Beaker

Object NameBeaker

Datec. 1880-1900

OriginBohemia, poss. J. Pohl, Haida

MediumGlass

Dimensions3 9/16 × 2 3/4 in. diameter (9 × 7 cm)

ClassificationsDecorative Arts, Glass

Credit LineGift of Ann and Henry Brunnier. In the Ann and Henry Brunnier Collection, Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object number3.6.45

Status

Not on view

Collections

Decorative Arts

CultureGerman

Label TextIn Bohemia, an unusual and demanding process developed for producing brilliant and elaborate gilded, silvered and painted glasses. Known as "zwischengoldglas", which literally means gold between glass, these glasses were made by taking a glass decorated with engraved gold leaf and placing it inside a bottomless glass which was then sealed by a colorless resin to protect the design. On the earliest examples of this technique, the joint was visible at the tip of the rim, but later the inner glass was made with a lip of double thickness which projected out and over the outer glass. Zwischengoldglas was originally a Roman technique rediscovered by Germans during the first quarter of the eighteenth century. The Romans had used the technique on catacomb beakers. The revival of the process was said to have been developed in a Bohemian monastery in about 1725. This beaker is a later example of zwischengoldglas, although it is joined in the earlier Bohemian style, with the joint showing at the tip of the rim. The encased gold foil depicts armed soldiers, a horse and rider, and an elephant marching through a forest. The rider is probably Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, who in 218 B.C. invaded Italy by crossing the Alps, allegedly with elephants, to defeat the Romans at Lake Transimeno.

Locations