It was a serendipitous moment when the writer spied the above beaker, "Covent Garden Threatre", on a shelf at an antiques show of average quality in Norwich, CT in 1988. Nearby was the beaker's companion, "London Bridge", which was being sold separately. Both are fine examples of Bohemian stained glass, amber engraved to clear, with scenes for the English market. (Similar examples, engraved-to-clear with topics such as "The President's House", "State House, Boston", etc. were made for the American market. They are sometimes erroneously attributed to American manufacturers.) Most of these examples of "tourist glass", with scenes carefully engraved on thickly blown, non-lead blanks, date from c1830 to c1860.
A date of c1845 has tentatively been set for this pair of beakers, based on the completion date of the "new" London Bridge, 1831, and the destruction by fire of the old Covent Garden Theatre in 1856. At the present time, however, it has not been possible to confirm that the engraving of the facade of Covent Garden Theatre does, in fact, represents the building that occupied this site from 1809 to 1856. An effort will be made to locate the engravings that were used for both scenes.
Close-ups of the pair of amber-stained beakers, engraved-to-clear. (Full view of "Covent Garden Theatre" is shown above.) Bohemia, c1845. Non-lead glass. Ground and polished pontils. Each beaker: H = 5.5" (14.0 cm), rim D = 4.0" (10.2 cm), wt = 1.25 lb (0.6 kg). The pair sold for $200 in 1990.
London Bridge was disassembled and re-built at Lake Havasu City, AZ in 1968:
Bohemian cut glass is often only thought of as thinly blown glassware indifferently engraved-to-clear with scenes of castles and deer. Such examples. usually from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, are what one usually finds in shops and at shows today. In contrast, the pair of "London" beakers in the first section of this file demonstrate that quality items were being exported for the tourist trade somewhat earlier, during the middle of the nineteenth century.
The following two examples are also from this period, but were probably intended for the European domestic, rather than the foreign, market. Items like these are not often found for sale on this side of the Atlantic today. The writer was fortunate to find the first goblet in Stonington, CT in 1987 and the second in Corning, NY in 2007.
LEFT: Cut-glass goblet in colorless, non-lead glass with six bullseyes stained pink and engraved-to-clear (a color image not available), Bohemia, c1840. The underside of the foot is cut with eight cut pillars that radiate from a central point; a few minor chips. The topside of the foot is flute-cut. The body is cut with six swirled cut pillars, each ending with an engraved bullseye. H = 6.1" (15.5 cm), rim D = 3.9" (9.9 cm), foot D = 3.25" (8.2 cm), wt = 1.75 lb (0.8 kg). Sold for $275 in 1990. RIGHT: Close-ups of the goblet's bullseyes: three florals and three allegories.
BELOW: Cut-glass goblet in colorless, non-lead glass, stained amber. Bohemia, c1840. Sequence in decorating: cut -- stained -- cut-to-clear -- engraved-to-clear. Body cut with facets, flutes, and diminishing lenses (9 + 2). Engraved scene: stag in a forest-clearing. Underside of foot is cut with 12 cut pillars that radiate from a central point. H = 6.5" (16.5 cm), rim D = 3.75" (9.5 cm), foot D = 3.38" (8.6 cm), wt = 2 lb (0.9 kg).
References:
Books:
Victoria and Albert Museum 1965; Arnost et al 1985.
Articles:
Drahotova, Olga, 1985: A few chapters from the history of Bohemian glass production, in Arnost et al 1985, pp. 13-29.
Drahotova, Olga, 1995: Bohemian and Silesian glass for Danish kings, in Krog (editor) 1995, pp. 74-89 plus plates.
Updated 4 Aug 2007