and a child next to her, a horse and a chest with a dog standing on top of it. The scene is

depicted on a floor with tiles. Around the rim of the bowl an inscription of the toast:

‘A TOUT CE QUE NOUS FAIT PLAISIR’, to all that is dear to us.

The lady is dressed like a well to do woman, also wearing earrings and a necklace. Both children wear dresses. In the Netherlands all children, boys and girls, wore a dress until the age of three. The small child on his mother’s arm has a rig (?) on his back to prevent him from running into the wrong direction.

The horse and dog are engraved like a bas-relief. Probably Jacob Sang used a wheel with soft edges to accomplish this effect. The horse and the chest are symbols of wealth. In a city like Amsterdam only the happy few could afford a horse (and a stable). The (treasure) chest is being protected by the dog. A dog is symbol of loyalty and friendship.

It is not strange that the inscription on a Dutch glass is written in French. The Dutch elite, nobility and patricians, spoke French with each other, above that French was the lingua Franca in eighteenth century Europe.

Engraver: The glass is signed on the foot: ‘Jacob Sang, inv= et Fec= Amsterdam, 1760’.

Jacob Sang was and still is the most famous wheel engraver of the Netherlands. He lived in

Amsterdam from about 1748 until 1785. For a long time he had a shop in the Hartestraat, one

of ‘de 9 Straatjes’, the nine little streets, near to the Prinsengracht. Sang was born in

Germany, Erfurt in about 1720 and died in Nigtevecht not far from Amsterdam. Sangs work

is well known for its incredible detail.One other glass with the same depiction and inscription

now in Dutch (‘Al wat ons lief is’) signed by Sang in 1761, is known to us. The whereabouts

of this goblet is unknown.