Jim Peake
Head of Department
Lot 50
A very rare Beilby enamelled gin or miniature wine glass, circa 1765
19 November 2025, 10:30 GMT
London, Knightsbridge£3,000 - £5,000
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A very rare Beilby enamelled gin or miniature wine glass, circa 1765
Of most attractive small size, finely painted in opaque white with three floral and foliate swags, the rim with traces of gilding, on a double-series stem containing a pair of opaque white spiral threads outside a lace twist, over a conical foot, 11cm high
Footnotes
Provenance
S V D D Jones Collection, Christie's, 7 June 1988, lot 190
Glasses of this small size are traditionally sometimes described as gin glasses, and small sets of such glasses with Beilby enamelled decoration have been discovered in the Netherlands, suggesting that they may have been made for the Dutch market. A set of six wine glasses with similar decoration was sold by Bonhams on 3 November 2016, lot 109. Compare also to those illustrated by James Rush, The Ingenious Beilby's (1973), p.93, pl.51(b) and by L M Bickerton, Eighteenth Century English Drinking Glasses (1986), p.220, no.660. See also lot 46 in this sale.
We are grateful to Simon Cottle for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.