Tankard

The classification of this tankard raises the question whether it is an original from the 17th century, a replica from the period of historicism (see the relevant text under Tankard with lid), or simply a forgery of a glass from the Baroque period. Forgeries have tended to appear – and continue to appear – whenever demand exceeds supply on the art market. This phenomenon can be observed over a long period of time, especially in the case of enamel-painted pieces. It is not easy to assign them to one of the three categories mentioned above, but there are various indications that allow a clear judgement in the case of this beaker.

In 1955, a glass very similar to the tankard presented here was transferred from the holdings of a well-known New York antique dealer to the collection of the world's largest glass museum, the Corning Museum of Glass in the USA. It bears the date 1690 and was initially classified by the museum as a product of that year, e.g. in 1965 in the most famous publication on the subject of enamelled glass (Axel von Saldern, German Enameled Glass, Corning 1965, p. 374). Some similar pieces were also dated to the 17th century by large auction houses and glass dealers in the 1980s.

The example shown here, the one in Corning and the other similar beakers, however, are certainly not from the 17th but from the 19th century. The late dating is generally accepted today – including by the Corning Museum of Glass. The reason for this are a few considerations. Firstly, the large, flat prunts decorated with enamel paint in the lower part of the cup stand out; this element is not found on 17th century glass. Secondly, the dates – 1646, 1652, 1663, 1670, 1676, 1679, and 1690 – vary too much for the basically similar beakers. Furthermore, in the present example, the motifs of enamel painting and the inscriptions have been taken mainly from 18th century originals. Further evidence for a forgery is that the “signature style” of the enamel painter remains very similar in all the copies, although the glasses were allegedly painted over a long period from 1646 to 1690.

This tankard is a good example to draw attention to the problem of counterfeiting, which of course also exists with glass vessels. Counterfeits have been – and are still being– made of pieces from all eras, right up to the 20th and 21st centuries. In order to guard against this, the intensive and long-lasting study of glasses and the circumstances of their creation is a prerequisite.