These ewers have long been thought to be the pair mentioned in the 1526 and 1585 inventories of the Teutonic Knights. Both are unmarked, and the attribution to Nuremberg is based on stylistic comparisons, such as that of the small cast figures against the buttresses to similar examples by the Nuremberg goldsmith Sebastian Lindenast the Elder. The enameled and painted wild men, reminiscent of those in Albrecht Dürer's compositions, are heraldic supporters but may also be understood as symbols of virility and procreation.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Ewer with Wildman Finial
Date:late 15th century
Geography:Made in probably Nuremberg, Germany
Culture:German
Medium:Silver gilt, enamel, and paint
Dimensions:25 × 8 1/4 in., 6.8 lb. (63.5 × 21 cm, 3.1 kg)
Classification:Metalwork-Silver
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1953
Accession Number:53.20.1
The Teutonic Knights, Vienna (sold 1937) ; [ Saemy Rosenberg, Amsterdam (in 1937)] ; Baroness Catalina von Pannwitz, Amsterdam ; [ Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York (sold 1953)]
Palais-Schwarzenberg. "Der grossen Golschmiedekunst–Ausstellung im Palais Schwarzenberg, Wien, I., Neuer Markt: zum Besten der Armen Wiens und der Vororte," 1889.
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Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 16, 1970–July 5, 1970.
New York. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens. "The Secular Spirit: Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages," March 28–June 15, 1975.
New York. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Wild Man: Medieval Myth and Symbolism," October 9, 1980–January 11, 1981.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300–1550," April 8–June 22, 1986.
Nuremberg. Germanisches Nationalmuseum. "Nürnberg 1300–1550: Kunst der Gotik und Renaissance," July 24–September 28, 1986.
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Muzeum Zamkowe. "Imagines potestatis: Insignien und Herrschaftszeichnen im Königsreich Polen und im Deutschen Orden," June 8–September 30, 2007.
Dudík, Beda František. Kleinodien des Deutschen Ritterordens. Vienna: Deutschen Ritterorden, 1865. p. 13, unnumbered pl.
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Rorimer, James J. "Acquisitions for the Cloisters." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 11, no. 10 (June 1953). pp. 270–72.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Eighty-Fourth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year 1953." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 13, no. 1 (Summer 1954). p. 21.
Borchers, Walter. "Der Deckelbecher der Familie von Bar-Altbarenaue." Westfalen 36, no. 3 (1958). p. 225.
Rorimer, James J. The Cloisters: The Building and the Collection of Medieval Art in Fort Tryon Park. 3rd revised ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1963. pp. 183–84.
Kohlhaussen, Heinrich. Nürnberger Goldschmiedekunst des Mittelalters und der Dürerzeit 1240 bis 1540. Berlin: Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, 1968. no. 261–62, pp. 167, 175, 417, 501, 522, fig. 294–296.
Ostoia, Vera K. The Middle Ages: Treasures from the Cloisters and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1969. no. 107, pp. 226–227, 261.
Fritz, Johann Michael. "Kölner Prunk- und Tafelsilber der Spätgotik." In Festschrift für Gert von der Osten, edited by Horst Keller et al. Cologne: DuMont Schauberg, 1970. pp. 114–15, fig. 15.
Husband, Timothy B., and Jane Hayward, ed. The Secular Spirit: Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975. no. 264, pp. 268, 272, fig. 15.
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Hernmarck, Carl. The Art of the European Silversmith, 1430-1830. Vol. 2. London: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1977. p. 92, pl. 250.
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Husband, Timothy B. The Wild Man: Medieval Myth and Symbolism. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980. no. 52, pp. 181–183, fig. 123.
Fritz, Johann Michael. Goldschmiedekunst der Gotik in Mitteleuropa. Munich: C. H. Beck, 1982. p. 277, fig. 649.
Scheffler, Wolfgang. Gemalte Goldschmiedearbeiten: kostbare Gefässe auf den Dreikönigsbildern in den Niederlanden und in Deutschland, 1400-1530: ein typologischer Beitrag zur Goldschmiedekunst. Berlin: W. de Gruyter & Co, 1985. p. 22, fig. 17, ill. p. 26.
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Trupinda, Janusz, ed. Imagines potestatis: Insignien und Herrschaftszeichnen im Königsreich Polen und im Deutschen Orden. Poland: The Malbork Castle Museum, 2007. no. II.7, p. 111.
Warren, Jeremy. Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum: Volume 2, Sculptures in Stone, Clay, Ivory, Bone and Wood. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2014. p. 666.
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