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Covered goblet (pokal)
Attributed to: New Bremen Glassmanufactory of John Frederick Amelung (Glassmanufactory, active 1784–1795; Amelung, American, born in Germany, 1741–1798)
1785–95
Object Place: Frederick County, Maryland, United States
Medium/Technique
Non-lead glass, free blown
Dimensions
Overall: 31.4 x 11.4 cm (12 3/8 x 4 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by The Seminarians and Mr. and Mrs. Daniel F. Morley
Accession Number1994.82a-b
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsGlass
Owing to technical challenges and the expense of glassmaking, most window and table glass was imported from England. In 1784, however, Amelung, German entrepreneur and glassmaker, arrived in Maryland with skilled workmen, technical expertise, and financial backing from merchants in Bremen, Germany. For the next decade, Amelung's New Bremen factory-perhaps the largest industrial enterprise in the country-produced such beautiful and ambitious glass objects as this goblet made for a Pennsylvania church. Despite its artistic success, New Bremen was forced into bankruptcy, undermined by the vast influx of inexpensive, English glass.
DescriptionLarge covered goblet or pokal of blown, non-lead glass of gray tint; the bowl of deep ogee shape having two rows of air beads in its solid base; inverted baluster stem; high domed foot; pontil mark. The inset cover has a trailed ring to rest on bowl rim, and a wide baluster finial with tear.
ProvenanceBelieved to have been made for the Evangelical Reformed and Lutheran congregation of Bender's Church, Biglerville, Pennsylvania, founded ca, 1781 about forty miles north of New Bremen; to a private individual about 1926-27 when that union congregation was dissolved; in a private Pittsburgh collection by 1991; purchased by the Museum from W.M. Schwind, Jr., Antiques, Yarmouth, Maine, in 1994.