Important medal with Adoration of the Shepherds Gift... Lot 46

Important medal with Adoration of the Shepherds Gift for the birth of Regina Hainhofer Silver, gilt. Reliefed depiction of the Adoration against an architectural background/ ruins, Christ's baptism in the Jordan River at the back left. Reverse engraved "LVCAS GEIZKOFLER/ COMPATER REGINAE/ 16. NOVEMB: A 1608./ NATAE EX PHILIPPO HAI:/ NHOFERO DIVINITVS VT/ SEREGAT EXOPTANS/ F.C." The rim corded, drilled at the top for a corded eyelet. Unmarked. D 7.1 cm, weight 57 g. Augsburg, attributed, 1608. Philipp Hainhofer (1578 - 1647) was descended from a successful Augsburg merchant family that was knighted by Emperor Rudolph II in 1578. Due to his affinity for art, Philipp began to build up collections at an early age. His excellent relations with the higher nobility helped him to gain an international reputation as a great art dealer, which culminated in his compiling and having made the famous Pomeranian Art Cabinet and handing it over to the purchaser, Duke Philipp II of Pomerania-Stettin, in 1617. Hainhofer married Regina Waiblinger on 29 October 1601 and moved with her from Fuggerplatz in Augsburg to Annaplatz (today Martin-Luther-Platz 3), where his chancellery, his Kunstkammer and his library were located. His house was equipped in such a way that in the following years he was able to receive princes and kings in a manner befitting their station and to present them with extremely valuable gifts. The couple had seven children in all. After two older daughters, Barbara and Judith, Regina was born in 1608, named after her mother and godchild of Lucas Geizkofler. The latter was probably Lucas Geizkofler von Reiffenegg (1550 - 1620), who was born in Sterzing in Tyrol. He studied and obtained a doctorate in law and worked at the Imperial Chamber Court in Speyer, in Dole and Strasbourg before settling in Augsburg and entering the service of the Fuggers as a lawyer. Literature Cf. cat. Wenzel Jamnitzer und die Nürnberger Goldschmiedekunst 1500 - 1700, Munich 1985, no. 523. On Hainhofer see Emmendörfer/Trepesch (eds.), Wunderwelt. Der Pommersche Kunstschrank, Berlin-Munich 2014, pp. 33 ff. On Geizkofler see Linsbauer, Lukas Geizkofler und seine Selbstbiographie, online publication of the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck.