with maker’s mark and town mark, base, body, flange of head, and horseshoe with later Austrian control marks

The arms are those of Koffler for Johann Joseph Koffler, Edler von Kofflern (1708-1767). The later inscriptions on the underside include various initials and the date 1708.

Provenance: Johann Joseph Koffler, Edler von Kofflern ((1708-1767), circa 1752, presumably presented by him to the town of Leoben, Austria.
Sold by the Leoben town council to Nathaniel von Rothschild (1836-1905) in 1884 or 1885 for 12,000 gulden, then by descent to his brother,
Albert von Rothschild (1844-1911), then by descent to his son,
Alphonse (1878-1942) and Clarice (1894-1967) Rothschild, Vienna.
Confiscated from the above by the Nazi authorities following the “Anschluss” of Austria, 1938.
In the collection of the Landesmuseum Joanneum (now the Universalmuseum Joanneum), Graz, Austria, 1947-2000.
Restituted to the heirs of Alphonse and Clarice Rothschild, 2000.
The Collection of the Barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild; Christie's, London, 13 June 2001, lot 229.
Acquired from S.J. Phillips Ltd., London, 14 June 2001.

Literature: Mittheilungen der k.k. Central-Commission zur Erforschung und Erhaltung historischer Denkmale, Vienna, XLJg, 1885, Neue Folge, S.LXVIII-LXIX.
N. Rothschild, Notizen über Einige Meiner Kunstgegenstände, Vienna, 1903, p. 70, cat. no. 158.
B. Sutter, Goldschmiedekunst im 150. Jahre seit der Stiftung des Joanneums, Graz, 1961, p. 130 and pl. 8.
H. Seling, Die Kunst der Augsburger Goldschmiede 1529- 1868, Munich, 1980, no. 1451k where this cup is cited.
Neue Zeit, Graz, 4 April 2000.
T. Schroder, Renaissance and Baroque Silver, Mounted Porcelain and Ruby Glass from the Zilkha Collection, London, 2012, cat. no. 29, pp. 150-151.

Exhibited: Graz, Austria, Museum für Kunstgewerbe am Landesmuseum Joanneum (inv. No. 25768), 1947 or earlier - 2000.

Note: 

DESIGN
In Henry VI, Part II, Shakespeare writes a colorful threat for the rebel Jack Cade as he draws his sword on his enemy, Alexander Iden: ‘Ah villain… I’ll make thee eat iron like an ostrich, and swallow a sword like a great pin, ere thou and I part’ (act IV, scene 10). Cade’s invocation of the ostrich draws upon the ancient myth of the of the giant bird’s supposed unassailable digestive system. Despite its slight frame, the bird was believed to be capable of digesting all manner of materials, including iron and other metals. While some natural historians began to question this belief in the later seventeenth century, the image of the iron-eating ostrich endured, shaping it into a lasting symbol of the iron industry, and imbuing it with connotations of strength and moral fortitude.

OSTRICH
Ostrich eggs were long considered exotic organic marvels, being prized in Renaissance Kunstkammer alongside other precious natural specimens including nautilus and turbo shells. These natural wonders were often fitted with adornments by Europe’s finest artisans, who crafted mounts for them in precious metals, the most exquisite being adorned with stones and enamelwork. In this way, these curiosities would be reframed as objects resembling sculpture, or transformed into opulent vessels for drinking and decanting. A number of rare and magnificent ostrich-form vessels survive. One example, a Nuremburg ewer, circa 1630, formerly in the collection of John Pierpont Morgan and today preserved in the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford (obj. no. 1917.272), is by Hans I Clauss, the same maker as the Zilkha Collection’s extraordinary nautilus shell cup. Like the present cup and cover, the ewer in the Wadsworth is formed as an ostrich discovered in the act of eating iron, standing on a naturalistic mound base with a horseshoe in its beak. Unlike the Zilkha cup and cover, the bird’s abdomen is formed of an impressive natural egg. A silver-bodied figure of an ostrich similar to the present lot, also modeled with a horseshoe in its beak, is in the Wallace Collection, London (inv. no. W102). The Wallace example is marked for Augsburg silversmith Elias Zorer, circa 1625, and displays an ovoid torso much like the Zilkha cup, although its body is chased with feathers and flaunts a less articulated and supple tail. A smaller silver-gilt figure of an ostrich without a horseshoe was sold Christie’s, London, 5 July 2000, lot 44, as part of the collection of Sir Harold Wernher (1893-1973).

