# Nautilus cup [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [UNKNOWN GOLDSMITH, Netherlandish]() - Date: 1551-1600 - Technique: Silver gilt, nautilus shell, glass and enamel, height 27 cm, diameter 10 cm ## Commentary Beginning in the 1580s many Flemish silversmiths left Antwerp to settle in the United Provinces. Inevitably, their work was at first closely based on Antwerp models. It is probably thanks to these immigrant artisans that the silver production in many Dutch cities at the time became both stylistically unified and of high quality. Mounted Nautilus shells were popular in Europe from at least the thirteenth century onward, but no Dutch Nautilus cups are known from before the 1590s. This example from Delft was made by an immigrant artist, possibly by Nicolaes de Grebber \(master in Delft in 1574, died in Delft in 1613\). ## Related artworks - [Censer]() - [Ceremonial chain]() - [Chandelier]() - [Covered cup]() - [Triangular salt-cellar with cover]() - [Tumbler]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()