Drinking horn from the Amsterdam Company of Arquebusiers 1547

Curator: The "Drinking horn from the Amsterdam Company of Arquebusiers," crafted in 1547 by Arent Cornelisz Coster. What a find! Editor: Visually striking. The juxtaposition of the raw horn with the ornate metalwork is immediately captivating. A real dialogue between natural form and crafted luxury. Curator: Indeed. The horn itself speaks to a hunting tradition, while the silver mounts denote civic pride. The Company of Arquebusiers, a militia group, commissioned this. It was both a functional object for communal drinking and a statement of status and wealth within the social fabric of Amsterdam. Editor: The Northern Renaissance attention to detail is superb. The flowing lines of the silver stand, supporting figures… what story do you think these materials try to tell together? The figures supporting the drinking horn almost echo classical atlantids—a definite nod to Humanist ideals through form, however applied to the everyday practice of sharing alcohol. Curator: The materiality is paramount. Think of the labor involved in procuring the horn, shaping the silver. This was about the company celebrating their economic strength but also how connected the company was through trade. Consumption, display, communal ritual—it's all interwoven. Editor: I see that completely. And speaking to your first points: formally, that visual weight is ingeniously distributed. The figures support the horn without being crushed visually by the weight of the drinking receptacle. Instead, they enhance the shape itself, driving the eye upward and along the elegant curve of the ivory and the shining lip. Curator: Exactly. Consider how an object like this moved through the city and who was allowed to interact with it. The very act of raising it in a toast solidified the social bonds within this specific group. Editor: So, it’s a narrative not just of craftsmanship, but also about community and collective power enacted through shared action, shared labor… and now a very, very fine artefact. Curator: It provides such insights. What stories could it tell us, I wonder. Editor: Indeed, from the visual details to that era. A testament to a complex, dynamic era.