Sep
24
Antique Venetian Glass. Vases
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
German salt-glazed stoneware jug c.1575.
Towards the end of the 15th century, the Venetian glassworkers began
to lose interest in pictorial decoration and sought ways to use it lesfs or
not at all, instead giving more attention to the material itself.
The greatest Venetian development was the re-discovery, c. 1500, of
decolorizing agents, resulting in the production of a colourless, trans-
parent glass metal, cristallo. To retain its clear property, cristallo’ had
to be blown fairly thin, and although brittle it was exceptionally pliable,
a joy to the gaffer who exploited this sometimes to the point of absurdity.
A distinctive style emerged, resulting in graceful airy shapes and exag-
gerated winged glasses with applied handles, writhing and snakejlike,
and sometimes in a clear strong blue colour contrasting well witn the
colourless body of the vessel. Finials and handles were often additionally
manipulated by pinching flat with a patterned tool, and rims ‘were
crenellated and wavy. Despite the interest in clear glass, one of the inno-
vations of the late 15th~early 16th century was ‘chalcedony’ glass, named
after the semi-precious stone which it resembles. A variety of objects
were made in ‘chalcedony’ - jugs, plates and ampullae with small spouts.
A significant development was the latticinio or lace glass technique.
This most decorative glass effect is achieved by embedding opaque (white
enamel threads in a clear matrix, produced by blowing clear glass into a
mould lined with canes of opaque white glass. The canes adhere \o the
colourless glass mass and the paraison is then manipulated to f0rm a
variety of patterns, the tour de force being the true criss-cross filigrjee net
(Netzglas). The whole is then covered with a layer of clear glass, and
the filigree pattern is truly embedded. When the white threads) were
arranged in spiral or interweaving patterns the method is known as
reticello (’net-working’). The threads were often so close together that
they completely covered the object: colours were not restricted to white,
red and blue also being used. Reticello was fashionable throughout the
16th century.
Alexandrian colour techniques were successfully revived in tne late
16th and 17th century. Schmelzglas, a process by which glass of several
colours are allowed to fuse and run into each other in a natural stone
design in imitation of various agates, is found in graceful forms of
Grecian-inspired urn or ewer shapes. It was revived during the 19th
century in several countries and particularly by the Italian, Salvi&ti.
Around the middle of the century enamelled decoration fell into] disuse
and was replaced by a freddo, a method of painting on glass without
having to reheat the object. Such painters worked particularly on the
underside of the bases of plates, glasses and goblets and their motifs
were taken from prints and wood engravings of the period.
The Venetian craftsmen also revived a technique of decorating glass
after it had been moulded, in which the design trees, branches and so
were traced around the edge of the object with a diamond or flint,
ss chosen for this type of treatment was usually transparent or deep
or blue. The cuts or incisions were extremely light and feathery, but
ite the gracefulness of this work it did not reach the standard of
ilar Dutch and Flemish work.
ne of the most practical inventions of the Italian gaffer is the folded
. The glassmaker needed a firm base for his vessel and by folding the
glass under to obtain a foot rim of double thickness, this was
achieved. This important innovation was quickly adopted elsewhere.
Ice or crackle glass was another Italian invention but was only short-
ed. It was produced either by brief quenching of the hot glass bulb in
wi ier, which caused numerous fissures on the surface (which could then
bt reheated and blown to requirement), or by rolling the glass bulb in
powdered glass fragments which adhere to the warm glass, and then
further blowing and reheating to obliterate sharp edges. This last
method was revived in 19th century France and named brocs a glaces.
Iri contrast with the fanciful shapes of plain brown facon de Venise, ice
gl iss is of more down-to-earth design - beakers, standing cups with
added decoration applied in the form of gilt lion masks and glass pearls.
All these processes are seen in glass produced in Netherland glass-
houses such as Antwerp and Liege, where Altarist and Venetian glass-
makers had settled. It is therefore frequently impossible to distinguish
between facon de Venise made on Italian or Flemish soil.
A branch of glassmaking that began in Venice during the 16th century
w s the manufacture of mirrors. It is not certain who first used glass in
place of metal for a mirror but it is thought that it may have begun in
G jrmany. It was left to the Venetians however to spread the art and to
use them in their homes. Early glass mirrors were quadrangular in shape
w th a frame made of glass held by metal connectors. Both the mirror
i the frame were often incised with floral or figurative motifs,
enice monopolized the Italian glassmaking industry throughout the
ury. Elsewhere in Italy much of the industry was devoted to producing
yday domestic wares rather than the luxury goods of Murano. In
province of Tuscany, particularly at Empoli, Pisa, Lucca and
ence, the well-known fiasche or bulb-shaped glass bottles held in
were made. There is evidence that the Tuscan glassmakers were
at empting to make table glasses in the 14th century, but even by the
It th century they had not achieved the quality of the Venetian product.
Some goblets with winged stems, bowls and cups have survived and are
ribed as alia veneziana. The glassmakers of Florence became re-
ned for their medicinal and pharmaceutical glass,
ith the opening of Eastern trade routes, Venice too commenced
production of milk-glass in imitation of the newly imported porcelain.
During the 18th century, the Miotti glasshouse in particular responded
to llhe latest fashion with drinking vessels and table-ware in milk-glass
(It nimo), decorated with exquisite enamelling in bright colours and in
black or sepia. By this time, however, Venice had lost her monopoly of
glassmaking industry and this was taken over by Bohemia and
Jland. Each was very different in its concept, but both produced glass
iccellent quality and design.
Several factors had contributed to this transition. The European jlass
industry had grown so successful that there was a decrease in jglass
imports from Venice. Spain and the Netherlands had developed into
maritime powers due to the discovery of new trade routes by way ol the
Cape of Good Hope, and Venice was losing her supremacy on the seas.
There was still a demand for mirrors and chandeliers, but a new invention
pushed aside the fragile Venetian cristallo - the invention of a sturdyjglass
metal capable of supporting decorative treatment by deep cutting and
engraving, gilding and enamelling by annealing. Bohemia and England
shared this success - one with a potash-lime glass composition, the other
with the sparkling lead crystal.
Sep
24
cut glass, coloured glass, Murano glass Venice
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Pre-Islamic and Islamic Glass
Not until the 4th century was the Christian religion adopted in Rome.
Bjy this time, the Empire’s financial burden had become enormous. Apart
from the difficulties of maintaining order and prosperity throughout a
vust territory, the army met increasing difficulties in beating back hordes
o’barbarians which threatened to weaken - and eventually overran -
the frontier lines.
I In A.D. 324, Constantine I came to the throne to rule his great Empire.
Christianity was adopted as the official religion of state and Constantine
built himself a new capital, Byzantium, from which to rule. This split of
East and West heralded the division of the Empire. In the Western
part, isolated forest glasshouses produced simple, poor quality domestic
glass, under hazardous conditions. In the East, however, glassmaking
continued almost undisturbed under the protection and new affluence
qfj Byzantium and her rulers. Craftsmen were encouraged by special
privileges. Under Theodosius 11 (A.D. 408-450) glassmakers were
exempt from all taxes.
Worship of the new religion was expressed by the erection of new
temples, and the Byzantine basilica in all its shining splendour required^
equally sumptuous adornment, which survives to this day in the golden
and colourful brilliance of the mosaic pictures decorating walls and
ceiling, and made of millions of coloured glass cubes, tesserae. This
aspect of mosaic art inspired the manufacture of coloured glass windows,
representing a large section of glass manufacture. Stone and plasterwork
consisted of a tracery of naturalistic patterns with the voids filled by
small pieces of coloured glass.
Most of this attractive work was destroyed as a result of Leo Ill’s
iconoclastic movement in A.D. 726. This occurrence, as well as the sack
df Constantinople in 1204 during the fourth crusade, may be a valid
reason for the scanty survival of Byzantine glass, despite a prolific in-
dustry. Some pieces of green, wheel-cut glass in the form of cups and
dishes are still to be seen as part of the treasure of St Mark’s in Venice.
