Goblet

Since antiquity, glass has sometimes been adorned with cut or engraved ornamentation. From the 17th century onwards, work in this field began to exceed all previous examples in its quality of execution. The precondition for this development was the transfer of experience gained in the 16th century in cutting and polishing gemstone vessels – for example rock crystal – to the finish of glass vessels. This especially concerned the ability to incise delicate motifs into surfaces through deep relief techniques. While the leading glass cutters of the 17th century worked in Nuremberg, the primacy passed to Bohemia around 1700. Between about 1725 and 1750, Silesia held the leading position in artistic glass engraving.

The classical repertoire of Silesian cut glass in the second quarter of the 18th century includes goblet glasses, confectionary bowls and footed beakers. Through happy circumstances, the Vitromusée was able to acquire three corresponding pieces between 2019 and 2022, which can now be displayed as an ensemble. They match each other excellently, because they are of a similarly high quality of craftsmanship – which is not the norm – and all three feature décor in both high and low relief. Because numerous Silesian glass objects from the second quarter of the 18th century with a similarly high quality décor are documented, the polished and cut glass of this time and region are considered the best of their kind in the scholarly literature.

One face of the goblet depicts a ship in a bay, the other features an aphorism – a common feature of baroque cut glass:

« vertraue dich der see.
dem frauen zim ̅er nicht
so leicht als wie ein glas
auch ihre gunst zerbricht. »
(trust to the sea/ not to woman kind/ for as lightly as glass/her favour will break)

This text – probably a citation – is almost identical with a 1630 work by the Silesian baroque poet Martin Opitz (1597 – 1639), entitled Schäfferey von der Nimfen Hercinie (“Pastoral of the Nymph Hercinie”). Apparently the aphorism became so popular that it was still reproduced on glassware a hundred years later.