ATTRIBUTED TO WILLEM MOOLEYSER, CIRCA 1680

Details

A South Netherlands façon de Venise diamond-engraved serpent-stemmed goblet
Attributed to Willem Mooleyser, circa 1680
The pointed funnel bowl engraved with the Wise and the Foolish Virgins below scattered sprigs, the elaborate stem consisting of coiled tubing enclosing turquoise-blue and white spiralling threads terminating in serpent heads and applied with pincered decoration, the foot engraved with two floral sprigs (repaired through upper section of stem)
23.5 cm. (9¼ in.) high

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 10 October 1966, lot 143.
Mr. and Mrs. Fritz Biemann; Sotheby's, London, 16 June 1984, lot 157.
Joseph R. Ritman; Sotheby's, London, 14 November 1995, lot 44 (to Dreesmann).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. H-56).

Literature

F. Biemann, Die Hollandischen Gläser des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts der Sammlung Fritz Biemann, Zürich, in Alte und Moderne Kunst, 1968, 101, p. 15, figs. 3 and 3a.
B. Klesse & A. von Saldern, 500 Jahre Glaskunst Sammlung Biemann, Zürich, 1978, p. 138-139.
F. Laméris & K. Laméris, Venetiaans & Façon de Venise glas 1500-1700, Amsterdam, 1991, p. 118, no. 116.
F.G.A.M. Smit, Line-engraved glass (photocopy published privately), Peterborough, 1994, p. 64, no. 162.1.

Exhibited

Amsterdam, De Nieuwe Kerk, Venetiaans & Façon de Venise Glas 1550-1700, 1991.

Special notice

Christie's charges a Buyer's premium calculated at 20.825% of the hammer price for each lot with a value up to €90,000. If the hammer price of a lot exceeds €90,000 then the premium for the lot is calculated at 20.825% of the first €90,000 plus 11.9% of any amount in excess of €90,000. Buyer's Premium is calculated on this basis for each lot individually.

Lot Essay

The subject is taken from a print after David Vinckboons (1576-1632?) (drawing Frankfurt am Main, Staedelsches Kunstinstitut, inv. no. 2770), see Klesse & Saldern op.cit., 1978, p. 20, who also illustrate a comparable scene on a goblet, figs. 21, 22 and 30. The subject of the engraving refers to Matthew 25, vs 1-13.

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