Christian Gottfried Schneider, Silesia, 1765-70 approx. Extraordinary and extremely rare eighteenth-century goblet finely ground with an allegorical scene

Christian Gottfried Schneider, with reliable attribution, Silesia, 18th century, second half, 1765 -70 approx. Extraordinary and extremely rare eighteenth-century goblet finely ground with an allegorical scene set in the park of a castle. Young nobles converse and play the "blind man's buff - Blinde Kuh Spiel" known in Italian as Moscacieca, in the park of a splendid castle. On the back of the goblet the inscription in ancient German "Durch dieses Wenige erzeig ich meine Pflicht den dero(?) Gultigkeit erzetzt mal hier gebricht" = With so little I educate myself to the duty whose (moral) value repays its lack (of the sense of duty in fact). The work is inspired by a print by French artist C.N. Codin in turn inspired by a painting by Nicholas Lancret. A copy of this print is kept in the graphic collection of the Albertina Museum in Vienna (see photo at the bottom of the page). Splendid work in excellent condition without restorations. A high-ground glass with the same identical scene, but from the middle of the century is kept in Zurich and is part of the important Franz Biemann collection, partly recently sold by the auction house Bohnams of London. This goblet (whose scene is compared to that of our goblet below), was exhibited in the important exhibition "Biemann collection" at the Cologne museum, in August 1978. Published in the related catalog on pages 50 and 51. Height 15 cm, width 8.5 cm. Christian Gottfried Schneider 1710 - 1773 born, lived and died in Warmbrunn (Silesia, Giant Mountains today Polish side). He is considered one of the greatest exponents of the art of grinding of the '700 of Silesia. Literature: Licht und Farbe by Rudolf von Strasser and Sabine Baumgaertner from page 266 onwards; Glasssammlung Helfried Krug by Helfried und Jopie Krug, Duesseldorf 1973 ; Schlesisches Glas, Dietmar Zoelder, Wurzburg 1996 ; The Legend of Bohemian Glass: A Thousand Years of Glassmaking in the Heart of Europe, Antonin Langhamer, Zlin (CZ). Brigitte Klesse, Glassammlung Helfried Krug (1965), p.184, no.168 Gustav Weiss, Gläserbuch (1966), p.167. B. Klesswe e A. V. Saldern, Sammlung Biemann, austellung 500 Jahre Glaskunst, Cologne museum, Germany Blind man's buff is a traditional children's game widespread in many countries of the world. It is played outdoors or in a large enough empty room. A randomly chosen player is blindfolded (and thus becomes the "blind man"), and must try to touch the others, who can move freely around. In the most common variant, if the "blind man" touches a player, the latter takes their place. Some variants provide that the "blind man" must recognize the captured player (without taking off the blindfold) for the capture to take effect. It is an ancient game; the Roman writer Macrobius mentioned it in the fifth century, calling it "copper fly". It is also known that the game had a moment of great popularity in Victorian England, where it was played indoors. It is played in many countries of the world with different names; in English it is known as blind man's buff (United Kingdom and Ireland) or blind man's bluff (United States); in German as Blinde Kuh (Germany and Austria).