Globe Cup in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2020

Title: Globe Cup

Maker: Hans Jakob I. Bair (1574–1628)

Maker: Alexander Mair (German, 1559–ca. 1620)

Date: 1604

Culture: German, Augsburg

Medium: Silver (partially gilded)

Dimensions: 17 11/16 × 6 5/8 × 6 9/16 in. (45 × 16.8 × 16.7 cm)

Classification: Metalwork

Credit Line: Kunstkammer, Landesmuseum Württemberg, Stuttgart


The globe’s engraving is based on a world map published in 1590 that reflected the most up-to-date cartographic knowledge in Europe. As imperial ambition grew, maps became a way for rulers to display their knowledge of territories overseas. A Greek inscription on the globe equates drinking from the cup with gaining knowledge of the world: "In two halves we are cut from the globe, one of us contains the inhabitants of the South, the other the folks of the North... If you drink twice in both halves you will see everything." The infant atop the globe could be interpreted as Christ, borne on the shoulders of Saint Christopher.

Text from: www3.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/782298