19th Century, Cup With Nereid

19th century
Cup with nereid
Gilded bronze and crystal, height 36.5 cm

The present crystal cup, worked boldly through dense geometries that dialogue with each other, is arranged on an elaborate golden bronze base, showing a nereid. Exponents of the progeny of Nereus, whence the name, and Doris, an oceanine, according to the ancient mythology the nereids enlivened the entourage of Poseidon, following it trustingly in the company of the tritons, their male counterpart. The image of the nereids was widely used in the world of applied arts to adorn with elegance dedicated supports: the present, sinuously screwed in an indefatigable shoring-riot of scales, shows itself supporting the crystal, like it’s a rare marine caryatid. The nymph holds a trumpet, a canonical attribute of the nereids, used to gather from the sea depths the sisters as well as move how many other mythological beings inhabit the ocean. Curiously, in the present bronze, the trumpet also resembles a cornucopia, producing a refined synecdoche for the whole cup: just as the nereid will fill the cornucopia of the sea fruits, so will the refined crystal of the cup. 
The base on which the nereid lays shells the present, organizing a triangular base from the edges manneristly enlivened through fast volutes, paginating a formal continuation of the tail of the nymph.

The object is in good condition