Antique Porcelain German Beer Stein Royal Vienna Beehive Mark Rinaldo and Armida signed Kaufmann c. Description: Beautiful highly decorated porcelain beer stein depicting several scenes on ancient subjects. The decorations are beautifully hand-painted, very intensively gilt and has some enamel relief elements. The lid is made of brass mounts with porcelain incert that is also hand-painted on the inside and outside. I think the theme of the painting is a scene from the epic poem “Gerusalemme liberata” by Torquato Tasso. It tells the story of Rinaldo and Armida. In this poem Rinaldo is a fierce and determined warrior who is also honorable and handsome. Armida has been sent to stop the Christians from completing their mission and is about to murder the sleeping soldier, but instead she falls in love. She creates an enchanted garden where she holds him a lovesick prisoner. Overall – a fantastically decorated piece – a one of a kind treasure. The steins of this kind are usually called “Royal Vienna” style. Even though the original “Imperial and Royal Vienna Porcelain Factory” was closed in 1864. Some of the smaller factories in Austria were given their molds and employed their artists. They continue to use the Bindenschild mark. The Bindenschild mark is often called “Beehive” because when turned upside down it resemples the beehive. However, this is a German heraldic element, a shield taken from the Coat-of-Arms of Austrian Hapsburg family. The decoration is signed “Kaufmann”. This is the signature for Angelika Kaufmann, an artist who seemed to have worked for several factories that made items in Royal Vienna style in 1870s-1900. The brass mounts – the hindge and the thumblift – indicate that the stein was made in early 1870s even though traditionally these steins are dated as ” around 1900″. Some very similar steins are featured on pages 129-131 0f “The Beer Stein Book” by Gary Kirsner. It looks like the inlay of the lid was repaired at some point. The repairs were done very professionally and are very hard to determine. The body of the stein is in excellent flawless condition, there is some wear to the gold on the handle, but no damage, lines or repairs of any kind. It is 6.5 tall to the top of the thumblift, 0.5L capacity. Condition: Body excellent, inlay repaired. Maker: Royal Vienna type. Height: 6.5 in. Get images that make Supersized seem small. Track Page Views With. Auctiva’s FREE Counter. The item “Antique Porcelain Beer Stein Royal Vienna Beehive Mark Rinaldo/Armida c. 1870s” is in sale since Monday, February 11, 2019. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Breweriana, Beer\Drinkware, Steins\Lidded Steins\Germany”. The seller is “beer-stein” and is located in New York, New York. This item can be shipped worldwide.