Wine glass

Wine glass with a conical bowl, plain stem and conical foot. It is wheel-engraved with a depiction of Nelson wounded at the Nile and is inscribed 'LORD NELSON WOUNDED AUG 1ST 1798'. The shape of the glass could date it to as early as the 1780s though it is probably later. The original portrait on which the image is based (now NMM BHC2903) is attributed to Guy Head and thought to have been painted for Nelson himself at Naples in 1798-99. He reportedly gave it to Lady Parker, wife of his early patron and friend in the West Indies, Admiral Sir Peter Parker, whose daughter bequeathed it to Greenwich Hospital in 1869. Since it was not reproduced as a print, or generally available for copying until that time, the glass was probably engraved no earlier than the 1870s. Although there is no evidence, it might be a commemorative piece inspired (honestly or otherwise) by the Trafalgar centenary of 1905. It has been in the Museum since 1935 as part of the Walter Collection.

Object Details

ID: GGG0017
Collection: Decorative art
Type: Wine glass
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Unknown
Events: French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of the Nile, 1798
Date made: Late 18th-early 19th century, with Later engraving; circa 1820 ?
People: Nelson, Horatio
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Caird Fund.
Measurements: Overall: 130 x 65 mm