ABSTRACT

The particular object of scrutiny in this chapter is a goblet made from unicorn horn, today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The unicorn horn is set in a mount made up of a variety of extremely expensive materials: refined gold and enamel work set with rubies and diamonds and surmounted by a double cameo carved in agate. The source of the unicorn horn's quasi-divine aura lay in a tradition going back at least to the Greek Physiologus, compiled between the second and fifth centuries CE, and known continuously throughout the medieval and Renaissance period. In the light of this myth, the unicorn, supreme among animals, stood symbolically as an exemplar of the qualities of responsible rulership and its horn, therefore, as an appropriate possession of princes. Besides the horn itself, the other constituent parts of Vermeyen's unicorn cup also spoke to kingly virtues.