The Antique Marks Blog

A rare August Bohm goblet set a house record of £64,000 at Wottons auction rooms in the UK Cotswolds.

The glass goblet described as a companion work to an August Bohm masterpiece, was consigned to Wottons by a a local Stroud family and as Wottons researched the glass goblet it emerged that they had a second version of the 19th century Bohemian glass engravers 23in (58cm) goblet currently on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The goblet at Wottons varies slightly in outline and detail but is the same size and featured a panel of a similarly fine engraved battle scene depicting Alexander the Great defeating the Persians. It also carried the same French inscription, La Vertu Surmonte Toute Obstacle, as the V&A’s goblet and Bohm’s engraved signature Gravirt V A Bohm aus Meistersdorf I Bohem im Jahre 1845, indicating that it was produced five years later.

The vendor stated the vase had been in their family since the inter-War period and before offering it for sale it had stood, filled with ping-pong balls, on a sideboard.

Wottons Auction Rooms catalogue entry stating :

A very fine quality 19th century Bohemian glass vase and cover with central relief engraved panels of a battle scene after Lebrun’s painting depicting Alexander The Great defeating the Persians, with etched inscription “La Vertu Surmonte Tout Obstacle ” to reverse and with further inscription below panel “Gravirt V A Bohm aus Meistersdorf I Bohmen im Jahre 1845, 58cm total height (the vase believed to be a version of the example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, hitherto in the Broadfield House Glass Museum) £2000-3000

During the sale interest in the room stalled at a few thousand pounds, but a prolonged battle began between two telephone bidders, one a London dealer and one a local dealer. The London buyer eventually took the final price to £64,000, a house record for Wottons.

August Bohm (c.1812-90) died in poverty, but was considered the best exponent of his craft in his day.

The goblet in the V&A was once owned by the 19th century English glass maker and writer Apsley Pellatt, who pictured it on the frontispiece of his key 1849 publication Curiosities of Glass Making and described it and its creator as:

“A most beautifully engraved vase by a Bohemian artist is in the possession of the author; the workmanship is even more elaborate than that of the Portland Vase; the subject is from Le Brun’s painting of the conquest and final overthrow of the Persians at the battle of Arbela, by Alexander the Great. For depth of workmanship and artistic execution, as a modern intaglio engraving, this vase is unrivalled.”

Pellatt’s praise was mirrored by others and the V&A goblet was so highly rated that plaster casts were taken from it and kept in Bohemia to encourage other engravers.