‘Waer werd oprechter trouw dan tusschen man en vrouw ter wereld oyt gevonden?’ (‘Where in the world is loyalty more sincere than found between man and woman?’) This fragment from Joost van den Vondel’s play Gijsbrecht van Aemstel reveals the occasion for which this festive goblet was made. It is a rare Dutch example of a ‘loving cup’, a vessel intended for communal drinking during weddings and banquets. Jan Eisenloeffel (1875-1957), one of the most important Dutch goldsmiths and metalwork designers of the first quarter of the twentieth century, made this object for the fiftieth wedding anniversary [PH1] of Twenthe textiles magnate Johannes Tilanus and Johanna Dikkers. Eisenloeffel himself was married to social-democrat Liede Tilanus and thus related to the family. This loving cup is a unique piece in his oeuvre.

Jan Eisenloeffel, Loving cup, 1924