A very rare baluster flute, circa 1710

The tall, thin conical bowl with a solid base, set on a short inverted baluster stem and folded conical foot, 21cm high

Provenance
Kirby-Mason Collection, Sotheby's sale, 21 November 1929, lot 51
Henry Brown Collection, Sotheby's sale, 29 July 1947, lot 122

Literature
Francis Buckley, Old English Glass (1925), pl.12
W A Thorpe, A History of English and Irish Glass (1929), pl.XLIV, fig.3

A flute with an acorn-knopped stem is illustrated and discussed by Dwight P Lanmon, The Golden Age of English Glass (2011), pp.117-9 and 121, no.37 where it is suggested that glasses of this type may have been used for champagne instead of ale or beer. It is also possible that it was meant for wine.