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Lot 80

An engraved light-baluster wine glass, mid 18th century

21 May 2014, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £6,875 inc. premium

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An engraved light-baluster wine glass, mid 18th century

The rounded funnel bowl engraved with a thistle and the inscription 'NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSET' (no one wounds (touches) me with impunity), set on a tall slender teared multi-knopped stem incorporating a beaded inverted baluster, over a conical foot, 18.1cm high

Footnotes

Provenance: Private collection from a titled family

Although mis-spelt, the inscription is the motto of the Order of the Thistle. This Scottish Order of Chivalry, the perquisite of Scottish kings and high nobility, was linked to the Jacobite political movement. The Order of the Thistle was established in the late 17th century and revived by Queen Anne. Knights of the Order would have been appointed by the monarch, and it is possible that this glass was commissioned by one of them. A glass engraved with a thistle and the same motto was sold in these rooms, 2 June 2004, lot 95, and in The Edinburgh Sale, 23 August 2006, lot 482. Another glass with comparable engraving of a thistle and the same motto is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, accession no. 1953-29-9.

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