goblet

Object NameWineglass

Engraverpossibly Willem Mooleyser

Made FromSoda-lime glass

Dateabout 1680-1700

Place MadeLow Countries

TechniqueBlown, applied, engraved

SizeOverall H: 15.5 cm; Rim Diam: 8.8 cm; Foot Diam: 9.2 cm

Accession Number79.3.239

Credit LineBequest of Jerome Strauss

Curatorial Area(s)

Early Modern

Exhibitions

Matters of Taste: Food and Drink in 17th Century Dutch Art and Life

Beyond Venice: Glass in Venetian Style, 1500-1750

On ViewEuropean Gallery

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

The diamond-point engraved bowl shows a pregnant woman holding a wineglass and the inscription “Hansie in de Kelder” (Little Hans in the cellar). Such goblets, which were also made in silver, were used to toast the birth of a male child.

Physical DescriptionColorless soda-lime glass; blown, applied, engraved. The funnel-shaped bowl with rounded base is set on a hollow inverted baluster knop flanked by mereses and a plain section, above a wide folded conical foot. The bowl is diamond-point engraved with a pregnant woman holding a wineglass and the calligraphic inscription Hansie in de Kelder [Little Hans in the Cellar].

Such goblets were used to toast the birth of a (male) child. The goblet is diamond-point engraved in the style of Willem Mooleyser (about 1640-1700). An almost identical but slightly larger goblet was formerly in the Ritman collection: The Joseph R. Ritman Collection of 16th and 17th century Dutch glass. Sotheby's London, 14 November, 1995, p. 52, lot 57. Another example with a more elongated baluster is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: Ritsema vol. II, 1995, p. 73, no. 42. Ritsema attributes the glass firmly to Mooleyser. A third glass is in the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, formerly K. H. Heine Collection: Sabine Baumgärtner, Edles altes Glas. Die Sammlung Heinrich Heine, Karlsruhe: Corona Verlag, 1977, no. 101. Here, an expectant mother holding a flower is engraved above a floral spray with bird. The pregnant woman holds a wineglass as if offering a toast to "Hansie in de Kelder" (Little Hans in the cellar).
Provenance

Former Collection Jerome Strauss (1893-1978) - 1979