Footnotes

Provenance:
Sold at Fischer, Heilbronn, 18 March 2000, lot 281

Considered on all counts to be one of the most important German glass engravers of the Baroque era, Franz Gondelach (1663-1726) skilfully mastered the techniques of Tiefschnitt (bas-relief) and Hochschnitt (high relief) decoration, made possible by the development of new glass compositions which facilitated the production of thicker-walled glass vessels. The composition of the glass Goldelach unfortunately always used, however, was inherently unstable due to the addition of too much potassium to the melt, meaning that many pieces by Gondelach suffer from crizzling. The leading expert on Gondelach, Professor Franz Adrian Dreier, stated that a glass which is not even slightly crizzled cannot have been engraved by Gondelach.

Gondelach seems to have had a particular preference for themes involving satyrs and Cupids such as this. For a comparative example see the goblet and cover by Gondelach in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Schloss Köpenick, Berlin (see Franz Dreier, 'Franz Gondelach: Baroque Glass Engraving in Hesse', Journal of Glass Studies, vol. 38 (1996), pp. 46 and 121, fig. 27, cat. 9, and also Gustav Pazaurek, F. Gondelach (1927), p. 20, fig. 8), which is similar both in form and decorative treatment, depicting a reclining nude female figure with a Cupid in flight above. Another goblet and cover by Gondelach, depicting a satyr with a reclining nude female figure is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no. 27.185.241a,b (see Dreier (1996), pp. 43 and 120, fig. 24, cat. 8, and also Pazaurek (1927), p. 19, fig. 7).

From his arrival in Kassel in 1682 Gondelach seems to have worked for Landgrave Charles of Hesse-Kassel. On 18 January 1688 he obtained an official appointment and is documented as 'court master glassworker', 'court glass engraver' or 'princely glass engraver'. His most famous works are three ice jugs: the first (Pommersfelden, Schloss Weissenstein) was a present from the Landgrave to Lothar Franz von Schoenborn in 1715, the second (made before 1714) is in Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen, and the third (also made before 1714; Moscow, Kremlin) was given by Frederick IV of Denmark to Tsar Peter I. Other important works include a covered goblet (1717; The Hague, Gemeentemuseum) decorated with St George and cherubs executed in Hochschnitt and commissioned by Prince William of Hesse for the confraternity of St George in The Hague, a goblet with cover decorated with a faun and nymph (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art) and a goblet with a resting Venus (Berlin, Schloss Köpenick).

Occasionally Gondelach signed his work with diamond-point engraving, and a particular mark was a cut eight-pointed star on the underside of the foot as on the present lot. The star, however, appears on only one of the three goblets known to have been signed by Gondelach. From 1723 until his death Gondelach directed the Landgrave's glass factory at Altmünden. For a detailed discussion of the life and work of Franz Gondelach see Dreier (1996) and references therein.