“This greenish glass colour is responsible for travellers’ tales of enormous
objects cut from single huge emeralds. The hexagonally shaped Sacro
Catino cup at Genoa was originally thought to have been carved from a
single emerald, and a solid emerald table on three golden feet, plundered
by the Arab commander Musa (710-20) from Toledo, was most likely
made of nothing else but Byzantine glass, sumptuous though it must
have been.
I In A.D. 634 the Byzantine forces succumbed to Moslem invaders and
y A.D. 750 a huge Arab empire from Turkestan through Armenia,
Syria, Persia, Arabia, Egypt, the North African coast and Spa^n had
been created, embracing all important Eastern glassmaking centres.
Despite the mixed elements which made up the Islamic population, a
distinct Islamic style had evolved by the 10th century. Due to religious
ethics, the decoration was initially confined to the ornamenta , non-
figurative style. Geometrical wheel-cut patterns of ovals and diamonds
typify 9th and 10th century glass found in Persia.
A unique group decorated by masterly relief cutting are the sc-called
Hedwig Glasses, named after St Hedwig, patron saint of Poland and
Silesia who died in 1243 and supposedly the owner of one of these ‘essels,
still preserved in Wroclaw.
An innovation, also thought to have originated in Egypt, is lustre
surface painting, whereby a metallic colour pigment was applied and
fired to form a lustrous film.
Islam’s greatest contribution to glass art consists of exquis te and
imaginative enamelled decoration. This technique was carried out in
three stages. At first, the ornamental pattern was applied in gold leaf
and fired. During the second stage the design was traced in red mamel
and again fired. Lastly, the design was filled in with coloured enamels
and once more returned to the muffle kiln for firing.
Islamic enamel is usually translucent, except for white, which is
opaque. The main centres for this technique were Raqqa (1170 -1270),
Aleppo (1250-65) and Damascus (1250-1400). Glassmaking in Raqqa
declined with the city’s destruction by the Mongols in 1259.
Aleppo enamelling work is of a more imaginative and refined character
than the Raqqa product, partly due to the gradual relaxation of islamic
laws about figurative representation. Musicians, hunters, birds, beasts,
flowers and trees in elaborately traced cartouches with trefoil dec >ration
are associated with Aleppo workshops. The celebrated ‘Luck o ‘ Eden-
hall’ (Victoria and Albert Museum), a finely enamelled flared jeaker,
can most certainly be associated with Aleppo workmanship.
Rich, small-scale enamelling is one of the features of damascene
glass decoration. The Saracene mosque lamps with overall gilding and
enamelling, and elaborate inscriptions in stylized Naksh script created
a fashion for glass a lafacon de Damas, and many specimens hav ; found
their way into European collections. During the late 19th century, the
French glass artist Joseph Brocard recreated a number of enamelled
glass pieces which are almost exact copies of Damascene mosqu : lamps
and vessels.
Characteristic friezes of animals and flowers with the added t mblem
of the Chinese Lotus indicate the influence of invading Mongols. When
Tamerlane invaded Damascus in 1400 and deported all artisans to
Samarkand, the glass industry did not survive. A revival took pla< e much
later with the aid of Murano workmen, and the best product came from
18th century Shiraz glasshouses, with the typical blue coloured rose-
water sprinkler as its most elegant representative.
Venice
After the fall of Damascus and the decline of the Islamic industry, a new
element was prepared to fill the void, and for almost 250 years the de-
velopment and flowering of the European glass industry was det< rmined
blithe monopolistic aspirations of that great maritime power, the
Republic of Venice.
The origins of the Venetian glassmaking industry, even of glassmaking
in Italy as a whole, are uncertain. The high Middle Ages in Italy were a
time of great social instability. Many of the industrial arts, including
glass, seemed to be seeking a new direction. While glass production was
sporadic, the industry kept going to satisfy demand. The interest in
thpjart of mosaics in that period led to the development of an industry
making tesserae, particularly in Ravenna and the Venetian Lagoon area,
oult of which may have grown a full glassmaking industry. An alternative
theory is that the industry may have been established in Venice by glass-
workers fleeing from Aquileia and ports on the Adriatic in the face of
the Gothic invasions of the time. Aquileia was a glassmaking centre in
classical times. Archeological evidence is lacking, however, which would
cordirm that glass furnaces were in use in those towns in this period.
]A third theory suggests that it was monks who fostered the new in-
dustry. During the turmoil of the Middle Ages it was a few religious
orders and monastic communities that kept alive the spark of civiliza-
tion. Their particular interests were usually of a technical or alchemical
nature goldsmithing, weaving, book-binding and glassmaking. It is
pdssible that the Benedictines even used small furnaces. One of the most
important technical books of the Middle Ages was Schedula diversarum
aria, written by a Cologne monk around the middle of the 10th century.
It gives a detailed account of glassmaking.
The actual answer to the origin of the Venetian industry may not lie
in any one of these theories specifically, but rather in a combination of
factors and circumstances. The monks, who had several important
monasteries in and around Venice, may have introduced glassmaking,
bi t an increasing demand for tesserae for mosaics resulted in the
es ablishment of the Venetian workshops.
Certainly well before A.D. 1000 the Venetian glassmakers were at
work and were known as fioleri because they blew glass phials. Further,
b] 1268, we know from records that quite a wide variety of objects were
being made. It is not until the 15th century, however, that glassware was
made that can be confidently dated today. The pieces that have survived
from that century are of high quality and include goblets, cups and bowls
for special occasions such as weddings or for ecclesiastical purposes. One
of the features of this early glass was the wide range of colours in which
it was made - dark blue, amethyst, red, emerald green and opaque
white. Decoration, which usually consisted of portraits enclosed by
medallions or floral crowns, was produced using vitrified colours fired
by reheating the object.
/enice eventually became the nucleus for the manufacture of hollow
glass, and in 1291 the entire industry was transferred to the nearby island
of Murano. This was as much in the interest of safety to prevent confla-
gr; tion as in the interest of secrecy to prevent any leakage of Venetian
glassmaking techniques. Furthermore, it was intended to force buyers
to purchase only direct from Venice.
The Murano glassworkers were strictly controlled and heavy punish-
ment awaited the man who was tempted to accept employment else-
Murano glass goblet made c.1480.
Glass
where and was caught leaving the island; nor was he always safe from
the long arm of Venetian vengeance on foreign soil. Nevertheless,
ment was great, and many glassworkers did escape to foreign 1;
addition, the rival industry at Altare, composed of French and -lemish
workmen, imposed no such laws and even encouraged journeys
ibfoad.
The revival of enamelling techniques was one of the earlit st con-
sequences of the newly established industry of Murano, and fron Venice
the art spread to all parts of the Continent where it has been p actised
ever since, without interruption.
The earliest Venetian enamelling is found on deep-coloured Gothic-
style tazza and goblets or standing cups with outsplayed feet, together
with applied, crenellated or gadrooned trail around the base of
These mid-15th century vessels were frequently made to commt morate
certain events, and a marriage cup would portray the groom an i bride.
The Berovieri family, distinguished glassmakers and decorators, are
credited with this type of work. A special feature of early \enetian
enamelling and gilding is a scale-like pattern and the applies lion of
bright colour dots. The colours of the enamels were a vivid red, emerald
green, blue and white; the motifs were naturalistic - branches, grapes,
vine leaves, flowers (especially lily-of-the-valley) and ribbons.
Sep
24
Antique Glass: blown glass, Gold sandwich glass Vase,
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
From about 1200 to 700 B.C., Egyptian glassmaking fell into a iecline
due to a number of political events and disasters. From the 9th < entury
B.C., the main centres on the Syrian coast and in the Tigris-Euphrates
region may have been of Phoenician origin or Phoenician infli enced.
Phoenicia owned a great fleet of trading ships and Phoenician-made
beads and glassware found their way to the most northern parti of the
world.
