A travel set of silver-gilt items with ruby glass. Comprising: four small bottles (with small chips), two pots with lids, a bowl with two S-scroll handles and four silver gilt cylindrical boxes. Partially finely engraved with floral decoration. Maker Mattheüs II Baur, Augsburg, around 1700. The box of later date. Size of the box ca 20, 5 x 16,5 x8 cm The German chemist and alchemist Johann Kunckel von Löwenstern (1630-1703) experimented to produce true ruby red glass suitable for glass vessels. At Potsdam, he was under the patronage of the Duke of Brandenburg, as director of the laboratory and glass works of Brandenburg. The secret in the formula was the colouring factor of gold in the glass mass. This made red glass expensive and exclusive; people believed that gold was anti-toxic and if someone might have been poisoned, they would be protected by drinking from a vessel of red glass. A workshop in Freising was specialized in making novelties in ruby glass and sending them to Augsburg to be mounted in silver gilt. The family of Tobias and Matthäus II Baur were specialists in this as we can see in this beautiful set.
A travel set of silver-gilt items with ruby glass. Comprising: four small bottles (with small chips), two pots with lids, a bowl with two S-scroll handles and four silver gilt cylindrical boxes. Partially finely engraved with floral decoration. Maker Mattheüs II Baur, Augsburg, around 1700. The box of later date. Size of the box ca 20, 5 x 16,5 x8 cm The German chemist and alchemist Johann Kunckel von Löwenstern (1630-1703) experimented to produce true ruby red glass suitable for glass vessels. At Potsdam, he was under the patronage of the Duke of Brandenburg, as director of the laboratory and glass works of Brandenburg. The secret in the formula was the colouring factor of gold in the glass mass. This made red glass expensive and exclusive; people believed that gold was anti-toxic and if someone might have been poisoned, they would be protected by drinking from a vessel of red glass. A workshop in Freising was specialized in making novelties in ruby glass and sending them to Augsburg to be mounted in silver gilt. The family of Tobias and Matthäus II Baur were specialists in this as we can see in this beautiful set.
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
