A rare Passau Grape Cup
Passau, most probably by Wilhelm Schmid, c. 1660.
Height 29.5 cm, weight 237 g.
Silver, gilded. A rounded foot with eight knobs and decorative foliage; the figurative shaft is shaped like a tree trunk featuring a woodcutter. The bowl is decorated with grape-shaped knobs in five staggered rows. The domed lid is similarly decorated; a vase with a finial serves as the top. Austrian tax marks from 1806/1809 and 1809/10. Height 29.5 cm, weight 237 g.
Passau, probably by Wilhelm Schmid, c. 1660.
Rosenberg mentions a partially gilded high cross by the Master, dated 1678 and featuring angel heads and foliage, in St Stephen’s Cathedral in Passau.
Literature
The goldsmith Wilhelm Schmidt owned a house in Schustergasse, which later came into the possession of the Jesuits; see ‘Passauer Goldschmiede’, in: ‘Niederbayerische Monatshefte’, vol. 3, 1914, p. 26. We would like to thank Ms Alexandra Ulrich, arts department in the Diocese of Passau, for her helpful information regarding the attribution.
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