Christofle & Cie — Skyphos wine-cup from the Hildesheim Treasure

Christofle and Cie.
Skyphos wine-cup from the Hildesheim Treasure, adorned with relief garlands.
Silver-plated copper.
H. 8.5 cm; W. 19.5 cm (with handles).

The skyphos wine-cup features two garlands of flowers and fruits in relief on its body, supported at both ends by upright thyrsi and alternating torches, connected by a finely detailed knot of ribbons. This is a silver-plated copper edition crafted by the illustrious house of Christofle, inspired by Roman silverware discovered around Hildesheim in 1868.

The archaeologist François Lenormant, one of the first French commentators on the Hildesheim Treasure, commented on our skyphos in 1869 in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts :

"[...] t's the delightful little cup [...] with a festoon of flowers and fruit running along its sides, supported at both ends by upright thyrses, from which also run strips that tie into each other. I don't know of any antique metal vase with a more original feel, more reminiscent of Louis XVI art at its most graceful and elegant. This is indeed the side of antiquity that the artists of that charming and short-lived period sensed, rather than invented." (Lenormant, 1869, p. 420 ff.)

As for Christofle's facsimiles, through which these wine-cups, jealously guarded in the Museums of Berlin, have been appreciated in the rest of France and Europe :

"[But] for some time in France, we knew of the Hildesheim discovery only through the echo of the immense impact it had beyond the Rhine, through deliberately incomplete descriptions [...], and through rather poor photographs published in Berlin based on plaster casts. This is no longer the case today. The admirable reproductions recently produced by Christofle et Cie, and currently on display at the Union centrale des Beaux-Arts appliqués à l'industrie exhibition, will popularize the vases found in Hanover in our country." (Lenormant, p. 408 ff.)

The "immense impact" mentioned by François Lenormant refers to the discovery, in 1868, at Hildesheim, of a vast treasure of Roman vases and bowls. Another French archaeologist, the eminent Professor Salomon Reinach, a member of the Académie des Inscriptions, curator at the museum of Saint-Germain, and professor at the École du Louvre, recounts the story of the Hildesheim Treasure :

This beautiful collection of silver vases was discovered on October 17, 1868, southeast of Hildesheim, at a place called Galgenberg. Napoleon III reportedly tried to acquire it, but the entire find, after being molded, was purchased by the Berlin Museum on September 17, 1869." (Reinach, 1909, p. 157)

This treasure was discovered when a "detachment of Prussian soldiers was busy leveling the ground for a firing range, at the top of an elevation, on the western slope of Mount Galgen [in German Galgenberg], at the gate of Hildesheim." (Lenormant, p. 409) The entirety of the treasure had been, though hastily, skillfully arranged: the vases and bowls nested within each other, like Matryoshka dolls; more precisely, "two larger vases were turned upside down and, forming a bell, covered all the others, piled haphazardly." (Lenormant, p. 409)

Piled haphazardly because, according to the German hypothesis of the time, an assumption not considered incompatible with the archaeological reality of the facts by the great German historian Theodor Mommsen, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1902 — nor by Salomon Reinach — according to the German hypothesis of the time, the Hildesheim Treasure consisted of the silverware of the Roman staff of the famous Varus, defeated at the Battle of Teutoburg by the Cherusci led by Arminius, in 9 AD. (cf. Charles Picard, 1949, p. 194)

In Lower Saxony, near the Teutoburg Forest, reputed as the place where Varus' legions were annihilated by the Germans led by Arminius, flows the Visurgis. This watercourse passes through Bremen before flowing into the North Sea but passes not far from Hildesheim. The German hypothesis of the time was thus as follows: in the face of defeat or in the confusion that followed, a detachment of Arminius' legions would have hastily but carefully buried such a precious treasure of silver vases and bowls. They would have hidden it not far from a recognizable mountain, undoubtedly hoping that it would one day be discovered and that the treasure would fall into Roman hands.

This hypothesis, so romantic, would be considered a legend if Hildesheim were not indeed "far outside the most advanced Roman occupation lines, in purely Germanic territory, on the land of the indomitable Cherusci." (Lenormant, p. 410) Indeed, few Roman legions penetrated Germany around Hildesheim.
This edition of the Hildesheim Treasure by the house of Christofle is a must-have, both for enthusiasts of Roman antiquity and lovers of French craftsmanship.

Sources :

François Lenormant, « Le Trésor d’Hildesheim », dans La Gazette des Beaux-Arts, t. II, 2, 157?, Paris, jui. 1869.
Salomon Reinach, Répertoire de reliefs Grecs et Romains, t. I, « Les Ensembles », Paris, 1909.
Charles Picard, « La date du « Vase d’Alésia » », Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 93e année, n° 3, 1949.
Pline l’Ancien, Histoire naturelle, XXXV, L.