Unknown
Bottle with Arms of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichsadler Bottle)1572

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 2

Rectangular clear glass bottle with gilt metal rim, decorated overall in polychrome enamel with an open hand, heraldic shields, ribbon banners with inscriptions, and a dot-and-teardrop collar at the neck

Enameled glass flask with rectangular body and tapered neck capped in gold, decorated with a dense arrangement of heraldic coats of arms in blue, red, yellow, and black, surrounded by scrolling banners with German inscriptions, and dotted white enamel trim near the shoulder.

Enameled glass flask with rectangular body and tapered neck, gold metal stopper; decorated with painted lily-of-the-valley sprigs in green and white, a central blue and gold monogram, heraldic motifs, and a band of Latin script near the shoulder.

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Bottle with Arms of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichsadler Bottle)
Place Made: Bohemia (now Czech Republic)
Date Made: 1572
Medium: Glass, enamel, gilt, pewter cap
Dimensions: 13 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. (34.29 x 11.43 x 11.43 cm)
Credit Line: William Randolph Hearst Collection
Accession Number: 48.24.146a-b
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: The decoration of this bottle, dated 1572, includes the heraldic shields of the different states that constituted the Holy Roman Empire, a complicated political alliance that dominated Europe from the medieval period until its conquest by Napoleon in 1806. The four sides of the bottle are almost entirely covered by the outstretched wings of a double-headed eagle, known as the Quaternion Eagle, a symbol of the empire based on a design created around 1510 by German printmaker Hans Burgkmair. Across the top of both wings are the names of the ecclesiastical and secular electors who chose the emperor. Below them, each feather has four shields naming the different ranks of member states and their rulers, summarized on the white banners at the bottom. Bottles and beakers with the imperial eagle were popular from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. They were colorful expressions of patriotism and also served as a helpful diagram, like an “org chart” of the regions and officials in the empire.

In the early twentieth century, this bottle formed part of the extensive collection of German enameled glass assembled by William Randolph Hearst, building upon an earlier collection he had inherited from his mother.
Selected Bibliography: Levkoff, Mary L., ed. Hearst the collector. Exh. Cat. New York: Abrams and Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2008.

Unknown
Bottle with Arms of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichsadler Bottle)1572

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 2

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Bottle with Arms of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichsadler Bottle)
Place Made: Bohemia (now Czech Republic)
Date Made: 1572
Medium: Glass, enamel, gilt, pewter cap
Dimensions: 13 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. (34.29 x 11.43 x 11.43 cm)
Credit Line: William Randolph Hearst Collection
Accession Number: 48.24.146a-b
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: The decoration of this bottle, dated 1572, includes the heraldic shields of the different states that constituted the Holy Roman Empire, a complicated political alliance that dominated Europe from the medieval period until its conquest by Napoleon in 1806. The four sides of the bottle are almost entirely covered by the outstretched wings of a double-headed eagle, known as the Quaternion Eagle, a symbol of the empire based on a design created around 1510 by German printmaker Hans Burgkmair. Across the top of both wings are the names of the ecclesiastical and secular electors who chose the emperor. Below them, each feather has four shields naming the different ranks of member states and their rulers, summarized on the white banners at the bottom. Bottles and beakers with the imperial eagle were popular from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. They were colorful expressions of patriotism and also served as a helpful diagram, like an “org chart” of the regions and officials in the empire.

In the early twentieth century, this bottle formed part of the extensive collection of German enameled glass assembled by William Randolph Hearst, building upon an earlier collection he had inherited from his mother.
Selected Bibliography: Levkoff, Mary L., ed. Hearst the collector. Exh. Cat. New York: Abrams and Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2008.