On top of the lid sits winged Cupid, the god of love, who may have played with his well-known (but here lost) attribute, an arrow. The stem statuette in the form of a boy holding up an apple could refer to Adam and the biblical story of the expulsion from Paradise. Seen together, Cupid, the apple, and the abundance of flowers and foliage signify vanity and the passing of earthly pleasure. Until recently, the only works by Stephanus Weltzer II that were known are two chalices in ecclesiastical treasuries.

Literature
Important English and Continental Silver. Sale cat., Sotheby’s, New York, October 19, 1995, n.p., no. 260.

References
Elemér Kőszeghy. Magyarországi ötvösjegyek a középkortól 1867-ig / Merkzeichen der Goldschmiede Ungarns vom Mittelalter bis 1867. Budapest, 1936, no. 256 [maker’s mark].
Sculptural stems were highly fashionable during the Baroque period to embellish display pieces. See, for example, Erdély régi művészeti emlékeinek kiállítása az Iparművészeti múzeumban / Ausstellung alten Kunstgewerbes aus Siebenbürgen. Exh. cat. Museum of Applied Arts. Országos Magyar Iparművészeti Múzeum. Budapest, 1931, p. 14, no. 38, pl. VII.

[Wolfram Koeppe 2015]