Richard Toutain d. J. | 1570
The Onyx Jug was a present from King Karl IX of France to Archduke Ferdinand II in the year 1570. It appears perfectly described in its unfinished state a few months earlier in the inventory list of the Parisian goldsmith Richard Toutain the Younger. Here one finds the crowning ring, the gem settings in several parts surrounded by the broad bands with Moorish decoration; even the flat pearl placed underneath the spout was recorded. The vessel can be separated into a goblet and a flat lidded pot on which the former sits. Today it is considered the most important work by a goldsmith from the house of Valois around the time of the last Kings of France.