Kopp

Unknown artist

Porcelain cup. Cylinder shaped with an outside edge. The outside with gold pattern and miniature painting of Galathée (Galathea). Inside and handle gilded. France Inscribed in a ledger in 1967. Galatea (Greek: Galateia, “she who was milky white”) is a species of sea nymph in Greek mythology. One of the Nereids. Galatea loved the Sicilian Shepherd Acis and was himself advised by Polyfemos. Furious jealousy kills Polyfemos Acis with a boulder whereupon Galatea, with the exception of grief, turns Acis blood into the river Acis in Sicily, possibly today’s Fiume Freddo (“the cold river”). The story of Galatea has been interpreted by many writers and artists for a couple of thousand years. See, for example, Ovidius, Rafael, Handel and Haydn.