Tumbler - Hermes with the Infant Bacchus (after Coreggio)

The cylindrical glass is faceted with wedges at the bottom. The front shows a mythological scene: a naked male figure on a grass bench, in a scenery of trees, flowers and plants. He wears a winged helmet and sandals stroking a winged child who holds a chalice in its hand. There is a winged female figure beside, holding a bow and stroking the wing of the child.

The mythological figures were identified with the heroes in a piece by Cicero (De Natura Deorum, Book 3, 111.60), concerning the origin of Cupid. The male figure is then - as the helmet and the sandals suggest - Mercury the woman holding the bow is Diana, the child is Cupid. There is an engraved inscription below the picture: "Correggio pinx: F. John sc: I: Piesche. f". The figural decoration was probably modelled on a copied engraving, made after a painting of Correggio, by Friedrich John (1769-1843), an engraver in Vienna.