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Standing Cup
1603-1610
Nicholas Pfaff
This ivory cup, carved in a fluid, organic style and originally set in gilded-silver mounts, was displayed in the Kunstkammer of the landgraves of Baden-Baden in the eighteenth century. By drinking from this cup, with its lion's jaw and pelt, winged mermaid, and dolphins, the privileged user becomes part of the story carved on its walls. The imagery probably refers to an ancient myth in which the god Dionysus turns into a lion and transforms a band of pirates into dolphins. |