Renaissance German Turned Standing Rhinoceros Horn Cup and Ivory Cover

Period: 1600-1700

Origin: Germany

Medium: Ivory, Rhinoceros Horn

Literature: The Milanese master instructor of turning Giovanni Ambrogio Maggiore visited Bavaria on various occasions between 1574 and 1593 to teach the Duke Wilhelm this newly invented form of art; creating marvellous objects from natural substances. Maggiore also trained the artist Georg Wecker who went on to become in 1578 Dresden’s ‘court turner for life’ to the Elector Augustus of Saxony. Regarded at the time as a form of advanced mechanical technology, the art of virtuosity turning in ivory, ebony and rhinoceros horn became a princely pastime for ‘Drechselnder souverí¤n’.
Rhinoceros horn objects were regarded as items of great rarity and prestige in Renaissance Europe, but they had been regarded as objects of great value with inherent magical properties for well over one thousand years before this time in China, and by the early 17th century Chinese cups and vessels of carved rhino horn were being exported to Europe to meet the demand for exotic curiosities for the cabinets of wealthy collectors.