Ten goblets from a service for Christian Ludwig II. of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

• Zechlin glassworks, around 1749, height: from 18.5 to 21.5 cm

Duke Christian Ludwig II. of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (ruled 1747-1756) used on his table glasses from one of the leading glassworks of his time, the Zechlin works located to the north-west of Rheinsberg. The glassworks adapted the decorations to meet the desires of its mainly royal clients and cut monograms, crests or mottos into the walls of their exceptionally clear glasses. The goblets manufactured for Mecklenburg bore the crest of the duchy together with the chain of the Danish Order of the Elephant.

As some of the goblets were also decorated with the Russian Order of St. Andrew, which the Duke did not receive until twelve years after the Order of the Elephant in 1749, the glass service must have been supplemented further retrospectively. Glasses would occasionally have been broken while being used at court; they could then be replicated and decorated to reflect the latest distinctions received.