ANDREAS WICKERT
Renowned Augsburg goldsmith, Andreas Wickert (1600-1661) became a Master around 1629 and was a member of the Great Council from 1657-1661. His oeuvre in precious metal reveals a remarkable talent for sculpture, as demonstrated by the naturalistic detail and lifelike dynamism of the present ostrich cup. His marks also appear on a magnificent parcel-gilt ‘display’ dish, or Schauplatte, chased with the Abduction of Prosperpina, and a wonderfully sculptural ewer in the form of Nessus and Dejanira, both in the collection of the Kremlin Museum, Moscow. Similarly, a figural group of Nessus and Dejanira by Wickert, circa 1630-1635, was sold Christie’s, Paris, 23 February 2009, lot 117. Most recently, a parcel-gilt figural candlestick depicting Venus and Cupid by Wickert was sold Christie’s, Paris, 14 June 2024, lot 146.

The rare enameled and jeweled gold neck-mount is presumably the work of a specialized jeweler working with Wickert on this commission. The work is typical of jewelry of this period and is somewhat similar to some of the designs to be found, a decade or so later, in Livre des Ouvrages d’Orfèvrerie fait par Gilles Légaŕe, Orfèvre du Roi.

PROVENANCE
The engraved coat-of-arms is that of Johann Joseph Koffler (1708-1767), who served as Münz-und Berg-Administrator (Master of the Mint and Mining) for the Austrian province of Steiermark (Styria). A ‘faithful commissioner’ of Empress Maria Theresa, Koffler urged the modernization of mining in the inner Austrian regions. He employed novel and efficient methods to convert iron, requiring less ore and fuel than traditional refining processes. On 19 August 1752, the civic administrator was ennobled as Edler von Kofflern, and thus received this grant of arms. It was likely around this time that Koffler acquired the present ostrich cup, upon which he had his arms engraved. A portrait of Koffler in the Stadtmuseum, Eisenerz, depicts the noble miner in a coat bordered in rich brocades, proudly displaying his coat-of-arms in the foreground.

Presumably it was Koffler, or one of his heirs, who presented the ostrich cup to the town of Leoben, situated about thirty miles north-west of Graz, the capital of the state of Styria. The association of the ostrich with the iron trade would have made this cup a fitting gift to Leoben, an ancient city with deep roots in the mining industry, and where as early as 1298, the ostrich had appeared in a wax seal representing the town. Although the city arms have evolved over the years, the bird still remains its emblem, its long connection with iron being represented by horseshoes held both in its beak in the claw of one raised leg.
A painting by Hungarian-born artist Joseph Ginovsky (1800-1857) depicts the ostrich cup with an unknown Leoben town official. Dressed in elaborate seventeenth-century costume, the official raises the lower half of the cup as if to drink from it. The upper portion, formed as the ostrich’s head and neck, rests upright on a table nearby. The painting is inscribed in the upper right corner F.E.H. unser wu(..)rdiger Vorsteher lebe hoch’ and ‘50 Dienstjahre 1841 (‘F.E.H. long live our dignified principal and 50 years of duty, 1841’) and was catalogued and photographed as in the collection of the Museum der Stadt, Leoben, but is now presumed to be lost. The artist, whose name is variously spelled Ginyocksy, Ginvszky and Ginowsky, was a pupil of the Wiener Akadamie and is recorded as working in Vienna from 1833.

