Lot 769. A South German turned ivory cup and cover, 17th century; height 14 1/2 in. 36.8 cm. Estimate 80,000 — 120,000 USD. Lot Sold: 254,500 USD. Photo Sotheby's

the stepped irregular nine-faceted base with scrolling openwork frieze, the stem comprised of staggered stacked mandorla-sectioned elements, a foliate ring below a stepped faceted cup, the conforming lid topped with an ornate gadrooned urn-form knop below a pierced sphere containing a flat circular container and lid, surmounted by a small floral finial. 

Provenance: Axel Vervoort, Antwerp

Note: The irregularly faceted section of the present cup and the staggered stem are emblematic of an eccentric, mannerist spirit. The mandorla-sectioned forms which make up the stem, seemingly stacked discs rotating on a central axis to point in various directions, are in fact turned from one piece of ivory. This motif is similar to that on the stem of a cup in the Grünes Gewölbe in Dresden, signed by Georg Wecker and dated 1581 (Maurice 1985, p. 68, no. 64). The lid features a loose cylindrical compartment turned within a pierced sphere; carving a turned form within a sphere was one of the most challenging and highly praised feats of the virtuoso turner. The now-empty container may have been intended to enclose painted portraits, similar to those seen in the tour de force turned ivory contrefait attributed to the Zick family and their circle (see lot 768).

Sotheby's. Property from the Collections of Lily & Edmond J. Safra -Volumes I-VI. New York | 18 Oct 2011 - www.sothebys.com