Imperial eagle tankard
An imperial eagle tankard or eagle glass was a glass drinking vessel popular in the Holy Roman Empire from the 16th to the late 18th century , decorated with a double-headed imperial eagle , usually in the form of a quaternion eagle . Such tankards became the decisive medium for the presentation of the most popular explanatory model for the structure of the empire, the quaternion theory in the presentation of Hans Burgkmair .
The imperial eagle tankards showed the owner's bond with the empire and were very popular because of their decorative effect and bright colors. But these drinking vessels were also valued because of their large capacity. The elector tankards enjoyed a similar popularity . On these the representations of the emperor and the electors as the most important members of the empire represented the empire.
Imperial eagle tankards have been preserved in large numbers and are exhibited in museums around the world. At auctions, well-preserved items can sell for up to several thousand euros.
Appearance
Imperial eagle tankards usually had a capacity of three to four liters and were made of white or differently colored glass. The barrel-shaped or cylindrical imperial eagle tankards have a height of 20 to 32 cm and a diameter of 10 to 15 cm. Such tankards were occasionally made of tin or brass with a lid and a foot. The decoration was painted on the glass using the enamel technique. This technology came to Germany from Venice via Tyrol. Powdered glass was added to the paints. After painting the surface, the glasses were heated again so that the paint melted onto the surface. This technique achieved a long durability of the painting and the strong, bright colors.
Initially, the eagle was depicted with a cross or an image of Jesus crucified on its chest. The cross symbolized the Christian foundation of the empire, with the imperial eagle protecting the church. Since the beginning of the 17th century, the crucified was generally replaced by the depiction of the imperial apple . Occasionally a portrait of Emperor Leopold I was also shown.
On the wings, a total of 56 coats of arms of the imperial estates were depicted in the form of quaternions as symbolic bearers of the imperial constitution. The electoral coats of arms and the Pope's coat of arms are in the first row and in close proximity to the eagle's heads. Underneath, four coats of arms are depicted in twelve stripes. There are depictions of the imperial eagle together with the emperor and the electors from the time of Leopold I from the end of the 17th century. Symbolizing the double-headed eagle, the kingdom as a whole, is crowned and a sign of holiness of the kingdom nimbiert .
Dedications, an explanation of the representation, the year of manufacture and the name of the glassmaker can often be found on the back of the bowl. For example, on a copy from 1669, which is now kept in the Grimma District Museum:
- The Holy Roman Empire; Mitt Sampt his limbs in 1669 Hanß George Sommer.
Since the end of the Thirty Years' War to-find toasts and good wishes to point out that the Imperial Eagle beaker were served to welcome and at meetings of the guilds were used for which purpose the large capacity speak.
History and meaning
In the 16th and 17th centuries, depictions of the emperor, the electors and the imperial eagle were very popular. Representations on wood and copper engravings by well-known contemporary artists were often used as a template for the decoration of everyday objects and utensils. In addition to the imperial eagle tankards, there were stoneware serving vessels, pewter plates and stove tiles with these motifs.
The oldest example is a tankard from 1571, which is now on display in the British Museum in London. One of the five oldest tankards from 1572 is in the Württemberg State Museum in Stuttgart. Until the middle of the 18th century, the imperial eagle tankards were manufactured almost unchanged. Then the production seems to come to an end. Such tankards were mainly made in Bohemia, Saxony, Thuringia, Hesse and in the Fichtel Mountains. The importance of the imperial eagle bowl for the glass trade in these regions can be guessed from the fact that the glassmaker's guild of the Bohemian Kreibitz in 1669 demanded as a masterpiece the production of an imperial eagle bowl in a day and a half.
The imperial eagles gave the ideal of the permanent unity of the Holy Roman Empire decorative form and show the emotional connection of broad circles to the empire. The imperial eagle was usually represented in the form of a quaternion eagle , which combined the theory of quaternions with one of the most important symbols of the empire. Since the structure and structure of the empire was in need of explanation even for contemporaries, there was a model with the quaternions that should illustrate the structure of the empire. It originated in the 14th century and remained popular until the end of the empire. Fictitious groups of four of the imperial estates were formed, the quaternions, whose members had a common characteristic. So there was the group of secular electors, margraves and so on. However, this often led to misleading and inaccurate compilations in order to achieve the number of four, but this did not detract from the success of the model.
The early modern drinking culture, in which social drinking was very important, led to the tankard being associated with the imperial eagle in order to express the owner's attachment to the empire. This bond with the empire and its members was particularly pronounced among the "common man" and the smaller imperial estates, which is why imperial eagle totes were primarily to be found in circles of the lower nobility and bourgeoisie, such as the patricians and the guild bourgeoisie of the cities. Most of the verifiable owners were artisans and artisan corporations. There are only a few copies in royal possession.
The term Roman Empire has become a standing term for the imperial eagle bowl. To drive away the melancholy, one reads in the work Disputatio inauguralis theoretico-practica jus potandi ... published by Richard Brathwaite (1588–1673) in 1616 under the pseudonym "Blasius Multibibus" (Latin for a lot of booze) , that same year appeared in a German translation with the title Ius Potandi or Zechrecht without an author's name:
- you have to ask for funny pups / and good friends to wipe the dust off the Roman Empire and other drinking litters / and thus arouse and make a funny bill and drink.
The historian Sven Lüken suspects that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe thought of an imperial eagle tankard when he let the revelers in Auerbach's cellar sing:
- The dear Holy Roman Empire, how does it stick together?
At the end of the 19th century, imperial eagle tankards were often forged.
literature
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Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation 962–1806. Exhibition catalog . Volume 1: Catalog . Volume 2: Essays . Dresden 2006, ISBN 3-937602-64-X (catalog and volume of essays in a slipcase), ISBN 3-937602-62-3 (catalog - museum edition), ISBN 3-937602-63-1 (essays - museum edition), therein:
- Sven Lüken: The Hailig Romisch Reich with Sampt its Gelidern. Reichsymbolik und Reichsemblematik , essay volume p. 173.
- Bernd Roeck: The aesthetic staging of the empire - aspects of its early modern iconography , volume of essays p. 215.
- Evelyn Brockhoff (ed.): The Kaisermacher - catalog volume. Frankfurt am Main and the Golden Bull 1356–1806 . Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-7973-1011-0 .
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ GRASSI Museum for Applied Arts. (2017-12-15). Imperial eagle tankard. Retrieved July 15, 2018 .
- ↑ Object database of the Saxon State Office for Museum Affairs (PDF with description and images of this copy)
- ↑ Copy of the Württemberg State Museum
- ↑ Blasius Multibibus; Ius potandi , 1616, quoted from Roeck, p. 215
- ^ Sven Lüken, Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation 962–1806. Exhibition catalog. Volume 1: Catalog, Dresden 2006, p. 91.
- ^ Faust - The first part of the tragedy: Auerbachs Keller in Leipzig , here quoted from the edition in Wikisource .
- ↑ Article Reichsadlerhumpen in Lexikon Kunsthandwerk und Design , CD edition Directmedia, ISBN 978-3-89853-468-0
