This bowl is crowned with a Cupid – that mischievous winged child whose golden arrows, when they pierce the hearts of his victims, make them fall in love. The ivory figure below, with a cloth over her arm, is his mother, the goddess Venus. It's actually a “nautilus” goblet – so named, after the shell that forms the bowl – and is the principle work of the goldsmith Gottfried Döring.
Döring lived in Dresden from 1686 until his death in 1718, and his work is strongly influenced by the artistry of his brother-in-law, the master goldsmith Johann Melchior Dinglinger. In fact, this bowl was inspired by Dinglinger’s famous Diana Bowl, which you can see in the next room. Döring’s Venus Bowl doesn’t quite match up to Dinglinger’s standards, but it’s a fine piece of work.
August the Strong made Döring a court jeweller. In his day, he was almost as famous as Dinglinger, but over the years he has been virtually forgotten. Unfairly, I must say. Because it was jewellers like Döring – and there was a whole of group of them – who helped make Dresden Treasury art as famous as it was in the late Baroque period. They have all been overshadowed by the inimitable brilliance of the greatest of them all – Johann Melchior Dinglinger.
- Location & Dating
- Mother-of-pearl work: probably Cornelis van Bellekin, Amsterdam, mid-17th century; ivory carving: probably Paul Heermann; goldsmith work: Gottfried Döring, Dresden, between 1704 and 1718
- Material & Technique
- Nautilus case, gold, silver, gilt, ivory, enamel, diamonds
- Dimenions
- H 40,8 cm, B 23,5 cm, T 9,4 cm
- Museum
- Grünes Gewölbe
- Inventory number
- VI 124