Goblet
Category
Glass
Date
Unknown
Materials
bronze, glass
Measurements
293 mm (Height); 111 mm (Diameter)
Order this imageCollection
Greys Court, Oxfordshire (Accredited Museum)
NT 195644
Summary
Commemorative green glass goblet with bronze gilded filligree around top, whole set on bronze base, inscribed "Memento, From the Table at Irvings Supper given on the Stage of the Lyceum, Feb 14th 1880".
Full description
Commemorative green glass goblet with bronze gilded filligree around top, whole set on bronze base, inscribed "Memento, From the Table at Irvings Supper given on the Stage of the Lyceum, Feb 14th 1880". To celebrate the 100th representation of the Merchant of Venice at the Lyceum, Henry Irving invited 350 people to attend a dinner at 11pm on stage after the performance. As soon as the performance ended, the stage took transformation, with a pavilion being raised and 9 long tables being laid out for the guests to dine at. In his account of the life of Henry Irving, Austin Brereton writes in details about the event: "The room was set with beautiful furniture of various periods, a number of high palms and graceful foliage plants, placed in every corner, forming an admirable background.", "It was a very remarkable sight; the huge pavilion with its myriad lights and brilliant lines and fairylike melting distance, as the light of the theatre, kept full ablaze, shone dimly through the canvas like starlight upon a summer sea".
Marks and inscriptions
Stem: Hallmarks on stem. R.F within shield identified as possible Rupert Favell makers mark. Other hallmarks include duty mark, lion passant and D within shield, which could represent London marking between 1879-80 but this would only be definite if there was a leopard head mark also present.