Tumbler from Herrengrund

This drinking vessel made of partially gilded copper has the shape of a hollow hemisphere. This is a so-called tumbler (‘Tummler’, from taumeln, meaning ‘to tumble’) and is also known as a ‘stand-up cup’. The figure of a naked boy wearing a cap stands on a pillar in the middle of the vessel. The outer surface of the beaker is roughened or granulated. The upper drinking rim is gilded and bears an inscription: ‘Beyleufig etlich stund von Neusohl ligt ein Ort, genannt des Herengrund, macht Kupfer Eisen forth’, which translates as: ‘incidentally a few hours from Neusohl lies a place called the Herrengrund, which produces copper [and] iron’. The text refers to copper mining in the municipality of Herrengrund (now Špania Dolina in Slovakia). Copper salts dissolved in old mines and mountain waters were converted into cement copper by the addition of iron. The copper dissolved from the water and settled on the iron. Many so-called Herrengrund vessels are made of cement copper. Produced mainly by blacksmiths in Neusohl (now Banská Bystrica in Slovakia) from the 17th to 19th century, they were used as decorative objects and official gifts.