Description
Green jasper, turned on a lathe to create the cylinder of this tankard, is set off by finely engraved gilded silver mounts characteristic of south German workmanship of the mid to later 1500s. However, the gilded silver medal under the cover, its current placement apparently part of the original design, is dated 1538 and is by the Nuremberg medalist Matthes Gebel (active 1523-1574). It portrays Sigismund I, king of Poland (1467-1548), revered for bringing order and probity to government. The reign of his son Sigismund II (1520-1572) was marked by upheavals, so the medal, visible only to the drinker, may pay discrete homage to calmer times under the father.
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