Exclusive Figurative Forms of the 17th Century Orfevrerie from Sibiu: the Wedding Maiden Goblets of Master Melchior Hermann
Exclusive Figurative Forms of the 17th Century Orfevrerie from Sibiu: the Wedding Maiden Goblets of Master Melchior Hermann

Summary/Abstract: While the type of beakers with a cylindrical base (the socle beaker /“Sockelbecher”) became widely popular in Transylvania during the 17th century,and therefore arbitrarily called “Transylvanian beakers” (because they were lessexpensive than other drinking vessels − like chalices, goblets or tankards −, stillallowing a rich ornamentation by offering to goldsmiths the opportunity to expresstheir fantasy in the use of floral and animal motifs or sophisticated volutes andarabesques, in accordance with the commissioners’ taste and financial possibilities),the drinking vessels with figurative shapes are testimony to the exquisite skill somegoldsmiths could access, unmatched by an ordinary master. The two maiden / virgingoblets / wager cups (“Jungfernbecher”) made by the goldsmith master from SibiuMelchior Hermann alias Stuckart in the third quarter of the 17th century are the onlyones of this kind known to be made in Romania and both are in the NationalBrukenthal Museum.

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