Goblet

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Goblet

Designer William LeBrantz American

Manufacturer T. G. Hawkes and Company American, 1880-1964

Dateabout 1920-1925

DimensionsH: 7 in. (17.8 cm); Rim Diam: 3 in. (7.6 cm); Base Diam: 3 in. (7.6 cm)

MediumColorless lead glass; engraved.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Frederick C. Hovey

Object number

2004.57

Not on View

Collections

Glass

Published Referencesc.f. Jane Shadel Spillman, The American Cut Glass Industry: T. G. Hawkes and his Competitors, Corning, 1996, p. 60, fig. 2-26 and 2-28.Label TextThis exquisite tortoiseshell box is decorated with the image of a Diana monkey made by the mosaicist Giacomo Raffaelli. Raffaelli is credited with the invention of so-called micromosaics, in which a picture is painstakingly assembled from tiny pieces of glass called tesserae that are set into a resin-like layer on a copper support. Some of the thousands of pieces in this mosaic are as small as .05 inch across. The prints, drawings, and paintings used as sources by 18th- and 19th-century Roman micromosaicists have rarely been identified. This monkey, however, appears to be carefully rendered after the nearby painting by Melchior d’Hondecoeter (notice how closely the pose and coloring correspond). How Raffaelli knew what was then the century-old painting is left to further research. A chained monkey was a popular symbol of humankind voluntarily shackled by sin. Unlike in the painting, this monkey holds a cherry, possibly an allusion to the Arab fable of the monkey who is captured by a hunter when he refuses to relinquish the fruit. It is thus a subtle reminder to use the tempting content of the box (tobacco or sweets) in moderation.