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4111 A Giant Wine Glass/Goblet
There are wine glasses - and wine glasses - but this has to be one of the craziest ever made as it will hold a magnum of wine!!!
The model is not unusual - it has a bucket-bowl resting on a double series opaque twist stem and a low conical foot. There is nothing unusual about that; it is just the size which is exceptional. The opaque twists are comprised of a multi-ply corkscrew within a pair of corkscrew threads. The foot has has a chip,not a large one, but it has been 'filled' with acrylic so as to be almost invisible.
An object like this poses an interesting question - 'why was a glass made this size'? There are several possibilities. It could have been a glass-makers display piece, to have in his shop window, It could have been made to hold punch so that two or three people would have used it as a punch bowl, Alternatively it could have simply been made to drink from.
The eighteenth century saw wine drinking to excess in some quarters, and some boasted of being two- or three- bottle men; some even more, meaning that they were used to drinking that much in a day or at a sitting. Clubs were the usual venue for such excess, and it is not inconceivable that a club may have had a glass such as this which would have been used for wagers between members. Just imagine it - I'll buy you dinner if you empty the club wine glass in 15 minutes!
If you have a better suggestion, we would love to hear it!
The lower image shows the glass, with a full 75 cl. bottle and a standard 18th cnetury wine glass.
Date: c.1760- 70
Dimensions: 10.8", 27.5cm. high
Price: UK customers £1,600, US customers $2,560, Euro customers €1,920