The vessel is made up of five pieces of rock crystal and six silver gilt mounts with a double row of denticles and a line of pearls. It represents a dolphin with its body curved and its tail raised. The tail is divided into three sections followed by the thick trunk and head, with the teeth showing in the open mouth. The small transversally placed dorsal fins are joined on with two mounts. An oblong receptacle with gadroons, possibly a salt cellar, rests upon the head of the dolphin, to which it is joined by a mount similar to the rest. The figure originally rose on a tall metal mount with a decoration of ova, rosettes, and thirty-two lapis lazuli stones. This was stolen in 1918. It is the work of the Milanese artist Giovanni Battista Metellino.

The Museo degli Argenti in Florence has a salt cellar with a dolphin, Inventario del Bargello 1917, no. 25, that is very similar to the one in the Dauphin’s Treasure. but smaller. Attributed to Giovan Battista Metellino, it is also related to other vessels at various different museums, including a similar one in Dresden, Grünes Gewölbe, inv. VI, 36, made in enamelled gold. Several of this artist’s drawings of his works have been preserved, which has allowed scholars to group together vessels with similar stylistic characteristics.

Preserved in the Dauphin’s Treasure are several vessels attributed by Arbeteta to Metellino or his workshop, such as O99, O107, O108, and the one discussed here. These works are characterised by smooth carving and simple, compact forms adorned with small motifs like floral sprays or insects, and with vegetable compositions that give the impression of being cut off before they have reached full development. Louis XIV and his son the Dauphin gathered a good many objects of this type, and the 1689 inventory abounds with descriptions of pieces with insects and small birds scattered over their surfaces, with no decoration at all except for certain cases with undeveloped vegetable motifs. Most of those preserved at the Louvre come from the royal collection or even from the Dauphin’s, such as OA 2029, E 113, and OA 5377 and 5378. Among the pieces in this group, designs are frequently found that reach up to the very edge of the vessel, perhaps in an attempt to make the most of materials that had cracked during manufacture. If figures of animals or people appear, they tend to be rather crudely executed, with a squat and stocky physique that makes them look somewhat caricaturesque. The decoration is generally completed with a very schematic landscape. Vines, vine leaves and bunches of grapes are other frequent motifs in works of this type, accompanied by simple mounts made in silver gilt with primary techniques like filigrees, rope patterns or stamped motifs. Hardstones carved like gems are added in some cases such as the dolphin analysed here, which had several square cut lapis lazulis on its pedestal. They were stolen in 1918.

Original state: Juan Laurent y Minier, “Coupe, en cristal de roche taillé et gravé, montures d’argent doré et lapis, XVIIe siècle, règne de Henri IV”, c. 1879. Museo del Prado, HF0835/44.