When cored vessels reappeared about 700 to 600 B.C., th:y had
changed drastically in character, and display four distinct design forms:
the aryballos, a globular flask with everted rim, short neck and two
miniature handles with finials, applied from under the rim to the
shoulder; the alabastron, a cylindrical vessel, rounded at the ba;e with
short neck and wide, flattened rim and two short handles appliec below
the shoulder; the oinochoe, a miniature one-handled jug with pin< hed-in
(trefoil) lip and splayed out foot; the amphorisk of baluster shape, with
a longish cylindrical neck, handles of the same length and a j ointed
base ending in a knop or minute disc shaped foot.
Small cored vessels between 6 to 12 cm (2£ to 5 in), rarely larger,
were used as containers for perfumes and ointments. Those which
were not provided with a foot were either strung up by the handles or
rested on specially made stands of metal or glass.
With the coming of Alexander, industry flourished and a great centre
was established in the newly founded Egyptian city of Alexandria where
the finest luxury glass was produced by workmen who had em grated
from centres in the Middle East. Asiatic glassmakers brought tecr niques
of colouring, moulding, cutting and engraving. Fine glass sei Is and
glass cameos of many different shades are representative of the e> cellent
workmanship of the new Hellenistic glass industry, and formed aart of
the luxury ware exported during the first centuries of Roman ru e. The
so called muzzines, bowls of agate glass made in imitation o’ semi-
precious stones, were still popular during the early 2nd century, < nd are
frequent finds on Roman sites.
The momentous discovery of blowing glass by means of the iron blow-
pipe is thought to have occurred during the early years of the first < entury
A.D., and in one sweep transformed the material from luxury to d( mestic
use. Pliny ascribes the invention of glass to Phoenician traders. Ir -espec-
tive of whether this is true, it does seem that the new technique o : blow-
ing must be credited to the glassmaking centre of Sidon, on the Pho snician
coast, and this is borne out by the character of the first blown /essels.
These are small flasks and ewers in the shape of fruit, especially bunches
of grapes and dates, and figurative vessels, particularly single or double
head flasks, the latter representing the god Janus. Green or
colours are frequently seen in this early group of glasses, which are known
as relief glasses.
The new discovery spread very quickly and soon Easte
Hellenistic craftsmen had set up workshops for glassblowing throughout
the western domains of the Roman Empire.
Much of the early blown glass is a replica of pottery and metal ware
of] the period, and in the same way as Roman artisans and factories
stamped their products with their own mark, so the early glassblowers
incorporated a personal stamp or name in the mould.
The Roman Empire
By the end of the first 150 years of Roman expansion, the Empire stretched
from Britain to Africa and from Spain to the Black Sea. Stable and pros-
perous conditions, particularly during the first 150 to 200 years of Roman
rujle, encouraged trade and industry. Glassmakers from Mediterranean
centres followed in the wake of the Legions, and began to establish
glasshouses in suitable areas of the western domain.
(jlass made during the period of Roman occupation is frequently
teamed Roman glass, even though it may have been produced by Syrian
gaffers in the Rhineland or a Hellenistic workshop in Gaul. Because of
thjj difficulties in obtaining the vital raw materials, large quantities of
gl^ss, especially luxury ware, were imported from Syria, Alexandria and
Rome, and it is often impossible to determine the provenance of a piece
of] Roman glass.
Gold sandwich or fondi d’oro glasses present a specialized technique
already known to Alexandrian glassworkers who established workshops
in Antioch and brought their gold glass to Syria. The method involves
placing patterns in gold leaf between two layers of clear glass. In the
eairlier Syrian pieces the gold pattern usually covers the entire area, up
to a defined rim, and there may be additional cut decoration applied to
thfe outer vessel. Gold sandwich glass reaching western territory was
probably made in Italian workshops. The majority of gold sandwich
glass was discovered in catacombs in the vicinity of Rome.
[The earliest examples of free-blown Roman glass are the so called tear-
bottles, club formed vials 5 to 12 cm (2 to 5 in) in length. Mainly funerary
firtds, they supposedly served as receptacles for mourners' tears, but more
likely were used as unguentaria, containing perfumes and ointments.
Domestic vessels, glass bangles, beads, finger-rings and earrings are
cojmmon in Roman graves. They may not be elaborate, but provide one
of] the most spectacular features of ancient glass, the iridescence.
Iridescence or weathering is the result of long exposure to damp earth
and air, and the glass surface attacked will become scaly and flake off.
Although this disease is not progressive, with prolonged exposure the
vessel may deteriorate to the point of disintegration. However, the
striking scintillating rainbow effect of the glass surface caused by the
chemical reaction of the weathering process is irresistible to the collector
of Roman glass, who will not be deterred by a high price.
Roman glassmakers ably exploited the new technique of mould blow-
ing. An attractive and individual group are the Eastern inspired glasses
by the maker Ennion and his circle. Mould blown vessels of this group
from Sidon and Cyprus are decorated with early Christian symbols,
naturalistically patterned friezes, Greek inscriptions, circus scenes and
human figures. Inscriptions usually denote the maker’s name with added
slogans or wishes. Dating from the first century, these pieces must repre-
sent almost the earliest glasses signed by their makers. Ennion’s branch
subsidiaries sprang up quickly in many parts of the Roman west Most
of these related vessels come from Gallic and Rhenish provinces, and
British settlements such as Colchester. Few were produced in It£ ly.
The unmistakeable influence of Syrian gaffers is seen in the group of
free-blown glass decorated with applied snakelike threads of opaque
colour. These vessels, with or without handles or in the shape of ;wers,
have their counterparts in the Eastern hemisphere, but were produced
in quantity in 3rd century Rhineland. The late W. A. Thorpe aptly refers
to this group as Snake Thread (Rhine) Ltd!
On functional lines, several factories produced the practical R oman
round or rectangular jar and bottle, an industry which flourishec from
the late first century. These bottles were largely produced in south e astern
Gaul and frequently bear a maker’s mark, the name of Frontinus >ccur-
ring repeatedly. By the late 2nd century attractive vessels emerged,
decorated with applied trails and spirals, and during the 3rd century tall
jugs with elegant handles become popular. Fragments with pointed
decoration have been discovered, although never complete, but other
finds include dishes and bowls decorated with shallow cutting and en-
graving. The most consummate tour de force must be attributed to the
lapidary, and cameo cutting was expertly carried out in Alexandrian
workshops.
During the 3rd and 4th centuries, an astonishing cutting technique
evolved which has never been equalled. This is applied in the Vasa
Diatreta, a mould-blown, thick, ovoid or bucket-shaped vessel, which
may be monochrome or cased in layers of coloured glass. The coloured
casing is so manipulated by the cutter that a contrasting coloured net-
work of delicate pattern surrounds the glass body, held only by some
remaining struts. The upper half of these so-called cage cups is usually
encircled by an inscription, undercut in the same manner. Figurative
cage cups were made by a similar technique.
Glass in Medieval Europe
By the 5th century, a fair number of glasshouses had established them-
selves in the Seine-Rhine areas, largely with the help of Syrian glass-
makers. Important centres were situated in the Lorraine, in Treves,
Picardy, Cologne, Mainz, Namur and Liege. This fusion of no them
concept and eastern know-how and artistic inspiration resulted in the
emergence of a characteristic glass style, which dominates the product
of all glassmaking areas in the Roman domain. Free-blown vessels with
applied trails or blobs, cone beakers and drinking horns with patterns
of applied threads, vases and bowls with trails applied in a diamond
pattern - the ‘nipped diamond waies’ - and finally the intricate* claw
beaker, were the products of glasshouses affected by the still presefit but
diminishing influence of Rome. The accent at this time was on domestic
rather than luxury, glassware, and the 6th and 7th century glasshouses
produced a metal of liquid greenish colour prevalent in forest regions
where wood- or plant-ash was used as the source of potash alkali, and
knowledge of decolorization was non-existent. This forest glass com-
monly known as Waldglas, or in France and the French speaking Low-
lands as verre de fougere, was of a green or greenish blue colour, £ s well
a of a pale amber tone, depending on local raw materials. The medieval
slump or, in glassmaking language, the empty ages, had affected Western
Europe by the 8th century. The church, which in the eras that followed
encouraged and subsidized the arts and architecture, forbade the use of
glass vessels for ritual purposes. The foreign elements introduced by
Roman colonization in the form of successful competition by Eastern
a Usansand merchants resulted in persecution and deprivation of oriental
and Semitic glassworkers and any flourishing of a native glass industry
was doomed.
