decanter

This glass is known as a “Prince of Wales decanter.” The term was applied to bell-shaped or ship’s decanters (vessels with a wide, thick foot and a short stem, which were supposed to make them stable at sea) that were similar in form to decanters in the prince’s 1808 service. This elaborate example is inscribed with the Lambton family’s motto, “Le jour viendra” (The day will come), which can be read as a prediction of prosperity for a young man who was indeed highly successful. John George Lambton (1792–1840) was lord privy seal from 1830 to 1833, became Viscount Lambton and earl of Durham in the same year (1833), and served as lieutenant governor and governor general of British North America in 1838 and 1839. The decanter was originally part of a service of 239 pieces. Five of those pieces—this decanter and four wineglasses—are documented as having been carried in a tradesmen’s parade through the streets of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Gateshead, U.K., in 1823. Lambton’s service was dispersed in 1932, but two more extensive cut glass services of the Regency period (1811– 1825), made for the marquis of Londonderry and the Darnell family, are now in the Sunderland Museum. For more on these three sets of Regency glasses, see Simon Cottle, “The Darnell Service,” The Glass Cone, nos. 72/73, Autumn/Winter 2005, pp. 4–5; Andy McConnell, The Decanter: An Illustrated History of Glass from 1650, Woodbridge, Suffolk, U.K.: Antique Collectors’ Club, 2004, pp. 277–279; and Susan Newell, “The Sunderland Glass Services: A Reappraisal,” Journal of the Glass Association, v. 6, 2001, pp. 24–37.