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Goblet
unknown - Enlarge image
Goblet
- Place of origin:
London, England (probably, made)
- Date:
1684-1700 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Lead glass, with mould-blown, trailed and pincered decoration
- Credit Line:
Given by C. Rees-Price and Mrs Jeanie H. R. Price
- Museum number:
C.139-1925
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 56d, case 13
Object Type
Large ceremonial goblets survive in comparatively large numbers. Never mentioned in contemporary literature or included in glass bills, they appear to have been made as 'one-offs'. The proportions of this glass suggest that originally it had an elaborate cover, as do some other examples.
Time
The known custom of passing around a single large goblet of wine at the dining table might explain the existence of these example. No doubt there were lingering memories of the importance placed upon the host's silver-gilt cup in medieval times.
Materials & Making
Before the invention of lead glass in the 1670s, it would have been difficult to produce a goblet of this size that could survive being passed around a rowdy dining table. This piece displays all the decorative features that were possible with slow-cooling lead glass: mould-blown ribs pincered together, trailed glass threads pinched into a chain, and applied prunts (glass blobs). An innovation of the 1680s was the inclusion of coins in the hollow knops (swellings) of goblets, a practice which, applied to mugs and jugs, continued until the 1860s. The dates of these coins rarely seems to have any significance, although it is worth noting that the silver threepenny bit in the stem of this goblet was minted in 1685, the last year of Charles II's reign.