Sep
15
ANTIQUE CYLINDRICAL VASE - GLASS WITH COMBED OPAQUE WHITE THREADED DECORATION - OPAQUE WHITE THREADED DECORATION
September 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment
CYLINDRICAL VASE
Karhula Iittala Glasbruk, Finland, designed by
Timo Sarpaneva, 1957. Ht. 175 mm (67 in.)
Amphoriskos WITH COMBED THREAD DECORATION
Egypt, Ј.1350 B.C. Ht. 125 mm (49 in.)
Designed by Timo Sarpaneva for the
Karhula Iittala Glasbruk in Finland, this
vase has been double cased, i.e. it had two
more gathers of different-coloured glasses
taken on the base glass. It is in amethyst-
coloured, dark blue and colourless glass,
the upper half mirroring the lower part of
the vase; the dividing ‘floor’ is in colourless
glass. Timo Sarpaneva is among the most
outstanding of Finland’s glass designers.
Interestingly, he is also an eminent textile
designer, but has been attached to Iittala
since 1950. He made a sensation in the
Finnish section of the Milan Triennale in
1954, producing what was really abstract
sculpture in glass. His later glasses are
usually utilitarian. His shapes are as
simple as possible, but their geometric
precision makes them stand out amongst
similar products. He shares the aim of the
Finnish glass industry of producing not
simply individual art pieces, but everyday
ware of artistic value.
Combing and marvering-in applied glass
threads to the body of a vessel is a decorative
technique that dates back to the earliest
times of glass vessel production. The
small amphoriskos illustrated was made in
Egypt in the 14th century B.C.; it is in
opaque blue glass produced by the core
technique to form an egg shape standing
on a wide conical foot. The neck is
cylindrical, curving slightly at the top, and
has small dolphin handles attached. It has
light blue, white and yellow applied glass
threads, which have been combed in a
garland-like pattern on the neck and lower
part, and in a palm-leaf pattern in the
middle part of the vessel. A pointed instru-
ment was probably pulled over the surface
of the hot glass by the Egyptian glass-
makers to produce the various combed
effects. The threaded decoration was
marvered on a flat stone slab, to bring it
level with the surface of the amphoriskos.
JIG IN CH.IVE-Bl.UE GLASS WITH COMBED OPAQUE
WHITE THREADED DECORATION
Roman Empire, 41b ccnlur) A.I).
Hi. i)H mm (385 in.)
Omum WITH COMBED OPAQUE WHITE THREADED
DECORATION
Islamic, nth 12th ccntun \ I)
Ht. 112 mm (44 in.)
Once the technique of blowing glass had
been discovered in the ist century B.C.,
the making of core vessels virtually ceased.
I lowcver, the technique of combing and
marvering-in applied glass threads as a
decoration on the surface of the glass lived
on, despite the fact that the core technique
had been dropped, but it was never used
on the same scale in Roman times as it was
in the Egyptian and Hellenistic periods.
The small jug illustrated is one of the best
examples of the Romans’ use of the
technique. The fairly meticulous combed
trailing found on most core vessels has not
been used, and a much broader treatment
of the technique has been favoured by the
Roman glass-maker. The jug is in olive
blue glass, with a two-ribbed green handle
from rim to shoulder. Opaque white glass
trails have been applied to the body of the
vessel and combed upwards into festoons.
A further unmarvered green glass trail has
been applied on the lip and neck of the
vessel
With the break-up of the Roman Empire
in the 5th century A.D. the art of combing
and marvering-in applied glass threads to
the surface of a vessel did not die. In
western Europe vessels were produced
with a decoration of threads of contrasted
colour, looped-up or combed, and some-
times worked flush into the surface ol the
vessel. Bowls and bell-shaped cups ol
Rhenish or Gaulish origin, and even some
glasses of post-Roman date from Spain,
had this ‘feathered’ decoration. The same
decoration is characteristic also of a well-
known type of early Islamic glass. In the
first centuries after the fall of the Roman
Empire, the glass of Egypt, Syria, and the
Near East moved away from the classical
proportions and became irregular and
almost shapeless in appearance. Wide-
mouthed vessels, rough beaker-shaped
cups, unguent bottles and tripod vases
were among the shapes favoured, some-
times decorated with combed and mar-
vered white threads.
BOTTLE WITH COMBED OPAQUE WHITE THREADED
DECORATION
Venice, Italy, 16th century
Ht. 356 mm (14 in.)
The Venetian glass-makers of Italy used
the technique of combing and also mar-
vering-in applied glass threads to decorate
their glassware. The Renaissance saw a
period of intense development for the
Venetian glass’ industry, wbich had in fact
been in existence since the end of the 10th
century A.D. Parallel with their develop-
ment of a clear colourless glass (crisla/lo)
the Venetian glass-makers invented many
beautiful coloured glasses, notably their
opaque white glass known as lattimu.
Threads of this opaque white glass were
sometimes applied to the surface of their
glasses and combed into feathered patterns,
probably by means of exactly the same
technique as used by their Egyptian,
Roman and Islamic predecessors. The
threads were combed upwards or down-
wards with a pointed instrument to form
the feathered patterns, and were then
marvered into the surface of the glass,
leaving a smooth exterior to the vessel.
Ewers, the bowls of wine-glasses, and
bottles were among the vessels decorated
in this fashion.
CRL’ET IN CLEAR, COLOURLESS GLASS Willi OPAQUE
WHITE THREADED DECORATION
Spain, late 16th century. Ht. 152 mm (6 in.)
As has already been stated, some Spanish
glass of the post-Roman period was
decorated with combed white threads and
bands. This was a decorative technique
that was never lost in Spanish glass-
making. Glass manufacture had been
carried out in Spain continuously since
Roman times, but no outstanding glass
was made before the 15th and 16th cen-
turies. Rivalry with Venice in the 16th
century resulted in Venetian-style glass-
making in Catalonia and Castile. Else-
where, and particularly in southern Spain,
the existing peasant art was stimulated
into an original art of great interest, the
most extravagant use being made of
applied threads. The small cruet illus-
trated, with opaque white applied glass
threads combed upwards, is a typical
product of Spain. Other Spanish glass
forms include the almorrata (rose-water
sprinkler), the porrun (a vessel with a long
spout used for projecting a stream of
liquid into the drinker’s mouth), and the
caniaro (a water-vessel).
Sep
15
Antique European and British Glass
September 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment
The typical Romer had a foot formed by
closely spinning a thread of glass round a
conical wooden or metal core, which was
afterwards withdrawn. In 18th-century
specimens a hollow blown foot was made,
and the spun thread was wound upon this.
The Romer has remained ever-popular as a
hock-glass even down to the present day.
Modern factory-made specimens have a
mould-blown foot, the continuous spiral
thread of the original form of foot being
replaced by a series of close-set raised
rings. The bowl of the Romer achieved
enormous size in Holland during the 17th
and 18th centuries, and was often decor-
ated with diamond-point engraving. Romer
glasses were often depicted in Dutch still-
life paintings of the 17th century, and it is
probable that they were produced in Liege
and the Low Countries, as well as in the
Khineland and elsewhere in Germany.
The applied drops on the middle part of
the Romer were usually decorated by
impressing them with a pattern of raised
dots, which made them resemble rasp-
berries. More rarely, they could be im-
pressed with lion masks or other ornament.