In 1884⁄85, the ostrich cup was sold by the Leoben town council to illustrious art collector Nathaniel von Rothschild (1836-1905) for 12,000 gulden. It then descended to his brother Albert von Rothschild (1884-1911), and thence to Albert’s son, Alphonse von Rothschild (1878-1942). In 1938 it was confiscated by Nazi authorities. In 1947, Austrian authorities demanded a group of Rothschild objects, including the present lot, as a “donation” in exchange for granting export permits for the larger Clarice Rothschild collection still in Vienna. By this means the present lot entered the collection of the Landesmuseum-Joanneum (currently the Universalmuseum Joanneum) in Graz. The ostrich cup was restituted to the Rothschild family in 2000 and subsequently sold at Christie’s, London, 13 June 2001, lot 229.

Lot 36. The Clauss Atlas And Neptune Nautilus Shell Cup. A German silver-gilt mounted nautilus cup, Mark of Hans I Clauss, Nuremberg, 1641-1643; 56.9 cm high; 1,943 gr. Price realised USD 478,800 (Estimate USD 700,000 – USD 1,000,000). ©  Christie's Images Ltd 2025

On a shaped oval base with applied scroll arabesques centered by classical figures, the stem formed as a satyr kneeling on a grassy mound applied with small amphibians and insects and raising the shell aloft, the polished nautilus shell held within a cagework of four openwork straps cast with winged female figures, the broad lip-mount etched with a dense composition of Neptune in a foaming sea, amongst writhing sea monsters, the domed cover chased with putti riding sea monsters and surmounted by the draped figure of Neptune holding a trident and confronting a lion leaping towards him from the main body of the shell, the detachable cover reveals a second conflict between the lion and a grotesque dragon emerging from the depths of the shell, marked on foot rim, upper rim of cup and cover with maker’s mark and town mark

A European Private Collector; Christie's, Geneva, 19 November 1996, lot 148 (cover illustration).

Provenance: A European Private Collector; Christie's, Geneva, 19 November 1996, lot 148 (cover illustration).
Acquired from S.J. Phillips Ltd., London, January 1997.

Literature: T. Schroder, Renaissance and Baroque Silver, Mounted Porcelain and Ruby Glass from the Zilkha Collection, London, 2012, cat. no. 28, pp. 144-149.

Note: 

Lot 35. The Swiss Parcel-Gilt Silver Cup, Mark of Adam Fletcher, Basel, circa 1682; 30.8 cm high; 643,8 gr. Price realised USD 44,100 (Estimate USD 50,000 – USD 80,000). ©  Christie's Images Ltd 2025

The octofoil cup centered by a chased scene of Adam and Eve, the exterior with a pierced and engraved floral sleeve, the stem fully modeled as a draped allegorical female figure of Justice holding a sword and scales, the spool-shaped base on a domed foot chased with flowers and foliage, further engraved with a coat-of-arms below a bishops mitre and staff, with an inscription to the underside, marked on rim of bowl with maker's mark and town mark, the foot rim with town mark onlyThe inscription on the underside reads, MONASTERIVM LVCISELLA SVO PATRONO PRAENOBILI CLARISSIMO [?] D: DOMINO ADAMO FRANCOIS JVRIVM DOCTORI PROPTER REM CONTRA NOBILEM D: HENDELL [?] PRAECLARE GESTAM 1682 (The monastery of Lucelle to its advocate, the most excellent and noble Adam Francois, Doctor of Laws, on account of the case against the nobleman D. [?] Hendell which was so brilliantly carried through 1682).

Provenance: Presented to Adam François by Abbott Pierre Tanner of Lucelle, circa 1682.
The collection of Neil Primrose, 7th Earl of Rosebery (1929-2024), sold,
Sotheby's, Mentmore Towers Sale, 18 May 1977, lot 648.
Acquired from S.J. Phillips Ltd., London, 14 June 1977.

Literature: T. Schroder, Renaissance and Baroque Silver, Mounted Porcelain and Ruby Glass from the Zilkha Collection, London, 2012, cat. no. 31, pp. 154-156.

