Tankard from Bohemia in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2020

Tankard
ca. 1585

Bohemian, Prague (Czech Republic)


Object Details

Title: Tankard

Date: ca. 1585

Culture: Bohemian, Prague (Czech Republic)

Medium: Silver, gilded silver, cast, embossed, engraved, and chased, rock crystal, garnets

Dimensions: Height: 8 1/4 in. (21 cm); Diam. of foot: 5 1/8 in. (13 cm); Diam. of rim: 3 1/8 in. (8 cm); Weight: 726g (25.606oz.)

Classification: Metalwork-Silver In Combination

Credit Line: Purchase, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Acquisitions Fund, 2017

Accession Number: 2017.231


Cranes, such as the one on the lid of this tankard, symbolized alertness, an essential attribute of the wise prince. Princes used objects like these to communicate their personal virtues and those of their realm; no doubt mined in Bohemia, the garnets encircling the tankard demonstrated the land’s richness. The princely owner may have believed that the beveled rock crystal, sometimes called "the frozen tears of the gods," would keep the liquid inside cold.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/749114