c. 1745

Goblet

The decoration on this goblet refers to two incidents. The first is the beheading of King Charles I, a Stuart ruler, in 1649. His supporters would often cut off the top of an oak tree as a sign of mourning, hence the fallen tree on this glass. The young sapling growing out of the tree and the Latin motto symbolize the anticipated restoration of the Stuarts. The oak took on an even greater significance after Charles Stuart, the son of Charles I, attempted to reclaim the throne in 1651, only to be defeated and forced to hide in a large oak tree on the estate of a loyalist supporter, watching Commander Oliver Cromwell's men searching for him below. In 1660 Charles Stuart did regain the kingship (becoming Charles II) and this glass' engraving also commemorates his marriage to Catherine of Braganza in 1662.