Beaker with cover

In the later seventeenth century and first half of the eighteenth century, it was a tradition in Alsatian towns to present each member of the town council with a so-called council or magistrate’s beaker (gobelet de Magistrat or Ratsbecher). Generally, such cups are engraved with the name of the recipient, a date, and the coat of arms of the town. Smaller communities without their own silversmith workshops, often commissioned such cups in Strasbourg, a city renowned for its goldsmith work and its unparalleled gilding.



Made in Strasbourg, this parcel-gilt beaker with cover is engraved with Philippus Philippo Salutem and the date 1740. Since this vessel does not bear the coat of arms of a particular city, it is probably more likely that this cup was presented at another occasion. With the Latin word Salutem, the inscription makes an allusion to toasting the recipient’s health.



This presentation cup is part of the collection of silver bequeathed to the Museum in 1948 by Catherine D. Wentworth. Daughter of one of the founders of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, Mrs. Wentworth (1865-1948) was an art student and painter who lived in France for thirty years. She became one of the most important American collectors of eighteenth-century French silver and on her death left part of her significant collection of silver, gold boxes, French furniture and textiles to the Metropolitan Museum. The collection is particularly strong in domestic silver, much of it provincial, and includes a number of rare early pieces.