A BOHEMIAN STAINED-RUBY LARGE GOBLET AND COVER engraved by August Böhm, the cylindrical bowl decorated with a battle scene including fallen soldiers, Turks and warriors mounted on a wagenburg within an oblong octagonal cartouche enriched with polished ornament, the reverse inscribed Der Husillen (?) letzte Schlachl bei Lipan within an oval cartouche surrounded by elaborate scrolling foliage and beading, with everted octagonal lower part, supported on an octagonal stem with two collars above a spreading octagonal foot with star-cut base, the shaped domed cover engraved with similar scrolling foliage within a lobed rim and with tall octagonal finial (one lobe to cover very slightly reduced, slight chip to one angle of foot), Meistersdorf, circa 1840

Details
A BOHEMIAN STAINED-RUBY LARGE GOBLET AND COVER engraved by August Böhm, the cylindrical bowl decorated with a battle scene including fallen soldiers, Turks and warriors mounted on a wagenburg within an oblong octagonal cartouche enriched with polished ornament, the reverse inscribed Der Husillen (?) letzte Schlachl bei Lipan within an oval cartouche surrounded by elaborate scrolling foliage and beading, with everted octagonal lower part, supported on an octagonal stem with two collars above a spreading octagonal foot with star-cut base, the shaped domed cover engraved with similar scrolling foliage within a lobed rim and with tall octagonal finial (one lobe to cover very slightly reduced, slight chip to one angle of foot), Meistersdorf, circa 1840
49.5cm. high

Lot Essay

For other goblets engraved by August Böhm with elaborate battle scenes see 'Czechoslovakian Glass 1350-1980', Exhibition Catalogue, 1981, Corning Museum of Glass, p. 70, no. 43 (unsigned); Walter Spiegl, Glas des Historismus, pp. 90-91, pls. 103 and 104 and ibid., pls. 105 and 106 for detailed illustrations of his engraving, Gustav E. Pazaurek/Eugen von Philippovich, op. cit., p. 56, pl. 39, and for the covered goblet in the Broadfield House Glass Museum, inspired by Lebrun's painting in the Louvre of Alexander defeating the Persians, see Charles R. Hajdamach, British Glass 1800-1914, p. 157, pls. 125 and 125A

The Battle of Lipan in 1434 brought peace to Bohemia after a period of turmoil and civil war, the Hussite Wars foreshaddowing the violent religious struggles of the Reformation. The Hussites, considered heretics by the majority of the Catholic population of Bohemia, were lead by John Ziska, whose military genius dominated the early years of these wars and who developed a new and effective defensive-offensive tactical system built around a wagenburg, or wagon fortress, equipped with artillery

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