A rare and unusual cut and engraved opaque twist wine glass, circa 1765

A rare and unusual cut and engraved opaque twist wine glass, circa 1765 The bell bowl elaborately decorated with swags of fruit and flowers suspended by three pigtailed female masks, their hair issuing elaborate acanthus scrollwork, a polished 'OXO' border below the rim, the base cut with three large stiff leaves in high relief with engraved veining, issuing elaborate stylised floral palmettes, the double-series stem with gauze core within a pair of spiral tapes, deeply cut with a spiral twist, the step-cut conical foot with a scalloped edge and decorated with a band of polished circlets within radiating lines to the underside, 15.9cm high Footnotes: Provenance Walter F Smith Collection, Pennypacker Auction Centre, Pennsylvania, 1968 Dwight P Lanmon Collection With Alan Tillman Peter Lazarus Collection, Christies, 26 November 1991, lot 141 A C Hubbard Jr Collection, 30 November 2011, lot 126 Stephen Pohlmann Collection Literature Arthur Churchill, Glass Notes, no.10 (December 1950), p.7, fig.9 Exhibited Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, loan no.173 This remarkable glass would appear to be unique. The profuse style of the decoration and many of the motifs, including the use of mask heads, swags of fruit and flowers, palmettes and foliate scroll decoration, is seen on much glass engraved in Silesia and northern Bohemia in the earlier part of the 18th century. Whilst the date of the decoration remains unclear, it seems likely that a continental hand was responsible, probably Bohemian and perhaps working in England. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * * VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com