Note: The engraved arms are those of Pierre Tanner (1634-1702) who served as Abbot of Lucelle from 1677 until his death. Born in Colmar, during a brief period when occupied by the Swedish army, to parents Georg Tanner, the bursar of the Saint-Martin’s Church and Maria Buchinger, Tanner entered the novitiate in 1655 and studied theology and philosophy in Dijon and Dole. He was ordained into the priesthood in 1660 and subsequently became a prior. In early 1677 he was elected abbot of the priory at Saint-Apolliniare, an annex of the Cistercian Abbey in Lucelle, after forcing the resignation of the presiding abbot, Edmond Quiquerez (d. 1677). Tanner was known for his cantankerous temperament; stubborn, vindictive and litigious, he initiated numerous lawsuits. The construction of a new convent, as conceived by Tanner, became the subject of a number of these legal pursuits, and Tanner sued his architect, suppliers and leaseholders. He also aimed to better the profitability of the abbey through the exploitation of iron mines and forests in Löwenburg, which had been granted to the abbey (rather than the French crown) in 1681.

The engraved inscription on the present lot translates to The monastery of Lucelle to it’s advocate, the most excellent and noble Adam François, Doctor of Laws, on account of the case against the nobleman D.[?] Hendell which was so brilliantly carried through 1682. The inscription coupled with the standing figure of Justice with her scales, indicate that the present standing bowl was very clearly intended to honor a legal victory. While little of François or Hendell are known, the dating of the inscription suggests the gift could have been related to litigation of the new convent or securing the abbey’s rich land holdings. By 1690, Tanner was bankrupt with his debts amounting an astonishing 300,000 pounds. By comparison, the annual income of the abbey’s holdings in Löwenburg was about 20,000 pounds. On 6 December 1699, a fire swept through the abbey, destroying the library but sparing the church. Thereafter, Tanner left Lucelle and retired at the priory at Blotzheim, where he is buried in the chapel (see E. Sitzmann, Dictionary of Biography of Famous Men of Alsace, vol. 2, Rixheim, 1910, p. 858).

Goldsmith Johann Fechter (1649-1718) became master in 1670. He was part of the Basel-based Fechter goldsmithing dynasty, which included some twelve silversmiths between the late 16^th and mid-18^th centuries. Basel was the nearest silver production center to Lucelle, and would have be the reasonable place to source a commission such as the present standing bowl (Schroder, 2012, p. 156).

Lot 15. A German parcel silver-gilt 'traubenpokal' cup, Mark of David Stechmesser, Nuremberg, 1609-1629; 52.4 cm high; 1,294 gr. Price realised USD 25,200 (Estimate USD 30,000 – USD 50,000). ©  Christie's Images Ltd 2025

On domed hexagonal waisted base chased with panels of foliate scrolls and shells on a matted ground, the sides with three blank panels engraved with numbers 4, 5 and 6 for cast or chased panels, the stem cast as a peasant with a tree trunk sprouting from his back, the ovoid bowl chased with a continuous pattern of lobes, the cover with conforming lobes and with openwork vase of flowers, marked on upper rim with town mark and maker's mark, the base rim with maker's mark, the cover with town mark

Provenance: Acquired from Bulgari, Rome, 24 December 1967.

Literature: T. Schroder, Renaissance and Baroque Silver, Mounted Porcelain and Ruby Glass from the Zilkha Collection, London. 2012, cat. no. 22, pp. 128-129.

Note: David Stechmesser (d. 1619) was born in Danzig before moving to Nuremberg and becoming a master in 1572. He is most known for making cups and covers, especially Traubenpokal similar to the present lot, examples of which can be found at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, and in the Vatican Museums, Rome.

