Beaker with Portrait of Robert de Gravels

ArtistProbably Johann Schaper (Enameler) (German, 1635 - 1670)

Place of OriginNuremberg, Germany

Dateabout 1663-1664

Dimensions3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm)

Mediumenameled colorless glass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1913.455

On View

Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion (2444 Monroe Street), Glass Pavilion Gallery, 4

DescriptionCup-shaped, standing on three small knob feet. Painted in black with portrait and landscape.

Label TextThat artist Johann Schaper (1635–1670) was one of the most innovative and accomplished decorators of stained glass panels and faience vessels in 17th-century Germany. He began to paint on glass vessels with transparent enamels in about 1660 when, coping with mounting bills for his growing family, he sought to broaden his customer base. He first began to decorate small vessels with schwarzlot, transparent black lead enamel used since the Middle Ages to paint outlines and shadows on stained glass panels. This schwarzlot beaker depicts one of Schaper’s patrons, the French envoy to the Bavarian Court in Regensburg.Published ReferencesPage, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 108-109, repr. (col.) fig. 44.1, p. 108.