Late examples of Romer glasses occasion-
ally reverted back to the style of the earlier
Warzenbecher, having prunts left smooth
and drawn out to a point. The blobs were
probably produced by dabbing the vessel
with a molten glass rod and drawing the
point in the direction required. Prunts
bearing an impressed design were a
decoration not entirely confined to the
Germanic countries. The glass illustrated
from Belgium, a la facon de Venise, bears
prunts on the bowl impressed with satyr
masks and finished ofT with gilded decora-
tion. A version of the German Romer was
used by George Ravenscroft, the inventor
of lead glass at the Savoy Glasshouse in
London. A glass of that shape bearing his
seal has a stem decorated with raspberry
prunts.
claw beaker (liiisselhecher)
Rhenish, 5th century A.D. Ht. 190 mm (745 in.)
A further development in blob decoration
was the idea of applying hot blobs of glass
to a vessel and then re-blowing, so that the
hot blobs blew out further than the cooler
walls of the vessel. Claw beakers or
Riisselbecher (Russel = proboscis), which
originated mainly from the Seine-Rhine
area in the 5th century A.D., were made in
this fashion, the blown blob of glass being
caught and drawn to its final shape. The
example, in dark green glass, has the
additional decoration of horizontally
trailed glass threads above the foot ring
and below the rim. The two rows of five
claws have a line of pincered glass trailed
on the length of each claw’s outer surface.
The claw beaker could be a follow-on
from the dolphin motif of earlier times, but
by this time the claws more probably
represented horns, since in the North,
especially in Germany, the horn held a
religious significance.
Adding: The Glass-maker’s Skill
Daumenglas in green glass with six fingergrips
Germany or Netherlands, 17th century
Hi. 200 mm (787 in.)
(See also tolour photograph H)
Contemporary with the development of
the Romer, a number of curious German
forms in glass appeared. A crude and
barbaric taste was shown in the many
forms of puzzle glasses that were made for
practical jokes at drinking parties. Besides
other shapes like the Kutirolf, Stangenglas,
Igel (hedgehog glass) and Passglas, there
appeared the Daumenglas or Dautnen-
humpen. This was a large cylindrical or
barrel-shaped goblet with circular inden-
tations (Fingernapfen) to give the hand a
firm hold on the glass. The technique for
making Daumengldser was that for making
claw beakers put into reverse. Hot blobs of
glass were applied to the surface of the
heated body of the vessel, and then the
glass-maker sucked through his blowing
iron so that the blobs were made to extend
into the interior of the vessel, forming
fingertips. The Daumengldser, with other
forms of German glass, reflected the
fascination with the curious and unusual
that was so typical of German folk art of
the 16th and 17th centuries.
BOTTLE WITH glass seal jug WITH opaque blue drops and engraved
England, 1657, decoration
Hodgetts, Richardson & Company, England, about
1870-75. Hi. 127 mm (5 in.)
Bottles with applied glass seals are fre-
quently excavated. The earliest recorded
example was found in Chester, England,
on the base of a bottle of pale, greenish
glass, with the letters ‘C.B.K.’ and the
date ‘1562′. This seal cannot now be
found, but the earliest surviving seal
(without its bottle) is that of John Jefferson,
dated 1652. The earliest intact example of
a scaled bottle is dated 1657, as illustrated.
The bottle is of the early ’shaft and globe’
type. The seals, which took the form of
applied impressed medallions, were usu-
ally attached to one side of the bottle.
Their purpose was of course to identify
the bottle as the property of an individual,
merchant, tavern or institution, or to
indicate a particular brand. Bottles are
often found embossed with the name,
initials, arms, rebus or sign of the owner,
and frequently carry a date—not always
indicating the date of manufacture of the
bottle.
After the Paris Exhibition held in 1807
great interest was shown in early Venetian
glass-making techniques, as a result of the
products of Antonio Salviati which were
shown there. In England, exact copies of
Venetian work were rarely made for the
general market, probably because of the
difference in working between British
lead-crystal and Venetian soda-lime glass.
Nevertheless, glassware incorporating
some of the Venetian techniques was
made, particularly in the 1860’s and 1870’s
in England. This is reflected in the use of
small drops or beads, usually of opaque-
coloured glass attached to the main body
of the vessel, as in the example illustrated.
Occasionally, these were pressed into the
shape of raspberries with a pointing tool,
but usually they were left as plain protru-
sions attached to the glass. This distinctive
form of decoration was prevalent on
Victorian glass in the 1860’s and early
1870’s.
GLASS SCULPTURE BY RENЈ ROUBICEK
Borske sklo, Novy Bor, Czechoslovakia, i960.
1 It. 240 mm (9*45 in.)
In modern times the technique of adding
blobs and prunts to glass has been used
with spectacular results. The glass sculp-
ture illustrated, designed by Rene
Roubicek of the Borske sklo, Czecho-
slovakia, consists of a spherical glass body
with small prunts and eight hollow,
tentacle-like appendages added to the
surface of the glass. It is in clear, colourless
glass with light brown prunts, and was
free-formed without the help of moulds.
Bohemian designers have been inter-
nationally acclaimed for their work in
glass sculpture. Professor Rene Roubicek,
a leading figure in this style of glass-
making, was born in 1922, received his
artistic training at the Academy of Applied
Arts in Prague, and has since been chief
supervising artist at the glassworks Borske
sklo. Other famous names associated with
Bohemian glass sculpture are Jaroslav
Brychtova (born 1924); Stanislav Liben-
sky (born 1921); Pavel Hlava (born 1924);
and Jan Kotik (born 1916).
PITCHER IN GREEN-TINTED GLASS WITH LILY-PAD
DECORATION
L.S.A., 1.1840-60. Ht. 181 mm (713 in.)
Layering: Glass is sometimes decorated by
using two or more gathers, usually in con-
trasting colours, to form the vessel; a
layered effect is thus achieved. These
layers can be cut through to a chosen depth
to reveal the various colours as in the
cameo technique, but occasionally they
receive no extra decoration. A distinctive
form of decoration allied to this technique
is the so-called ‘lily pad’ decoration found
only on American glass of the 19th century.
It consists of a superimposed gather of
glass which has been tooled into a series of
projections and drawn up the sides of the
object, to resemble the water lily stem and
pad. The lily-pad vessels were part of the
Germanic tradition of South Jersey glass,
which was generally free-blown, and was
coloured by impurities in the metal to
green, aquamarine and amber. Many of
the South Jersey stylistic devices, includ-
ing the lily-pad, appeared in bottle and
window glass factories in New York and
New England in the 1830’s and after.
OLOURLESS GLASS WITH CU1 PANELS
PAINTED AND GILT
W. H. II. & J. Richardson, England, about 1848
lit. 406 mm (16 in.)
Layered glass was a novelty of Victorian
glassware of the first half of the 19th
century, and it was in this glassware t li.it
the most striking use of colour was made.
A clear uncoloured glass vessel might be
covered by a single layer of coloured or
opaque-wbite glass. Alternatively, many
layers in contrasting colours might be used,
or opaque white glass used to emphasize
the colour change between two trans-
parent glasses. On all these glasses decora-
tion cut to reveal the varying layers of glass
was the rule. This could take the form of
mitre-cutting, but more commonly it
consisted of spaced hollows or broad
vertical facets. These could be finished
with a pointed outline, to suggest the shape
of Gothic church windows. In many cases
the decoration did not finish here, for
enamelling, gilding and engraving on the
outer uncut surface or on the inner cut
facets were quite common. Layered or
cased glass was preferred to stained glass
for deep-cut decoration.
VASE IN FOUR COLOURS
Ernesto Seguso, Italy, designed by l-’lavio Poli, 1958
Ht. 340 mm (1.V4 in.)
This vase shows the technique of using
different layers of glass to achieve great
artistic effect. Colourless, violet, blue and
green glass have been cased over each
other to produce an effect that is dramatic
yet full of careful harmony and balance.
