The Judgement of Paris Tazza: a German silver-gilt tazza, Jacob Schenauer, Augsburg, circa 1580-1590, after a drawing by Paul Flindt II, Nuremberg

Hans Felix, Leipzig, circa 1897,

Eugen Gutmann (1840-1925), Berlin (acquired from the above, 24 April 1902), thence by descent

On consignment with K. W. Bachstitz, The Hague, c.1921, returned to the owner in July 1924

Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Lugano (acquired from the heirs of Eugen Gutmann through Paul Graupe London, 27 December 1938)

 Christie’s, London, The Exceptional Sale, 7 July 2016, lot 317

Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Lugano (acquired from the heirs of Eugen Gutmann through Paul Graupe London, 27 December 1938)

Exhibition catalogue, Ausstellung von Werken alten Kunstgewerbes aus Sächsisch-Thüringischem Privatbesitz, Leipzig, 1897, no. 66.

O. von Falke, The Art Collection Eugen Gutmann, Berlin, 1912, p. 40, no. 129, pl. 34.

M. Rosenberg, Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen, Frankfurt, 1922, vol. 1, no. 405.

O. von Falke and C. Gronau, The Bachstitz Gallery Collection, III: Objects of Art and Paintings, Berlin, n.d., intro. and pl. 58.

J. F. Hayward, Virtuoso Goldsmiths, London, 1976, p. 379, pls. 441-443.

Exhibition Catalogue, Zeichnungen in Deutschland. Deutsche Zeichner 1540-1640, Stuttgart, 1979, vol. 2, p. 232, E20.

Exhibition Catalogue, Welt im Umbruch, I, Rathaus, Augsburg, 1980, no. 747, p. 370, illustrated

H. Müller, The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, European Silver, London, 1986. pp. 15 and 158-161, cat. no. 43.

Fondazione Thyssen-Bornemisza, Gold and Silver Treasures from the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, Lugano, 1989, p.88, n°100.

H. Seling, Die Augsburger Gold-und Silberschmiede 1529-1868, Munich, 2007, p.136, no.975,0070.

Leipzig, Ausstellung von Werken alten Kunstgewerbes aus Sächsisch-Thüringischem Privatbesitz, 1897, no. 66 (as by Jacob Schuhmacher).

Augsburg, Rathaus, Welt im Umbruch, 1980, no. 747.

St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum and Moscow, The State Russian Museum, Gold and Silver Treasures from Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, 1986, p. 28, cat. no. 12.

Miami, Center for Fine Arts; Omaha, Joslyn Art Museum; Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art;

Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum; Memphis, The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Gold and Silver from Thyssen- Bornemisza Collection, 1987-1988, cat. no. 12.

Lugano, Fondazione Thyssen-Bornemisza, Capolavori di Orefeceria della collezione Thyssen-Bornemisza, 1989, p. 88, cat. no. 100.

Jacob Schenauer achieved his mastership at Augsburg in 1582. He is known to have made a number of cups and the silver-gilt mounts of a magnificent organ, dated 1590–1594, in the Reiche Chapel of the Rezidenz, Munich.

The current tazza is adorned with an exquisite depiction of the Judgment of Paris, where the young shepherd must award a golden apple inscribed “to the fairest” to one of the Greek goddesses: Hera, Athena, or Aphrodite. Notably, Schenauer drew on mythology for other cups, such as one at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (inv. 533-1874) depicting Diana and Actaeon (see illustration). These two tazze share strong similarities: a central scene framed by a laurel garland, an underside decorated with strapwork and arabesques, and nearly identical stems and bases.

This refined work on the present lot was a specialty of Schenauer. These tazze were used for drinking despite their raised decoration, but they primarily served to adorn buffets during receptions for princes and wealthy collectors. The gilding on both tazze appears to date from the 19th century, and their earliest archival mentions are relatively close: the Diana and Actaeon tazza appears in Joseph Bond’s collection in 1886, and the present tazza is cited in Hans Felix’s collection in Leipzig around 1897. These tazze may have been part of a larger set depicting mythological scenes for a wealthy German Renaissance scholar. Other complete sets are documented, such as the collection at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, which holds fifty-four cups (H. Seling, op. cit. vol. II, pls. 199–205, etc.), commissioned in Augsburg by Salzburg’s Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau (1587–1612). The depicted scenes include the Old Testament, as well as Renaissance themes such as theological virtues and earthly elements.

The Judgment of Paris scene is inspired by a drawing on a plaquette in the Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin (inv. KdZ 2119). This drawing, signed “P. . . V.V.N.,” was first identified by Theodor Hampe in 1916, K. Pechstein in 1979, H. Müller (op. cit., p. 158), and recently by H. Seling (op. cit.) as likely Paul Flindt the Younger of Nuremberg (1567–1630). Trained in Nuremberg, this goldsmith became a guild master in 1601 and achieved success through his published goldsmith designs from 1592–1593.

Prestigious owners 

The Judgement of Paris tazza is first referenced in the collection of Hans Felix in Leipzig, exhibited in 1897 at the Ausstellung von werken alten kunstgewerbes aus Sachsisch thuringischem Privatebesitz im Kunstgewerbe-Museum zu Leipzig, as noted by Marc Rosenberg in 1922 (Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen, Frankfurt, 1922, vol. 1, no. 405). It then became part of the collection of Eugen Gutmann, a renowned German collector from Dresden who founded the Dresdner Bank. An immensely wealthy scholar, he collected alongside contemporaries like Rothschild, Wernher, Ephrussi, and J.P. Morgan. His German silver collection, alongside majolica, old master paintings, furniture, Renaissance jewelry, gold boxes, and Islamic objects, was particularly celebrated, published in 1917 by art historian Otto von Falke in Die Kunstsammlung Eugen Gutmann. The present lot is described there under number 129. The collection, with over sixty pieces, some photographed, was likened to that of a Renaissance prince. Items from the collection to have appeared at auction include a silver-gilt ewer by Johannes Lencker I, Augsburg, 1625–1630 (sold at Christie’s, London, 11 June 2003, lot 161) and a silver-gilt-mounted nautilus by Jacob Claesz de Grebber, Amsterdam, 1628, (sold at Sotheby’s, London, 7 December 2012, lot 16). The collection’s 20th-century history is traced by Simon Goodman in The Orpheus Clock: The Search for My Family’s Art Treasures Stolen by the Nazis (Simon and Schuster, 2015).

The tazza later joined another significant collection, that of Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (1875–1947), and then that of his son, Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (1921–2002) comprising thousands of items, included old master paintings, French furniture, porcelain, ceramics, gold boxes, and silver works. The Thyssen-Bornemisza family opened their collection to Europe, acquiring 18th and 19th century English and French silver, as well as contemporary works by Picasso, Gauguin, and Edward Hopper. Part of this collection is now displayed at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, opened in 1993. The silver collection was published by Hannelore Müller in European Silver: The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (2001), and the gold boxes by Anna Somers Cocks and Charles Truman in The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection: Renaissance Jewels, Gold Boxes, and Objets de Vertu (2003).

Eugen Gutmann’s vast silver collection was inherited by his descendants, with Fritz Gutmann being the majority owner over his siblings. The sale of the Tazza to Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza was administrated by the Gutmann Trust. We are grateful to Simon Goodman, grandson of Fritz Gutmann, for his support in establishing the provenance of this work.