An extensive glasswear service with Imperial monogram probably Imperial Glass Factory, Russia, 1840-1890 comprising: two wine decanters with stoppers, six large glass goblets, six wine glasses, six champagne coupes, bodies with wide plain facets, foot terminate with petal-shape support; all, for the exception of one decanter, are engraved with a monogram 'EM' under the Russian Imperial crown 26 cm (10 1/4 in.) (20) Footnotes: Albeit without known additional pieces in existence, the monogram suggests that the service most likely was made for Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna (1827-1894), daughter of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich and Princess Charlotte of Wurttemberg. She was the wife of Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The forms of the glasses and wide facets of the decoration are very similar to the glass service known as 'Service with wide facets', which is preserved in the collection of the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg and in the Decorative Art Museum in Moscow and is dated to 1840-1890s. Both services are characterised by solid forms, thick glass mass, and wide plain facets which allowed particularly lively and beautiful light reflections. For illustration of the latter glass service see: T. A. Malinina, 'O nekotorikh servizakh XIX veka Imperatorskogo Stekliannogo Zavoda', in Kultura i iskusstvo Rossii 19 veka, Leningrad, 1985, pp. 108-109. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * * VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com