The vase was designed by Flavio Poli
(b.1900), who was appointed art manager
of the Murano firm of Seguso Vetri d’Arte
in 1934. He had already worked in other
media, including ceramics, before he con-
centrated on glass. In the ‘thirties his work
was somewhat reminiscent of that of the
French glassmaker Marinot. He designed
rich, semi-sculptural glasses with colour
inlay and air bubbles inside the walls of the
vessels, sometimes combined with metallic
lustres. Since the war his style has
developed towards even greater clarity and
precision. The glass he uses is heavier than
that employed by other Muranese glass-
makers, and his forms are more firmly
defined. He uses colour to accentuate
special points of build within the vessel.
Sep
15
Jugend Style Antique Glass
September 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1848-1934, of the
Corona, Long Island, glass-works in Am-
erica reintroduced the technique used on
the dromedary flasks of the 6th—8th
centuries A.D. Free-standing ‘cage’ decor-
ation, composed of heavy zig-zag threads
of glass attached to the main vessel, can be
seen on various Tiffany vases and cups
such as the one illustrated. This came to be
known also as ‘Dialreta’ work, but in true
Dialreta such as the Romans made, the
cages were under-cut rather than applied.
Here it is an applied decoration, a heavily
constructed lattice-work fused to the main
body of the vessel at numerous points, so
that it is attached to but stands out from
the original body of the vase. The open-
work is generally diamond-shaped. The
colours of this glassware are normally blue,
with gold-lustre lattice-work. The general
effect is too heavy to be pleasing, though
the decoration is technically interesting.
Adding: The Glass-maker’s Skill
dolphin beaker
Cologne, 4th teniury A.D. Ht. 130 mm (5-12 in.)
Blobs and Prunts: The use of blobs and
prunts as a form of applied decoration on
glassware dates from Roman times through
to the modern period. This dolphin beaker
in greenish glass shows a high degree of
excellence in the technique, even at such
an early date. Two rows of hollow prunts
have been drawn downwards so that they
resemble elephants’ trunks. The lower row
touches the foot ring, while the upper row
is finished off with fish-like tails to resem-
ble dolphins. The effect is enhanced by the
addition of blue glass to the upper row of
prunts, representing the dolphins’ mouths
and fins. The dolphin motif occurs in
glasses from Rome, Gaul and the Rhine-
land, mainly as a decoration, for few glasses
exist completely in the shape of the fish.
The Rhenish glass-workers made beakers
ornamented with many kinds of sea
creatures and snails, which all come under
the general heading of’dolphin’ beakers.
As early as 260 A.D., soon after the collapse
of the frontier fortifications, strong Ger-
man influence can be seen in Rheno-
Roman glass-making. This was to become
more pronounced at the end of the 4th
century A.I)., when the last remnants of
the Roman troops left the Rhine, and
Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensis (Col-
ogne) at last became a Prankish town. The
blue and green blob decoration on the
colourless glass humpen or beaker illus-
trated shows an early example of this
German influence. The blobs consist of
coloured ovals and small points, and there
is a thin engraved line below the rim. In
shape the Humpen resembles the Kumme,
the early Germanic serving and drinking
bowl. The blobs are considered to be of
religious origin, put there to ward off evil
spirits. Another form of decoration found
on the vessels of this period is a zig-zag
frieze which has the same religious
significance as the blobs.
The oldest form of prunted Stangenglas
was found in the old quarter of Prague,
bricked up in the wall of a house called
‘Zur Stcinernen Jungfrau’. The two tall
glasses were of a very slender form,
decorated with trailing and curious small
prunting. The Stangenglas illustrated, one
of the two found, is in brownish glass,
heavily corroded, with 26 horizontal rows
of tiny, snake-like prunts, and two trailed
rings applied above and below the prunted
decoration. This type is the first of a series
of tall prunted glasses known variously as
Spechtergldser, Stangenglaser and Pass-
glaser. They were very popular in Germany
from the Gothic to the Baroque period,
and were depicted in contemporary art as
early as 1410. It is thought that the
technique of dropping molten blobs of
glass on to the body of a vessel was brought
to Europe through the influence of simi-
larly decorated wares imported from Syria
in the 14th century A.D.
covered beaker in green glass with prlnts
Germany, early 16th century A.D.
Ht. 248 mm (9*75 in.)
beaker in pale green glass with prunts
Northern Europe, mid-i6th century A.D.
lit. 105 mm (413 in.)
By the middle of the 15th century A.D. the
dropped-on spots of glass applied to the
vessel as decoration had become large
applied drops, broadly melted on and
drawn out to a point. The vessels so
decorated were known as Nuppenbecher,
Warzenbecher or Krautstrunk (cabbage-
stem) glasses. The Bohemian pastor Math-
esius, in a text of 1562, stated that the
prunts were applied so that the glasses
could be easily grasped by the clumsiest of
people. The German glass-makers also
sought by this mode of decoration to
produce a glass that glowed like some
precious stone. The green, blue and brown
tints in the forest glass are seen in all their
various shades in these vessels, from the
palest, most delicate hue to the rich,
glowing darkness found in the thicker
parts. No doubt the inspiration for these
glasses came from the gold and silver
goblets of the time, which they eventually
rivalled in value.
The shape of these prunted vessels of
northern Europe changed over the years.
The earliest vessels imitated the 14th-
century Syrian imports previously men-
tioned. They were sharply divided into a
cylindrical lower part and a funnel-shaped
upper part. In the 15th century the funnel
shape changed into the rounded lip of the
glass, imitating the current style in stone-
ware drinking vessels. During the early
Renaissance period the rim once more
became funnel-shaped and was marked off
by a circle of glass. The 16th and 17th
centuries saw the shape of the upper part
of the vessel changing into a rounded form,
culminating in the hemispherical bowl so
typical of the Romer. (It is thought that the
glass received this name because of the
admiration for Roman glass still felt in
Cologne in the late Middle Ages.) In effect,
the lip of the earlier vessels had been
transformed into a liquid-containing part.
Sep
15
ANTIQUE CLEAR COLOURLESS GLASS BASKET IN GREEN GLASS
September 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment
The more extravagant ’serpent-stemmed’
glasses and the common ‘winged’ glasses
(Fliigelgldser), an example of which is
illustrated, are probably of Netherlandish
origin. Sometimes the stem is found in the
rough likeness of a double eagle, so a
German attribution could be claimed for
these. These glasses continued to be made
throughout the 17th century and even into
the 18th century. A Venetian, Nicolas
Stua, is recorded as making ‘coppen met
serpenten’ at Amsterdam in 1667. The
glass-house where he worked was visited
in 1664 by the German traveller, Philipp
von Zesen, who remarked on the making
of glasses through which multi-coloured
threads were drawn, a technique used in
the stems of these glasses. Winged glasses
can be seen in Dutch still-life pictures of
the 17th century. It is reasonably certain
that winged and serpent-stemmed glasses
were made in the 18th century, because
examples of them were engraved by Franz
Greenwood (dated c. 1728) and by Jacob
Sang (dated 1757).
Free-standing threads of glass were used
to create the open trellises of glass around
the so-called ‘Dromedary Flasks’ of the
6th-8th centuries A.D. These vessels were
in the shape of quadrupeds bearing vases
on their backs, surrounded by open glass
trellis work. Zig-zags of different coloured
glasses were cleverly built upon each other
to form the applied decoration. Trans-
parent blue-green, olive-green and dark
amber glass have been used in the con-
struction of the dromedary flask illustrated.
It is suspected that this type of vessel
originated in Syria, though the glass made
in the Near East in early Islamic times can
seldom be ascribed with certainty to any
particular country, nor can it be dated with
any great precision. After the death of
Mohammed in 632 A.D., Islam had spread
rapidly, and by 750 A.D. had virtually
formed a single cultural unit stretching
round the Mediterranean from the Pyren-
ees to Antioch, and penetrating as far east
as the Indus river.
The Venetian glass-makers indulged in
the most fanciful manipulation of their
exceptionally ductile and plastic material
when they created their glass ships or nefs.
