Sunderland Iron Bridge Goblet
Dateca. 1800
OriginEngland, Newcastle
MediumColorless lead glass
DimensionsOH: 7 13/16"; OD: 4 3/4"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, Michael L. Westfall in Memory of Susan K. Westfall
Object number2026-7
DescriptionLarge goblet: square lemon-squeezer foot rises to plain stem with pad juncture supporting the deep bucket bowl. The bowl finely engraved with a central scene of Sunderland’s Iron Bridge with ships passing under the arch and small square-sailed Tyne coal keels in the foreground. The following engraved beneath the scene: “Stupendous Iron Bridge Over River Wear Sunderland / Span of Arch 236 Ft Height 100 Ft Cast Iron 214 Tons / Wrought Iron 46 Tons Foundation Laid Sept 24 = 1793 / Opened Augt = 1796”. The main bridge scene flanked by cornucopia and the opposite side engraved with a basket of flowers over a reserve enclosing the initials “G E T”.Inscription(s)The following engraved beneath the bridge scene: “Stupendous Iron Bridge Over River Wear Sunderland / Span of Arch 236 Ft Height 100 Ft Cast Iron 214 Tons / Wrought Iron 46 Tons Foundation Laid Sept 24 = 1793 / Opened Augt = 1796”. The opposite side is engraved with a basket of flowers over a reserve enclosing the initials “G E T”.ProvenancePrior to 2013 in the collection of Ian Robertson. With Delomosne Glass (Tim and Vicky Osborne of North Wraxall, England) until January 2026 when it was purchased from Delomosne Glass by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Virginia) where it remains to the present.
