A Very Fine Engraved 18th Century Air Twist Stem Wine Glass c1750

Description

Heading : A Very Fine Engraved 18th Century Air Twist Stem Wine Glass
Period : George II
Origin : England
Colour : Clear
Bowl : Bell shaped. Engraved with carnations and a moth or butterfly in flight
Stem : Milti spiral air twist with medial swelling knop
Foot : Conical
Pontil : Snapped
Glass Type : Lead
Size :  Height 16.4cm. bowl 6.3 and foot 7.4
Condition : Excellent
Restoration : None
Weight: 150g

Notes : There is an obvious temptation with glasses of this nature to apply the popular misconception that birds in flight and flowers would have all the ingredients of the typical Jacobite melodrama engraved upon period glassware! Anyone can weave a story to make this fit the engraving and all too often they do.

This is almost certainly an example of a botanical decorative theme. nothing seditious or disguised. no hidden meanings.

The Intire Glass Shop advertised Flower’d glasses on their trade card as early as 1742. With floral designs featuring prominently in decorators books of the period. It is entirely logical that an engraver would choose to use a theme from the natural world to adorn glassware. just as painters did for porcelain. This is a far more plausible reason for the engraving than hidden support for a lost cause. just much less romantic and far less commercial.

We have written about moths and butterflies. the returning soul and their Jacobite significance many times. This could and would be described as being of Jacobite sympathy by many and this may possibly be true.