Getty Museum

Large Beaker (Humpen)

Date

early 17th century

Medium

Free-blown colorless (pinkish-gray) glass with diamond-point engraving

Culture

Bohemian

Department

Decorative Arts

Institution

Getty Museum

The technique of diamond-point engraving is traditionally thought to have been perfected by a Venetian, Vincenzo di Angelo dal Gallo. He was already active by 1534 and in 1549 applied to the Venetian authorities for a patent to practice diamond-point engraving. Other countries, however, were not far behind; one German writer noted in 1562 that people were "scratching all kinds of leafy scrollwork and beautiful flourishes with a diamond on the fine, smooth Venetian glass." The simple leafy vine engraving on this beaker, without the addition of gilding and enameling, is rare on vessels from southern Bohemia (the present-day Czech Republic). Large vessels such as this one probably held beer and were shared communally.

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