16th-century silver stem cup

CREATION

The cup was made in Munich, Germany in the 16th century.

Though it’s unknown when or how the Eugen Gutmann acquired it, the cup was included in a 1912 catalog of his collection published by art historian Otto von Falke. (Von Falke called the collection “worthy to rank beside the treasure-chambers of princes.”)

Eugen Gutmann, 1897

LOOTED

Fritz Gutmann, a banker like his father, stored the inherited collection of silver at his home in the Netherlands. In 1941, the cup was one of many objects in the Guttman collection to appear on a list compiled by the Paris-based Nazi art dealer Karl Haberstock, who sought to acquire them through forced sale.

In 1943, Nazi officers escorted Gutmann and his wife from their house, telling them they were being transferred to Berlin. Instead, Gutmann was taken to Theresienstadt while his wife went to Auschwitz.

ON VIEW AT THE MET

The object entered the Met’s collection
as a bequest in 1974.

In 2017, the HCPO filed a restitution claim to the Met on behalf of Simon Goodman, the grandson of Fritz Gutmann and great-grandson of Eugen Gutmann, after he discovered the cup in the museum’s collection.

RETURNING HOME

February 19, 2020—The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York State Department of Financial Services’ (DFS) Holocaust Claims Processing Office (HCPO) jointly announced that The Met is restituting a 16th-century silver stem cup to the heirs of Eugen Gutmann.

“The [Met] is committed to ensuring that works of art wrongfully appropriated during the Nazi era are restituted to their rightful owners.”

“It is important that this work is returned to the heirs of Eugen Gutmann, and in doing so, we hope to play a small part in honoring the family and the heroic efforts of Fritz Gutmann in safeguarding his father’s collection.”

— Max Hollein, director of the museum