Primary Description:
Colorless glass with smoky tinge, with seed and bubbles; opaque white lattimo glass; opaque turquoise-blue glass beads; blown, vetro a fili, applied, gilt; pewter mounts, cast, engraved. Tapering tankard with fire-polished rim (perhaps trimmed with shears); slightly rising base with hardly discernible, rough pontil mark; applied, flattened foot-ring, with gilt rigaree pattern on the upper side. Applied and cast-off thread below rim. Applied handle, lower attachment above center of body, folded with pincers, and applied with prunt and blue bead; upper attachment touching thread below rim. On front of body, applied “Neptune’s” mask with traces of gilding, with three prunts on top and one prunt below, all applied with blue beads. Body is decorated with spiral lattimo threads (a fili). Ogee-shaped, domed pewter cover with engraved rings, mounted to thumbpiece that is shaped as a scallop on the front, and as a human mask on the back. Attached to handle by hinge, with pointed strap running down outer curve of handle. Inside cover, circle mark with hand(?) and letters P and V (a third letter is not readable). The rim is distorted to an oval (hidden under the cover). A large gold leaf is caught between foot-ring and base; otherwise, gilding is very sparsely scattered on foot ring and applied mask. Lattimo canes, clearly identifiable as tubes, do not reach center of base. Signs of trimming with straight shears.