Elaborate open trellis-work, with zig-zags
of different coloured glasses built upon
each other in a style reminiscent of the
dromedary flasks, was used to create the
rigging on these glass vessels. The use of
grand objects for the table in the form of a
ship was a late mediaeval innovation; a
number of examples of silver-gilt ships for
the table have survived, ranging from the
15th to the 18th centuries, and the form
has been given the French title of ‘mr/~’.
The Emperor Charles V (1500-58) was
presented with one when he visited the
glass-houses of Bcauwelz, near Mons in
Belgium in 1549. Amand Colinet’s glass-
house at Beauwelz apparently made nefs
of the Venetian type in the 16th century,
but probably only as special commissions.
BASK I I IN CLEAR COLOURLESS GLASS BASKET IN GREEN GLASS
Italy, laic 18th century Spain, mid-i8ih century A.D.
Ht. 162 mm (638 in.)
The technique of producing glass trellis-
work continued to be used in Venetian
glass-making with the manufacture of
objects like the basket illustrated, which
was made towards the end of the 18th
century. Venetian glass in the late 17th and
18th centuries in general showed a great
lack of originality and inspiration. No new
techniques of importance were introduced.
The trellis-work baskets and other simi-
larly manufactured objects cannot be con-
sidered as being of great aesthetic con-
sequence—only as technical curiosities
with their roots in the past. The most
remarkable productions of this later period
in Venetian glass-making were the great
baroque chandeliers and mirror frames,
extravagantly decorated with modelled
flowers, notably in pink and opaque-white
glass. The universal fashion for cut and
engraved glass in the 18th century was
followed by the Venetians, but their thin
soda-lime metal was ill-suited to the
technique.
Free-standing trails of glass and applied
work were used to produce the green glass
basket illustrated, a fairly common form
made in Spain in the 18th century. Glass
has been produced continuously in Spain
since the Roman period. In its earlier
period Spanish glass-making was a mixture
of Moorish-Islamic influences, with addi-
tional Venetian influences in the 16th
century. By the 17th century indigenous
glass forms had developed, and among
them the openwork baskets are noteworthy
as a typically Spanish product. The
Spanish glass-makers copied other objects
in glass, such as spindles and smoothing
’stones’, and produced glass toys which
were popular in the peasant markets of
Spain. Animals such as mules and oxen
were used in a somewhat stylised form as
subjects for these toys, and models of hats
and shoes were made in a style reminiscent
of the British Triggers’ of the 19th century.
Sep
15
ANTIQUE JUG IN CLEAR, COLOURLESS GLASS - FLOWER STAND DECORATED WITH RUBY TRAILING - VASE WITH OVERLAY DECORATION
September 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment
JUG IN CLEAR, COLOURLESS GLASS
England, second half of the 171I1 century
lit. 201 mm (7-88 in.)
George Ravenscroft (1618-81), the man
selected by the Glass Sellers’ Company of
England to discover an alternative glass to
Venetian cristallo, who succeeded in in-
venting ‘glass-of-lead’, mentioned a pecu-
liar form of decoration for glass in his
price-list of 1677. He referred to it as ‘nipt
diamond waics’, and it has always been
assumed that he meant a form of decora-
tion where trails of glass were laid on a
vessel, and were then pincered together to
form a network on the glass. The jug
illustrated has this decoration on its body.
Instances are known where this type of
decoration was in fact a moulded decora-
tion. Another description of’nipt diamond
waies’ is where thick, evenly spaced
vertical ribs round the sides of a glass were
pincered together into a diamond-shaped
network. Ravenscroft described beer glas-
ses and quart bottles as being all over
‘nipt diamond waics’, and mentioned pint
bottles, hall-pint bottles, claret and sack
glasses and quarter bottles ‘of the same
sort’.
FLOWER STAND DECORATED WITH RUBY TRAILING
llodgetts, Richardson & Company, England, 1878
Ht. 635 mm (25 in.)
In 1876 William J. Hodgetts, of the glass-
makers Hodgetts, Richardson & Company
of Wordsley, England, was granted a
patent for a mechanical apparatus for
applying glass threads to glass vessels. The
glass-threading machine consisted of an
apparatus that kept a bubble or blown
cylinder of glass close to a gather of metal
from which threads were drawn. The
thread-yielding gather could be moved up
or down the cylinder, so that threads could
be made to overlap or to wind parallel with
the first threading. It was suggested by
Mr Hodgetts that this method could be
used to decorate window glass, by splitting
open the cylinder and flattening it out into
a sheet of glass. The flower stand illus-
trated, made by this firm, has the main
part decorated by mechanical threading.
The fashion for glass centrepieces with
loose hanging baskets appears to have
originated in England in 1866, when the
first design was registered.
Adding: The Glass-maker’s Skill
KA1RY I .AMP IN Verre Moire, WHITE GLASS
THREADING ON A COLOURED BACKGROUND
Kngland, the Continent or U.S.A., aboin 1880
Mr. Hodgett’s patent for a glass-threading
machine, though it was patented in several
countries, including the U.S.A., was still
by-passed fairly easily by competitors. In
England, in 1880, William Henry Stevens
of Wordsley, near Stourbridge, filed a
patent for applying glass threads to glass
vessels; his method included rolling the
hot bubble in pulverized glass or enamel,
which upon reheating ran over the glass
base, the threading remaining firm. In
1885 John North wood improved upon
Mr. Hodgett’s invention by introducing
the mechanisation .of the ‘feather’ pattern-
ing of thrcadwork, so that the combed
patterns seen on so much ancient glass
could be easily copied. Some similar
machine would have been used to produce
the effect on the fairy lamp illustrated
European and American factories quickly
adopted machine-threading techniques,
and it is very difficult to establish the place
of manufacture of most articles of threaded
glassware.
VASE WITH OVERLAY DECORATION
Signed ‘Stevens and Williams, An Glass,
Stourbridge’, Kngland, late luih century
Ht. 178 mm (7 in.)
The ultimate in applied glass decoration
was reached in the late 19th century with
the so-called ‘overlay’ type of decoration.
The usual motifs were fruits, flowers,
leaves and stems in brilliant colours,
attached and fused to the main body of the
vessel. Somehow the effect of these vases
and bowls is saved from being garish by a
balance between the decoration and the
overall size of the glass. The glasses are
variously attributed to Hobbs, Brockunier
Co., Wheeling, West Virginia; the Mt.
Washington Glass Company, New Bed-
ford, Massachusetts; Stevens & Williams,
Stourbridge, England; and Thomas Webb
& Sons, Stourbridge, England. Several
patents were taken out in the 1880’s for the
improvement of applied glass decoration;
for example, in 1885 John Northwood
patented tools for impressing raised flower
prunts on the body of a vessel.
COVERED GOBLET WITH DRAGON-STEM
Venice, i6lh century. Hi. 356 mm (14 in.;
Stem-Work and Open Work: Allied to
trailing is the intricate stem-work so
popular with Venetian and Jacon de Venise
glass-makers in the 17th century, though
here the trails are mostly free-standing.
The Venetians, though following the
technical traditions of Rome, evolved a
style in glass-making that was entirely
original. Faking advantage of the ductility
of the clear colourless glass (cristallo) that
they had invented, they employed glass-
threading as a structural material, some-
times using the technique as the very basis
for their designs. They built swirling
forms that led the eye around the object so
that no detail was missed. Their exuberant
virtuosity can be seen clearly in their
treatment of the snake or dragon motif in
the covered goblet illustrated. In spite of
the difficulty of the technique, the propor-
tions of the glass remain precise. The
influence of Venetian glass-making spread
to Spain, France, Germany, the Nether-
lands and England, where elegant stem-
work was also produced.
Sep
15
WINE-GLASS - CONE BEAKER IN GREEN-TINTED GLASS WITH TRAILED DECORATION - SMALL HEXAGONAL HOT TIE IN CLEAR, COLOURLESS GLASS WITH OPAQUE WHITE APPLIED THREADS
September 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment
WINE-GLASS DESIGNED BY STEPHAN RATH
Lobmcyr, Austria, 1954. Ht. 185 mm (725 in.)
