![The Cabinet of a Collector Frans Francken the Younger was the most famous of an Antwerp dynasty of painters; he trained with his father, Frans the Elder (1542-1616), and joined the Antwerp guild in 1605. He was a painter of religious and historical subjects as well as being the inv](https://cmsadmin.rct.uk/sites/default/files/256240-1454408285.jpg)
Wunderkammer: Cabinet of Curiosities
'Rooms of wonder' showcase a collector's knowledge of the world
Cup and cover
c.1700 with later additionsRCIN 50554
This superb example of virtuoso ivory carving suggests a princely patron. The artist has paid close attention to the musculature of the Hercules figure, the variations in fur, leaf and skin, and the minutest details of the plants and animals. The ivory carver is not known but he may have worked in the court of Vienna. The original chased silver-gilt mounts were evidently too plain for George IV's increasingly flamboyant tastes and in 1824 Rundell's added 'a new silver chased rim […] set with coloured stones to raise the cover', and extended the foot. The latter may have been a practical consideration to increase the stability of a top-heavy object, but no opportunity was lost by Rundell's to add jewelled mounts to the piece.
Bibliographic reference(s)
EAJ : Jones, E.A., 1911. The Gold and Silver of Windsor Castle, Letchworth
p.54