An extremely rare plain stem wine glass engraved in the Chinoiserie style with a continuous scene featuring two oriental figures,one standing with a bird aloft held by a string , the other seated below in the grass in a country setting with woods, mountains and buildings.

Height 6 1/16th ins 15.4 cm

This rare scene is probably based on very similar ones of bird catching found on Dutch engraved light balusters,during the 17th and 18th century in continental Europe the trapping of migratory birds was a common practice with either tethered birds or caged song birds being set out to attract the wild visitors who were lured into the nets or traps ,some would have been kept but most ended up cooked, it was also used at that time as an allegory for young men not to be too "greedy" !!

An identical glass can be found in Turnbull and Herron price guide to 18th c drinking glasses,page 110

A superb rare glass,the one above and this one seem to be the only 2 recorded,in perfect original condition.