An early Dutch wheel-engraved goblet and cover, circa 1670. Photo Bonhams

Possibly Northern Netherlands, the straight-sided bowl with rounded base, decorated on one side with a nude female figure holding aloft a covered goblet in her right hand, her left arm resting on a large ewer, reclining on the lap of a man, a flying Cupid at one side firing an arrow at the couple, all within a strapwork cartouche, the reverse with two skirmishing cavalrymen, in the manner of the engraved work of Antonio Tempesta, a small polished lens above and within a similar frame, flanked by pendant fruit and flowers with polished centres, set on a hollow inverted baluster between mereses, over a wide conical foot with folded rim, inscribed Vive les Deux, the domed cover with the monogram CAB below a crown, the reverse with a crowned armorial, each between tied leaf fronds and joined by fruit swags, below a knopped finial, 25cm high (2). Sold for £18,750 inc. premium

Notes: See Pieter Ritsema van Eck, 'Early wheel engraving in the Netherlands', Journal of Glass Studies, vol.26, Corning (1984), pp.86ff.

A goblet of identical form engraved in diamond point with cavalry skirmishes may be found in the Ernesto Wolf Collection (see Brigitte Klesse and Hans Mayr, European Glass 1500-1800 (1987), no.161), attributed to the Netherlands, circa 1680. Another goblet of similar form, also in the Ernesto Wolf Collection, no.185, is decorated with copper-wheel engraving. A further wheel-engraved example decorated with the arms of the Seven Provinces is illustrated by Hubert Vreeken, Glas in Het Amsterdams Historisch Museum en Museum Willet-Holthuysen (1998), p.181, no.166. This goblet also has a small lens above the scene on the reverse as with the present lot.

The arms may be those of the Dutch Province of Zeeland.

Bonhams. 2 May 2013 10:30 BST London, New Bond Street. The Muhleib Collection of European Glass