Lot 12. A German parcel-gilt silver tankard, Maker's mark a house mark, possibly Frankfurt-Am-Main, circa 1560-70; 16.6 cm high; 913 gr. Price realised USD 18,900 (Estimate USD 20,000 – USD 30,000). ©  Christie's Images Ltd 2025

Tapering cylindrical on spreading foot raised on three cast winged cherub heads, the sides chased as panels and applied with six cast panels, possibly later, depicting wild masks amid foliage, fruit and strapwork, engraved with arabesques between, cast caryatid handle, the hinged domed cover with conforming decoration and applied with six smaller panels cast with cherub masks against strapwork, with central cast finial in the form of a standing male figure holding an escutcheon engraved with crossed knives, supported on a fluted flange pedestal flanked by cast and openwork lizards, fish and insects, with cast corkscrew thumbpiece, the interior of the base set with a medallion representing the Adoration of the Magi and outside the Burning Bush, with verses corresponding to Exodus and the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, marked on foot with town mark and maker's mark, the foot and cover also with 19th century Austrian control marks

Provenance: Baron Mayer Carl von Rothschild (1820-1886), of Frankfurt, banker and collector, by bequest to his seventh and youngest daughter,
Bertha Clara von Rothschild (1862-1903), by bequest to her husband Louis-Marie Philippe Alexandre Berthier, Prince de Wagram (1836-1911),
The former collection of Baron Carl Mayer [sic.] de Rothschild; Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 12-13 June 1911, lot 45 (Fr 18,000 to (sold to Rosenbaum).
Maximilian Baron von Goldschmidt-Rothschild (1843-1940), Frankfurt am Main, until his forced sale to the City of Frankfurt am Main in 1938.
Museum für Kunsthandwerk (now the Museum Angewandte Kunst), Frankfurt am Main, 11 November, 1938 (inv. no. G.R.142).
Restituted to the heirs of Maximilian Baron von Goldschmidt-Rothschild;
The Estate of Baron Max von Goldschmidt-Rothschild; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 13-14 April 1950, lot 111.
Acquired from S.J. Phillips Ltd., London, 1 July 1983.

Literature: M. Rosenberg, Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen, Frankfurt am Main, 1923, vol. II, p. 82, no. 2026.
T. Schroder, The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1988, illustrated fig. 105.
T. Schroder, Renaissance and Baroque Silver, Mounted Porcelain and Ruby Glass from the Zilkha Collection, London, 2012, cat. no. 9, pp. 91-93.
M. Wagner K. & K. Weiler, eds., The Collection of Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, Cologne, 2023, no. G.R.142, pp. 482-483 (ill.).

Exhibited: Frankfurt, Germany, Kunstgewerbemuseum, Alte Goldschmiede-Arbeiten aus Frankfurter Privatebesitz u. Kirchenschätzen, 1914, no. 74.

Note:

While the collections of Maximilian Baron von Goldschmidt-Rothschild (1843-1940) contained paintings by Rembrandt, Hals and other Dutch masters, it is the decorative arts, Limoges enamels, Italian maiolica, Meissen and Vienna porcelain and, above all, silver, that was the nucleus of his collection. On the occasion of Baron Maximilian’s 80th birthday in 1923, the celebrated art historian and art critic Dr. Adolph Donath wrote of Baron Maximilian’s Kunstkammer that ‘…only at Waddesdon, the British Museum, the Wallace Collection, Schloss Rosenborg [the Royal Danish collections] and the Green Vaults in Dresden can be found pieces of similar quality.’ Donath further noted that Baron Maximilian’s collection of silver animals was ‘unvergleichlich’ – unrivaled or without equal (Der Kunstwanderer, vol. 4⁄5, 1922⁄23, p. 436). An exceptional silvered-bronze, enameled silver and gilt-bronze automaton clock formed as an elephant, Augsburg, circa 1600-1610, formerly in Maximilian's collection was sold in these rooms on 13 October 2021, lot 7 ($2,610,000).

