Minneapolis Institute of Art

Masterpiece cup and cover

Johann Friedrich Baer

Date

1746

Medium

Silver, parcel-gilt inside

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Johann Friedrich Baer, a third-generation silversmith, created this cup and cover as a masterpiece, which in the 1700s meant an object created as an application for acceptance into the silversmith’s guild as a master. Baer included a panorama of decoration to impress potential aristocratic patrons. Mythological characters and expressive masks add a decorative backdrop for scenes depicting various phases of military operations. The piece also showcases the full array of techniques employed to work silver, including virtuoso casting, embossing, chasing, and chiseling, worked in a range of depths from extremely low relief to fully in the round. A small but dramatic sculpture of mythological Hercules slaying the three-headed monster Cerberus crowns the cup. France, Europe

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