18 MARCUS HEIDEN
German (Coburg),
active by 1618-after 166 4
Standing Covered Cup, 1631
Lathe-turned and carved ivory
- 5 cm (2 5 in.)
Inscribed under the base:
MARCUS. HEIDEN. COBURGENSIS
FECIT. 1631
91.DH.7 5
The art of turning ivory on a lathe to produce varying geometrical shapes was extremely
popular in the Northern courts of Europe. Marcus Heiden, an ivory turner and master
of fireworks and firearms at the court of Duke Johann Casimir in Coburg, was one
of the greatest practitioners of this art in the Baroque period. The Museum's goblet,
which was most likely made for Duke Johann, is composed of four main elements:
an elongated octagonal base; a stem in the form of a trumpet-blowing infant; a
geometrically conceived cup adorned with smaller, music-making infants; and a
lid crowned by a cupid shooting an arrow. The pudgy, vigorously sculpted figures,
whose anatomy reflects the influence of Peter Paul Rubens, may have been added
to the cup sometime later in the seventeenth century.
The Museum's goblet exemplifies two major stylistic innovations in turned ivories
that occurred during the first half of the seventeenth century. Earlier ivory standing
cups had been characterized by their symmetrical disposition around a straight vertical
axis and the prominence of abstract rather than figural elements. Heiden's goblet,
however, incorporates both geometrical and figural forms. Furthermore, the standing,
trumpeting infant who supports the body of the cup thrusts out his left hip, causing
the vertical axis to shift asymmetrically and creating an illusion of movement. The
playful poses of the infants seated around the cup enhance the sense of dynamic
rotation, while the cupid perched on one foot atop a globe heightens the impression
of precarious balance. The arrangement and carving of these figures make Heiden's
goblet one of the earliest and most fully Baroque compositions in turned ivory.
PAF and PF
EUROPEAN SCULPTURE 61
