A BLUE-TINTED COPPER-WHEEL ENGRAVED CALLIGRAPHIC SERVING-BOTTLE

The Huguenot family of Dagofois (also known as Dagofos, Dagovos and Dagefos) settled in Leiden in the early 17th century. Leiden was a leading centre of the textile industry in Europe and it was also home to several amateur calligraphic glass engravers. Previously the engraving on this bottle has been attributed to François Crama (1637-1718). Both the Crama and the Dagofois families were involved in the textile industry and had close ties to the church. Conrad Dagofois, father of Jacob, the recipient of this bottle, married Jannetje Crama, a first cousin of the engraver François Crama. Appointed writing master at the Latin School in Leiden in 1683, François Crama was responsible for cutting a façade-stone with calligraphic script in 1685 which is still visible in Leiden today. The contradictory meanings of the inscriptions on the body and on the base of this bottle may suggest that it was given in celebration of a marriage, possibly that of Jacob Dagofois (1661-1732), son of Conrad Dagofois and Marie de Cheset, and his step-sister Marguérite de Vivier in Leiden on 18 September 1687; the bottle remained with the descendants of the family until it was sold by Christie's in 1984.