On November 9-10, 1938, Germany was convulsed by a night of murder and mayhem, the Nazi-sanctioned Novemberpogrome, better known as Kristallnacht. The following day, November 11, Baron Maximilian was forced to ‘sell’ his entire collection to the City of Frankfurt. Grotesquely, the acting mayor of Frankfurt, Dr. Friedrich Krebs, claims to have ‘saved’ the collection from destruction by having the city take ownership of the collection. Earlier in 1938, Baron Maximilian had been forced to commission an inventory of the collection (a Taxationliste imposed on Jewish collections). The collection was purchased for just over 2.5 million Reichsmarks and, adding insult to injury, the funds were paid into a frozen account inaccessible to the family (K. Weiler, ‘Provenance research and Circulation: Examples from the Maximilian von Goldschmidt Collection,’ History of Knowledge, 18 December 2019). A large part of the purchase price for the art collection went directly to the respective responsible tax offices, partly for the Judenvermögensabgab [the Jewish tax] to be paid by Maximilian himself and partly for the Judenvermögensabgabe as well as the Reichsfluchtsteuer [Reich Flight Tax] imposed on his son Albert. The Goldschmidt-Rothschild Palais, at Bockenheimer Landstraβe 10, had already been ‘sold’ a month earlier, on September 5, and was now opened to the public as a branch of the Museum für Kunsthandwerk. Baron Maximillian was allowed to remain in a small rented apartment. He remained there until his death in 1940, at the age of 97 (C. E. Brennan and K. Weiler, ‘A Provenance Mystery: Two Medieval Silver Beakers at the Met Cloisters').

After the war, the heirs of Baron Maximilian requested the return of the collection, the 1938 forced sale was eventually voided and much of the collection was returned to the heirs of Baron Maximilian by February of 1949 (K. Weiler, 2019, note 7). Some of these works, including the present tankard, were subsequently shipped to New York in 1949 and sold at auction a year later in the Parke-Bernet Galleries on 13-14 April 1950, lot 111 – as described in a New York Times article of 1950 ('Art Nazis ‘Bought’ Will be Sold Here’).

Lot 13. A German parcel silver-gilt 'traubenpokal' cup, South German, 1590-95, with unrecorded Augsburg town and maker's marks, probably Spurious; 30.4 cm high; 358 gr. Price realised USD 17,640(Estimate USD 15,000 – USD 25,000). ©  Christie's Images Ltd 2025

The openwork trefoil-shaped foot cast with foliate scrolls applied with frogs, the stem cast as a tree trunk with later climbing woodsman and entwined leafy tendril, the ovoid body and domed cover chased with lobes, the cover with vase of flowers finial, upper rim with town mark, maker's mark and later French tax mark

Provenance: Acquired from Cyril Humphries Ltd., 23 Old Bond St., London, 21 December 1973.

Literature: T. Schroder, Renaissance and Baroque Silver, Mounted Porcelain and Ruby Glass from the Zilkha Collection, London. 2012, cat. no. 21, pp. 126-127.

Note: Reminiscent of the chased lobes of gothic examples, cups and covers formed as bunches of grapes (Traubenpokal) emerged as a favorite form of display plate in the late 16^th century. The tree trunk form stem mounted with a climbing woodsman was particularly popular in Nuremberg, and likely relates to a circa 1525 drawing by Nuremberg engraver and master goldsmith Ludwig Krug (1488-1532). A circa 1620 example with similar stem by Heinrich Mack, Nuremberg, was sold as part of the Eric Albada Jelgersma Collection, Christie’s, London, 7 December 2018, lot 541.

The openwork trefoil foot of the present cup is a curious and rare feature found on only a small number of German cups dating from 16^th century-early 17^th century, most stemming from Nuremberg. Likely derived from a design by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), the earliest known example with an openwork foot is a circa 1510 Nuremberg apple form cup (Apfelpokal) in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg (Schroder, 2012, p. 126). A Nuremberg cup with woodsman stem and openwork foot by Andreas Robner was sold Lempertz, Cologne, 29 May 2020, lot 703. A 1609-1629 cup by Hans Weber, Nuremberg at the Louvre, Paris, features an openwork foot mounted with fully modeled apples (inv. No. OA 628). A similar example at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia is similarly applied with shells (95.22).

Christie's. Global Treasury: The Life and Collection of Selim & Mary Zilkha, New York 6 February 2025