This tankard, a type of drinking vessel popular during the Renaissance period, was primarily a magnificent display object. Such treasury pieces signified their owners’ social graces at important events, tempering more blatant messages of wealth and conspicuous consumption. The sophisticated play of textures; the daring juxtaposition of ornamented chased and pierced areas with zones of light-catching rock crystal is extraordinarily original. The tankard was made in the workshops of the Prague court of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, a patron who adored luxurious lapidary work and goldsmithing.