Bokaal met deksel, met het wapen van Johann Philip von Walderdorff, aartsbischop en keurvorst van Trier c. 1756 - 1768

Curator: Standing here at the Rijksmuseum, we have before us an ornate glass goblet with a lid, crafted sometime between 1756 and 1768. It's titled "Bokaal met deksel, met het wapen van Johann Philip von Walderdorff, aartsbischop en keurvorst van Trier.” Editor: Oh, my. It looks like something a fairy queen would sip champagne from! All shimmering glass, impossibly delicate... I imagine the light playing through it, casting rainbows. Curator: Precisely. It's high Baroque, decorative art at its most extravagant. The bowl is adorned with the coat-of-arms of Johann Philip von Walderdorff. It was meant for display, rather than practical use, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: Absolutely. Can you imagine the labor that went into this? This isn’t your average glass. Considering its history—think about the workshops and the specialized artisans involved, each perfecting their specific skillset to transform raw materials into a luxury product, a status symbol. Curator: Glassmaking in that era was such a captivating alchemical dance. Blowing, cutting, engraving… Imagine the focus and expertise of those craftspeople! It makes me ponder on time and legacy... and fragility, too. Editor: You've said it, fragility… glass isn't simply inert matter but captures the social and economic structures of its time. When you think about where it sits historically between utility and pure indulgence, this glass encapsulates eighteenth-century consumer culture in such a visceral way. Curator: A toast, then – to the stories held within the glass. Each facet reflects not only light but layers of human artistry, skill and... ambition, perhaps. It stirs the imagination, this ethereal creation. Editor: Indeed, I shall raise my glass—if only I had a goblet half as glorious—to celebrate how something so seemingly transparent reveals such an opaque density of social significance!