Cup

A cup made of hyalith. The Wilanów collection also includes a saucer that comes in a set with the glass (Wil.5698/2).

It owes its exceptional appearance mainly to the material it is made of, i.e. black, non-transparent glass. Its inventor was Georg Franz August Longueval, count of Buquoy (1781–1851). He was a mathematician, a physicist, a chemist, a philosopher as well as an owner of several glass factories. In the course of his experiments he discovered a new recipe for deep black glass. He gave it the name of “hyalith”, inspired by the Greek word for “glass” (“hyalos”). Its production started in 1817 and it quickly became very popular. It resembles lacquer, so it was often decorated with gilded chinoiserie motifs inspired by Far Eastern art, which made it even more similar to materials coated with lacquer. These motifs included figures in Oriental attire, plants such as peonies or chrysanthemums, architectural structures evoking the Far East as well as animals such as cranes or mythical dragons. That is the style in which the cup was decorated. Unfortunately, the subtle gilding faded over the course of time and it was later coated with a painted brown pattern which is far below the artistry of the original motif. The cup is decorated with depictions of lush vegetation (spikes, flowers, grass) with a figure of a Chinese man wearing a hat and holding a stick n his hand. He is as tall as the plants.