MARK OF DAVID REYNIERS, DORDRECHT, 1615; THE GLASS CIRCA 1725-1750

Windmill cups were produced in the Netherlands and Germany from the late 16th to the 17th century, as one form of trick drinking vessel. By blowing through the tube, the windmill blades and clock hand turned. Where the clock hand stopped indicated the amount to be drunk. Windmill beakers with glass or silver cups are known. Two Dutch examples, with similar millhouses and silver cups, relate closely to the present lot. A 1636 unmarked example from Dordrecht is in the Rijksmusuem and a 1713 cup from Rotterdam, mark of HVB with vase beneath, is in the collection of the Historical Museum, Rotterdam. (see: J. W. Frederiks, Dutch Silver: Wrought Plate of North and South-Holland from the Renaissance Until the End of the Eighteenth Century, 1958, no. 423, pl. 296 and no. 600). A windmill beaker with glass cup, 1595, is illustrated in Pieter C. Ritsema van Eck, Glass In the Rijksmusem, 1995, no. 5. p. 25.

We thank Herman Meulendijks for his assistance in cataloging this lot.