Goblet
Category
Glass
Date
1741 - 1900
Materials
Glass
Measurements
328 mm (Height); 120 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
St. Petersburg
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 870860
Summary
Goblet, glass, engraved and gilded, with the portrait of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna I of Russia, within a cartouche surmounted by her crown. The reverse with the monogram 'EPI'. Foot is a later repair with silver collar covering the join with a glass lid from another object. Bowl and stem probably made by the State Glass Manufactory, St Petersburg, Russia, about 1741. Foot, probably made in England, about 1800-1900.
Full description
Goblet and cover, glass, engraved and gilded, with a portrait of Elizabeth Petrovna of Russia, beneath a canopy, and the reverse bearing her monogram 'EP'. Also an emblem of a two-headed eagle and crown. Foot is a later repair with silver collar covering the join with a glass lid from another object. Bowl, stem and cover, probably made by the State Glass Manufactory, St Petersburg, Russia, about 1741. Foot, probably made in England, about 1800-1900. This glass goblet is one of two in the collection at Saltram House (NT 870860 & 870861). They were both made to celebrate Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (1709-62) ascending the Russian throne in 1741. With the help of a regiment of the Imperial Guard, Elizabeth seized power from her cousin, the infant Ivan VI Antonovich (1740-64). Elizabeth was a popular monarch in Russia, partly because she was the second-eldest daughter of Tsar Peter I (1672-1725), known as ‘Peter the Great’. She also promised not to execute a single person during her reign and consistently placed the interests of Russia ahead of European, particularly Prussian, politics. This glass was probably made at the St Petersburg glassworks which founded in the 1730s by an English merchant called William Elmsel (d.1738). Located on the banks of the Fontanka river, the factory produced tableware glass mainly for the Russian court. Many of the workers came from other glassworks in Yamburg where glassware of this type was already produced for the court. After Elmsel’s death, the factory was state run and in 1792 became known as the Imperial Glassworks. It is possible that these goblets came into the ownership of the Parker family at Saltram through friends or family connections with St Petersburg. Granville Leveson-Gower (a close friend of John Parker, 2nd Lord Boringdon) was Ambassador to St. Petersburg 1804-5. George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (nephew of Frances Parker, Countess of Morley) was a diplomat and politician, holding the posts of attaché to St. Petersburg 1820. Alternatively, they may have been acquired as antiquarian pieces by the Parker family in the 19th or 20th century. The replacement feet, show a history of repair and value - either during ownership or for resale. Comparable examples: Bonhams : A Russian engraved and gilt glass goblet and cover, circa 1741-62 probably Imperial Glassworks, St. Petersburg Art works (hermitagemuseum.org)
Provenance
Possibly acquired by John Parker III (1772-1840) and by descent to Edmund Robert Parker (1878-1951), 4th Earl of Morley and accepted as part of the contents in lieu of payment of Estate Duty and transferred to NT in 1957