Painted glass teapot, cup and saucer

Germany or Bohemia, 1740-75

Influenced by the highly fashionable and rather expensive porcelain imported from China, European glassmakers offered "glass china" as a substitute for the real thing. "Glass teawares of this kind were apparently enjoyed in colonial America. At his death in 1734, Capt. James Pecker of Boson owned '3 painted Glass tea Cupps and Saucers and 1 Server,' all valued at 7s. Given the date, it is interesting to speculate that he had purchased them from Rebecca Abbot whose 'Jappaned Glass' tea sets must have been painted in oriental style."