Cup with cover - with the allegory of the five senses

Slightly upwards widening cylindrical form on round foot with wavy rim and stylized foliated cast, ball-shaped handle on the convertible cover, in three round fields surrounded by foliage and flowers, idealistic profile portraits: the heads of two youths and the head of a bearded man with laurel wreath. The surface of the tankard is covered with a coat of figural relief following its shape. The composition – having a special construction using more than one viewpoint – is the allegory of the five senses. The figures are the following: a man lying, holding a lute a standing woman with a garland – the personifications of hearing and smell four putti, one of them holding a mirror, the other a goblet and two embracing each other – the personifications of sight and touch.

The model for the composition is unknown, the representation has a stylistic relationship to the works of Francesco Albani (1578–1660), the famous master of the Bologna school. As to form and the use of relief decoration – in spite of the different theme of the representation – the silver tankard in the collection of the Armoury of the Kremlin must be considered to be an analogous piece. It has a similar mark.