Horse and Rider

This extraordinary sculptural group, which consists of a male nude astride a rearing horse, is a rare example of the work of Hans Ludwig Kienle, a German silversmith who specialized in depicting animals. Conceived as a drinking cup, this work was destined for display on a buffet or sideboard. Kienle’s work belongs to a larger body of German Renaissance and Baroque sideboard silver that includes cups in the form of fully three-dimensional horses, lions, stags, and other animals. Horse-and-rider figure groups have their roots even earlier, in Greek and Roman sculpture. Renaissance princes often had themselves depicted in monumental form, wearing classical dress or contemporary armor, and sitting atop prancing or rearing steeds. That Kienle based this silver cup on an earlier sculptural model is suggested by the existence of a bronze group of virtually identical subject, composition, and scale, made in northern Italy during the second half of the sixteenth century. What makes Kienle’s treatment of this subject so exceptional, however, is his skill at rendering it in precious metals. Working to suggest the differences between human and equine musculature, Kienle contrasted silver and gilt-silver surfaces, thus animating the already dynamic subject.
Such horse-and-rider figures have their roots in Greek and Roman sculpture. Seeking to align themselves with the classical tradition, princes of the Renaissance (and later periods) had themselves depicted in monumental form, wearing classical dress or contemporary armor, and siting atop prancing or rearing steeds. This visual formula was employed in small scale bronzes by such sculptors as Jean de Boulogne, or Giambologna. That Kienle based this silver cup on an earlier sculptural model is suggested by the existence of a bronze group of virtually identical subject, composition, and scale, made in northern Italy during the second half of the sixteenth century.

What makes Kienle's treatment of this subject so exceptional, however, is his skill at rendering it in precious metals. Working to suggest the differences between human and equine musculature, Kienle emphasizes these further by contrasting silver and gilt-silver surfaces, which animates to an even higher degree the already dynamic scene of an energetic horse kept under firm control by a skilled rider. This is a work of enormous importance, both as a work of sculpture and of the silversmith's art.