Tankard with Medal of Sigismond I, King of Poland

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.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
10/13/1966	Treatment	cleaned

Exhibitions

• World of Wonder. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1971-1972.
• Artful Dining: The Exhibition. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1994.
• Small Northern European Portraits from The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. National Gallery of Art, Washington. 2000.

Provenance Seligmann; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1908 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1908