Wine Glass thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Glass, Room 131

Wine Glass

early 18th century (made), 1748 (engraved)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The glass shows an orange tree in a pot and the inscription 'Vive Orange', long live (the house of) Orange. The engraving celebrates the birth of the Dutch Prince William V of Orange, represented by the shoot coming from the base of the orange tree. William was born in 1748, the year that Van Borckeloo engraved and dated the glass.

Special drinking glasses with commemorative inscriptions were particularly popular in Holland in the 18th century. Both amateur and professional diamond-point engravers worked on local as well as imported glasses. They mostly made these glasses as one-off pieces for special occasions and often dated them and marked them with their signature.

This glass is only one of three known signed glasses by the Utrecht engraver Thomas van Borckeloo. In this case Van Borckeloo used an English glass which was made about 30 years before he engraved it.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Diamond-point engraved glass
Brief description
Wine glass, engraved in Utrecht with inscription 'Vive Orange', The Netherlands, the glass English, engraved by Thomas van Borckeloo, dated 1748
Physical description
Small lead-glass goblet with mushroom-shaped baluster stem. Diamond-point engraved with an orange tree in a pot and the inscription Vive Orange. Dated 1748 and signed by Thomas van Borckeloo.
Dimensions
  • Height: 16.7cm
conversion size only
Style
Marks and inscriptions
Inscribed 'Vive Orange'; signed 'T: VF[?]: Borckeloo.1748' (Decoration; Signature)
Translation
Long live Orange
Transliteration
Long live the house of Orange
Credit line
Given by R.W. Morris
Production
the engraving dated 1748
Subject depicted
Summary
The glass shows an orange tree in a pot and the inscription 'Vive Orange', long live (the house of) Orange. The engraving celebrates the birth of the Dutch Prince William V of Orange, represented by the shoot coming from the base of the orange tree. William was born in 1748, the year that Van Borckeloo engraved and dated the glass.

Special drinking glasses with commemorative inscriptions were particularly popular in Holland in the 18th century. Both amateur and professional diamond-point engravers worked on local as well as imported glasses. They mostly made these glasses as one-off pieces for special occasions and often dated them and marked them with their signature.

This glass is only one of three known signed glasses by the Utrecht engraver Thomas van Borckeloo. In this case Van Borckeloo used an English glass which was made about 30 years before he engraved it.
Bibliographic reference
Another signed glass by Van Borckeloo, dated 1732, is in the Gemeentemuseum The Hague, see: Jet Pijzel-Dommisse and Titus Eliens, Glinsterend Glass, 1500 jaar Europese glaskunst: De collectie van het Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Zwolle, Den Haag, 2009, pp. 175-176, cat. 286
Other number
8808 - Glass gallery number
Collection
Accession number
C.163-1956

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Record createdDecember 13, 1997
Record URL
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