Primary Description:
Clear heavy glass with few bubbles; blown, tooled and diamond-point entraved. (a) Plain conical foot with wide underfolded rim and rough pontil mark, composite stem consisting of an inverted baluster, a quatrefoil and a ball knop alternating with single, double and triple mereses, bucket bowl; (b) set-in highly domed cover with acorn finial with tear supported by a few mereses. On the bowl a coat-of-arms and, on the reverse, a helmet supported by two cupids and surmounted by a steer's head, both enclosed in pairs of leafsprays; in between the inscribed figures of Faith and Hope; along the bottom: "July 22th 1708", below the helmet "IXXX" (or "XXXI") enclosed in a branch held by the cupids; on the cover the arms of the City of London flanked by those of, probably, Wright and Ellis (Sotheby cat. description), with a fourth coat-of-arms (a heart enclosed in heart) on the reverse; an inscription reads: "United Hearts Death only, parts".