An exceptional façon de Venise gilded, enamelled and engraved vase and cover, Court Glasshouse, Innsbruck, circa 1570-91

Footnotes

Provenance
Rev. William Fraine Fortescue Collection, Chesterton, Oxfordshire, sold circa 1889
Lady 'Lili' Maria Elisabeth Augusta Cartwright (née von Sandizell)
Thence by descent to her son, William Cornwallis Cartwright, Aynhoe Park, Oxfordshire
Thence by family descent to the present owner

An old paper label attached to the foot of this vase records its provenance thus: 'Bought in Chesterton at sale of Rev- Fortescue late incumbent of that Parish'. William Fraine Fortescue (1810-1889) was the second son of William Fortescue of Writtle Lodge, Essex. He was a fellow of New College, Oxford, from 1828-50 and became vicar of Chesterton in 1849.

In 1570 Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol founded a glasshouse in the garden of his home at Schloss Ambras, Innsbruck, having become increasingly dissatisfied with the glass made in Hall and a continued reliance on Venice for luxury tableware for use at his new residence. Through negotiations with the Venetian authorities, he secured the temporary loan of craftsmen from Murano and obtained permission to use various raw materials and tools brought from Venice. Although never commercially viable, a number of Venetian master glassblowers were recorded at Innsbruck including Pietro d'Orso (1571), Salvatore Savonetti (1573-75 and 1578) and his father Bastian (1578) and Andrea Tudin (1575 and 1583), all of whom returned to Murano once they had honoured their contracts. The Archduke also employed around 50 painters each with different artistic talents, who were most likely German. The cold-painted decoration on these wares was usually executed in red, green and gold, reflecting Germanic taste.

The long accepted attribution to the Court Glasshouse at Innsbruck for this unusual group of glass, with its distinctive grey tint and its cold-painted and diamond-point engraved decoration, has been debated and a tentative attribution to Venice suggested by some scholars, see Anna-Elisabeth Theuerkauff-Liederwald, Venezianisches Glas der Veste Coburg (1994), p.242. The Archduke continued to purchase Venetian pieces after the opening of his own Glasshouse, see Erwin Baumgartner, Verre de Venise et façon de Venise (1995), p.99. This included "10 vergoldete Deckelpokale" in 1575 which may correspond to covered vases of this type, see Erich Egg, Die Glashütten zu Hall und Innsbruck (1962), p.45. Although probably made as reliquaries, still-life paintings from the early 17th century show vessels of similar shape without decoration containing wine.

For comparable examples with lion mask stems in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, see Egg (1962), nos.27, 34 and 35. Another in blue glass from the Ernesto Wolf Collection, now in the Landesmuseum Württemberg, is illustrated by Brigitte Klesse and Hans Mayr, European Glass from 1500-1800 (1987), no.35. Other comparable examples without lion mask stems are illustrated by Egg (1962), nos.30-33, by Rainer Ruckert, Die Glassammlung des Bayersischen Nationalmuseums München, vol.I (1982), no.147, by Rudolf von Strasser and Walter Spiegl, Dekoriertes Glas (1989), p.163, no.6, and by Olga Drahotova, Europäisches Glas (1982), p.37, no.12. See also the example from the Mühleib Collection sold by Bonhams on 2 May 2013, lot 6 and that in the Museo del Vetro di Murano (accession no. Cl.VI n.01124) illustrated by Attilia Dorigato, Il Museo vetrario di Murano (1986), pl.21. An example without decoration from Aynhoe park was sold by Sotheby's on 14 July 1975, lot 322. Further similarly decorated examples with lion mask stems but of cylindrical form are illustrated by Egg (1962), nos.36 and 41 and another from the Mühleib Collection was sold by Bonhams on 2 May 2013, lot 5.