Gobelet André Falquet

The Gobelet is an award of recognition to the Geneva citizen and later nobleman André Falquet. It was awarded to him by the city of Augsburg in 1703 during the turmoil of the War of the Spanish Succession. The reason for this was a petition by Falquet - who spoke French - to Marshal Claude Louis Hector de Villars, who was commanding the French troops in Bavaria at the time. André Falquet's mission was to redeem four richly laden wagons of merchandise confiscated by the (French) commander of Bavaria in Donauwörth. These had been on their way from Nuremberg to Augsburg without valid freight documents. André Falquet succeeded in doing so and was honoured by the citizens of Augsburg with the Gobelet.

The recipient of the art object, André Falquet, was a merchant in Geneva. He was born in 1687 and died in 1755. He was ennobled by Charles VI in 1725 for supplying goods important to the war effort to the Imperial army in the War of the Spanish Succession.

The cup was donated by the people of Geneva to the people of Vaud in 1815.^[2] In November 1894, it was acquired by the Musée Fol in Geneva with the help of a special donation (French souscription particulière) before being transferred from the Musée Fol to the Musées d'Art et d'Histoire in 1899.^[2]

The artist who created this art object was called Jean-Mathieu Rehm (or Hans-Matthias Rehm) and came from Augsburg. An analogue of the Gobelet André Falquet was still on display at the National Museum in Budapest at the beginning of the 20th century.

• Haller, J.; Brügger, S.: Adelsbrief André Falquet – Aspekte einer kaiserlichen Urkunde von 1725. Aarau, 2007.