Covered Diamond-Engraved Armorial Marriage Goblet

These goblets are among the most impressive and important examples of glass made in England in the early 18th century. They are of extraordinary size and form, and the survival of both covers is miraculous. What makes these goblets so remarkable, however, is the diamond-point engraving, which is among the most elaborate known on any 18th-century English glass. The engraver signed one of the goblets with his initials, noting that he was 78 years old, and he dated the other goblet 1709. The bowls of the goblets are decorated with the coats of arms of the Hart and Dixon families. The glasses were probably decorated to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the wedding of Percyval Hart (died 1738) of Lullingstone House, Kent, and Sarah Dixon (died 1720), daughter of Edward Dixon of Helden, Tonbridge, who married in 1689.