Standing Cup (mid- to late 1500s): Art, History and Details

Standing Cup (mid- to late 1500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Virgil Solis (German, 1514–1562).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Large ceremonial silver cups with covers were a status symbol in the late 16th century, particularly when gilded like this superb example from Nuremberg. Stylish and grand, these cups provided the ultimate vessel from which a royal guest or aristocratic visitor could drink at a formal banquet. They came to be known as willkom, or welcome cups, as a result. The lid, mid-section, and base are all cast in sections, creating imposing height and stability for the great amount of silver used, a testament to the skill of the maker and the pocketbook of the owner.

Object facts

• Title: Standing Cup
• Date: mid- to late 1500s
• Creator attribution: Virgil Solis (German, 1514–1562)
• Culture: Germany, Nuremberg
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: gilt silver
• Dimensions: Overall: 50.8 x 20.4 cm (20 x 8 1/16 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1962.286

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, “New Accessions Put on Display at Art Museum,” July 9, 1963, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.