Standing Cup - Styles and Influences
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Standing Cup
Riga; ca. 1630
The Baltic port of Riga came under the Kingdom of Poland towards the end of the 16th c., after spending three centuries as a free city and a wealthy trade port of the Hanseatic League. This was the cause of a long lasting conflict between the archbishop and the Latvian order of knights, to which the knight on the lid can be connected. The details of the decoration and of the Mannerist interweaving reflect the maritime tradition: a female figure with an anchor, nautilus, sea monster. This lidded goblet is in the German Mannerist tradition of silverwork which was much influenced by immigrant goldsmiths from Lübeck.