Calcedonio Cup and Saucer (Trembleuse)

Place of OriginItaly, Venice

DateEarly 18th century

DimensionsTogether: 3 3/4 x 4 7/8 in. (9.5 x 12.4 cm)
Beaker: 3 1/2 x 3 in. (8.9 x 7.6 cm);
Saucer: 1 3/4 x 4 7/8 in. (4.4 x 12.4 cm)

MediumAgate glass (calcedonio); blown, applied foot.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2005.51A

Not on View

DescriptionThe bell-shaped beaker and matching stand of inverted 'Cardinal's Hat' shape are blown of agate glass (calcedonio), the exterior appearing dark brown with celadon-colored, light brown, and a few blue striations, with numerous aventurine inclusions. The interior has a milky greenish-blue coloration, appearing deep red in transmitted light. The beaker has an applied everted foot.

Label TextCups with matching deep fitted saucers were paralleled in European ceramics and Chinese export porcelain. They were called trembleuses (“shaking hands”) and were used to serve coffee and hot chocolate. Trembleuses of agate glass appear to have been made exclusively in Venice. A difficult glass formula to create and manipulate, calcedonio glass imitating agate or chalcedony has been a specialty of Venetian glassmaking technology since the 15th century. The recipes were highly guarded secrets and the resulting vessels were comparatively expensive.Published ReferencesEuropean Ceramics, Glass, Silver, and Vertu, SALE W05733, Sotheby's, London (Olympia), July 6, 2005, Lot 172.

You, Yao-Fen, Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate: Consuming the World, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2016, cat. no. 35, p. 33, repr. (col.) p. 42.

Exhibition HistoryDetroit Institute of Arts, Bitter | Sweet: Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate, Nov. 20, 2016 - March 5, 2017.Comparative ReferencesSee also A.-E. Theuerkauff-Liederwald, Venezianisches Glas der Veste Coburg, pp. 485-489, figs. 595-605.