The Behaim Beaker

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Object Name: 
The Behaim Beaker
Place Made: 
Italy, Venice
Accession Number: 
84.3.24
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 10.7 cm; Rim Diam: 7.8 cm; Foot Diam: 6.4 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
probably 1495
Credit Line: 
Purchased with funds from the Museum Endowment Fund
Web Description: 
The Behaim Beaker is a fine example of Venetian cristallo, and it demonstrates how glass from Venice commanded attention abroad. The beaker bears a coat of arms and two panels, each of which contains a figure. The coat of arms belongs to the Behaim family of Nuremberg. One panel depicts the archangel Michael killing a dragon; the other shows Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The unusual combination of Michael and Catherine requires an explanation. It is thought that the beaker was made for the wedding, on July 7, 1495, of a Nuremberg patrician, Michael Behaim, and Katerina Lochnerin, the daughter of a rich merchant whose firm controlled trade between Nuremberg and Venice. If this explanation is correct, the Behaim Beaker is an outstanding illustration of fine Venetian glassware custom-made for export to Germany. It also demonstrates two of the features of Venetian glass that attracted widespread attention: the excellence of cristallo and the brilliance of the gilded and enameled ornament. The Behaim Beaker appears to be the earliest Venetian gilded and enameled glass that can be dated precisely.

More Info

Department: 
Early Modern
Provenance: 
Biemann, Fritz, Former Collection
1984
von Hirsch, Robert, Former Collection
1978
Category: 
Renaissance
Color: 
colorless
gold
red
yellow
white
green
black
Technique: 
glassblowing
enameling
gilding
Material: 
soda lime glass
gold
enamel

Description

Primary Description: 
Behaim Beaker. Colorless. Blown; enameled, gilded. Beaker: barrel shaped, with fire-polished rim; integral foot with articulated foot-ring and pontil mark. Below rim, gilded band with scratched design of scales, with rounded side up, between lines and denticular frieze below. Light blue dots adorn scales, red dots decorate denticular frieze, and dense row of white dots and scattered row of blue dots appear below gilding. Above foot, gilded band is scratched into circlets that hold, alternately, blue dot and red dot. Between bands, continuous green ground with black sprigs and white enamel dots; three gold trees, with green and blue enamel dots enlivened with white enamel dots, subdivide surface for large coat of arms and two cusped white and yellow frames with representations of archangel Michael and Saint Catherine. Targe per pale of gules and argent, overall a bend wavy sinister sable; crest a bird argent, gorged with crown sable; helmet mantlings red, lined with white.

Exhibitions (5)

Global Luxury in Renaissance Venice
Venue(s)
Gardiner Museum 2021-10-19 through 2022-05-29
The exhibition will explore renaissance Venice as a vibrant point of cultures and ideas. It will present Venetian maiolica in dialogue with a range of fine and decorative arts: from Chinese porcelain and Islamic metalwork to Venetian glass and painting, highlighting processess of exchange and adaptation, as well as rivalry and imitation across media. The exhibition will feature maiolica from the Gardiner Museum's collection, which will be enhanced by loans of ceramics, textiles, metalwork, glass, engravings, drawings, painting, and more.
Medieval Glass for Popes, Princes, and Peasants
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass
Changing Exhibitions Gallery
 
Art and Love in Renaissance Italy
Venue(s)
Metropolitan Museum of Art 2008-11-17 through 2009-02-15
Kimbell Art Museum 2009-03-15 through 2009-06-14
Beyond Venice: Glass in Venetian Style, 1500-1750
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass 2004-05-13 through 2004-10-17
 
The Art of Glass: Masterpieces from The Corning Museum of Glass
Venue(s)
IBM Gallery 1989-12-12 through 1990-02-02
National Gallery of Art 1990-12-09 through 1991-04-14
Decorative and utilitarian works from the Corning Museum of Glass, surveying 35 centuries of glass-making technology and stylistic developments from ancient Egyptian, Roman, Islamic, and Asian cultures to contemporary American and European examples. The works were selected by Corning Museum staff members Dwight P. Lanmon, director and curator of European glass; David B. Whitehouse, curator of ancient and Islamic glass; Jane Shadel Spillman, curator of American glass; and Susanne K. Frantz, curator of 20th-century glass.

Publications (28)

The Techniques of Renaissance Venetian-Style Glassworking (2019) illustrated, Introduction fig. 11; BIB# 716365
Chihuly: New York Botanical Garden (2017) illustrated, p. 67 (fig. 22); BIB# 169684
The Techniques of Renaissance Venetian Glassworking (2016) illustrated BIB# 149619
Through the Looking Glass: A Set of Table Goblets at Palazzo Falson, Mdina (2015) illustrated, p. 49; fig. 6, 7; BIB# AI101298
Glass: A Short History (Smithsonian Books edition) (2012) illustrated, pp. 64-65; BIB# 130360
Glass: A Short History (The British Museum edition) (2012) illustrated, pp. 64-65; BIB# 135965
Medieval Glass for Popes, Princes, and Peasants (2010) illustrated, pp. 242-243, #121; BIB# 115588
Richard La Londe and Friends (2009) illustrated, p. 29, right; BIB# 112312
Art and Love in Renaissance Italy (2008) illustrated, p. 96, cat. 28, view 1 & 2, Fig. 61; BIB# 106342
European Glass in the Venetian Style 1500-1750 (2004-08) illustrated, p. 71; BIB# AI63553
Beyond Venice: Glass in Venetian Style, 1500-1750 (2004) illustrated, preface, fig. 1; BIB# 79761
Erinnerungen eines Glassammlers und vieles mehr (2003) illustrated, pp. 76-78; BIB# 76551
Painting on Glass: Contemporary Designs, Simple Techniques (2000) illustrated, p. 7, top; BIB# 133926
Treasures from The Corning Museum of Glass: Checklist of the Exhibition (1999) illustrated, p. 38; BIB# 63967
Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice: The Fragile Craft (1999) fig. 5.3; BIB# 60411
Wedding Traditions: Here Comes the Bride (1997) illustrated, p. 2; BIB# 159842
Hikari no shouchu: sekai no garasu = The glass (1992) p. 16, #23; BIB# 58995
The Art of Glass: Masterpieces from the Corning Museum of Glass (1990-01-19) illustrated, p. 1 (bottom left); BIB# AI23824
The Art of Glass: Masterpieces from the Corning Museum (1990-01) illustrated, p. 24 (left); BIB# AI24626
L'Histoire du Verre: A Travers Les Tresors du Musee de Corning (1990) illustrated, p. 60;
Recent Important Acquisitions, 27 (1985) illustrated, p. 98, #5; BIB# AI15253
The Corning Museum of Glass Annual Report 1984 (1985) illustrated, cover; p. 6; BIB# AI96385
Mille Anni di Arte del Vetro a Venezia (1982) pp. 88-89, #82;
3000 Jahre Glaskunst : von der Antike bis zum Jugendstil : [Ausstellung], Kunstmuseum Luzern, 19.7.-13.9.1981 (1981) pp. 27, 153, #645; BIB# 21949
Recent Important Acquisitions, 21 (1979) illustrated, cover, frontispiece; BIB# AI98081
The Robert von Hirsch Collection, volume 2: Works of Art (1978-06-22) #258, pp. 80-81; BIB# 17644
Title Unknown (Weltkunst) (1978-05-15) p. 1193;
Art at Auction, the Year at Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1977-1978 (1978) p. 453; BIB# 20170

Multimedia (1)

Learn About Glass Enameling
Video