Description
The most striking feature of this fine wine goblet is the extravagant "wings" in the shape of seahorses or serpents on either side of the stem. This general type of goblet with an elaborately wrought, flat central stem-section was developed in Venice in the 1500s. In the following century, slightly heavier versions in this façon de Venise (Venetian manner) were being produced in the Southern Netherlands by glassmakers from Venice who established glasshouses at Liege, Brussels, and Antwerp. The present goblet is a characteristic type known as a verre à serpents (glass with serpents). Such goblets were produced for use, but functional works of great artifice were often displayed for their ingenious design.
Results