JUG
Steuben Glass Works, U.S.A. 1966.
Ht. f.250 mm (985 in.)
For more than a hundred years the name
of Lobmeyr in Austria has been associated
with the production of quality glass. A
tradition of conservatism in their approach
to glass was maintained by Ludwig Lob-
meyr (1829-1917), resulting in a dignified
classical style, particularly for engraved
decoration. When Stephan Rath joined the
company there came a re-orientation
towards the contemporary Viennese style
of the early 20th century. Josef Hoffmann
and Michael Powolny of the Wiener
Kunstgewerbeschule, who both designed
for Lobmeyr, had already contributed to
this movement. Grace of form and good
proportion have characterised Lobmeyr
pieces to the present day, and are to be
seen in the wine-glass illustrated, designed
by Stephan Rath, so reminiscent of classi-
cal Venetian glass. Rath’s branch of the
firm, named ‘J. & L. Lobmeyrs Neffe
Stephan Rath’, prospered and the new
Lobmeyr glass was enthusiastically re-
ceived in Paris in 1925. They continued to
make glass in the same style until 1945,
when the connection with the Bohemian
glass industry was severed.
In 1932 Robert J. Leavy, production
manager of the Steuben Glass Works of
Corning, New York, developed a new
crystal that brought a higher standard for
American clear glass. He created a trans-
parent metal, heavy and fat, softly toned,
and with a distinctly individual character,
which became the basis for the new art
production of the factory. Under the aegis
of Arthur Amory Houghton jun., the
architect John Montcith Gates and the
sculptor Sidney Waugh produced some
fine engraved pieces. In 1936 a Design
Department was established, with George
Thompson as leader. The glass is seen to
advantage both in soft furnace-worked
shapes and with engraved work. Great
artists from many countries including
France, Britain, America, Asia and the
Near East, have been asked to submit
designs for the engraving of Steuben glass,
and in 1961 a number of distinguished
American poets were asked to submit
poems which could provide themes for
designs in crystal.
The Glass-makers
Skill
FLASK IN GREEN GLASS WITH ‘SNAKE THREAD’
DECORATION
Cologne, 3rd century a.l). lit. 200 mm (70 in.)
(See also colour photograph 6)
From earliest times glass-makers have sought
to improve a simple glass vessel shape by
adding extra decoration. The skilled crafts-
man learnt to exploit the natural ductile
qualities of glass to embellish his creations
still further. He could draw out threads of
glass and lay them as decoration on the
heated body surface of the vessel. Similarly,
he could drop ‘blobs’ of hot glass on to a
heated vessel, sometimes impressing them
with a moulded pattern. The indrawn and
outdrawn hollow ‘prunls’ on the North
European ‘Claw Beakers’ and ‘Daumen-
glascr’ were skilled developments of blob
decoration. More sophisticated techniques,
such as filigree and millefiori work, drama-
tically illustrate the expertise that the glass-
maker eventually attained in creating addi-
tional decoration.
Trailing: From the appearance of the first
vessels, glass-makers have never been able
to resist the temptation to add to the
intricacy of an object by trailing hot
threads of glass onto its surface. The
Romans were particularly fond of a trailing
which rested on the main body of the
vessel and was not marvered-in. Glasses
decorated with trailed threads can be
found anywhere in the Empire, and so-
called ’snake thread’ decoration distin-
guishes a particular group within this type.
Snake-thread or snake-trailed vessels were
produced mainly in Cologne glass-houses
in the 2nd and 3rd centuries and the
beginning of the 4th century A.D. They
bear applied decoration in the form of
threads, usually with a notched design, in
irregular winding patterns, sometimes in
spirals, and occasionally with ivy motifs
and other Germanic symbols. The most
famous piece of snake-thread decoration
is the pilgrim’s bottle known as the Meister-
stiick in the Rbmisch-Germanisches Mu-
seum in Cologne.
Adding: The Glass-maker’s Skill
Unguentarium in greenish glass with trailed
decoration
Syria, ird 6ih century A.D. Hi. 140 mm (55 in.)
For trailing, a lump of softened glass is
readily drawn out into a thread which may
be wound upon and attached to the surface
of a heated vessel. At first the Roman
glass-makers used the technique for quite
modest decoration of their vessels. Later
Roman glass tends to be wild, extravagant
and irregular in form, and this was
reflected in the use made of trailed
decoration. Elaborately tooled handles,
forms distorted with the use of tongs and
pincers, and trails ‘dribbled’ on the surface
appear towards the 3rd century A.D.
Towards the 4th century A.D., the Roman
glass-makers became even more technic-
ally daring, creating tiers of tall loops for
handles, and geometric lacings that stood
away from the main body of the vessel,
sometimes virtually obscuring the simple
blown forms they decorated. A case in
point is the fairly commonplace green
glass unguentarium illustrated, which is
nearly covered with trailing.
BOWL IN GREENISH Gl ASS WITH III i I TRAHJiD
DECORATION, INCLUDING SIX HANDLES
Probably Syrian, 41I1 or 5th century A.D.
Ht. 146 mm (575 in.)
There was great technical accomplishment
in most of the later Roman glass, except
for the preparation of the metal. By the end
of the 4th century A.D. the glass tended to
be impure and full of bubbles. The glass
forms themselves had lost their earlier
almost monumental character and were
remarkable for their freedom and grace.
Great play was made with the trailing-on
of handles. The earlier Roman strap
handle was joined by the multi-looped
handles of Syria, a striking form of handle
(3rd century A.D.) made of two, threads
joined at intervals, often called the ‘chain
handle’, and other multiple types. The
six-handled bowl illustrated has the han-
dles, applied thread on the neck and zigzag
on the body all in blue glass, and is a well-
known shape used in Roman glass-making
of the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. The
bowl has a certain charm, although the
workmanship is no longer exact.
Adding: The Glass-maker’s Skill
CONE BEAKER IN GREEN-TINTED GLASS WITH
TRAILED DECORATION
Pound in Kempston, Bedfordshire, England, second
half of ihe 5th century A.D.
III. 262 mm (1035 in.)
In the period following the break-up of the
Roman Empire, from the 5th century
A.D., the art of glass-making rapidly-
declined, perhaps never to recover in
England until the 15th century, when the
Renaissance gave a new impetus to the
luxury arts. In Merovingian or Frankish
times (f.5th-8th centuries A.D.), Euro-
pean glass was characterised by its imper-
fect greenish material, full of striations and
bubbles. The only Roman decorative
methods that survived were trailing and
mould-blowing. Trailing particularly was
used with as much dexterity in Merovin-
gian times as in Roman times. On the cone
beaker illustrated a 22-fold horizontal
spiral trail has been applied to the upper
part of the glass, running upwards from a
‘drop-on’ at the bottom. On the lower part
of the vessel a 12-fold continuous vertical
looped trail has been applied with great
skill. These Teutonic drinking glasses
were characterised by the absence of a
practicable foot.
SMALL HEXAGONAL HOT TIE IN CLEAR, COLOURLESS
GLASS WITH OPAQUE WHITE APPLIED THREADS
Venice, Italy, i6lh century A.D.
The Venetian glass-makers were highly-
skilled in every technique, including the
ornamentation of glass by trailing, and
they used this on its own, or in conjunction
with other techniques. Venice was already
exporting her glass to other European
countries by the 14th century A.D. The
Renaissance gave the Venetian glass in-
dustry a new inspiration and impetus,
which established Venice as the greatest
glass-making centre of that time. Though
a monopoly of the industry was sought by
Venice, Venetian traditions were spread by
her runaway craftsmen in many parts of
Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Trailed decoration can be seen on many of
these European products ‘a la j’acon de
Venise’. For example, trailed laltimo (opa-
que white glass) decoration appears on a
German glass of the 16th century; spiral
trailing is used on the bowl of a Nether-
landish glass of the same period, and
English glass attributed to the Italian
glass-maker Verzelini carries trailed lal-
timo decoration.
Sep
15
Antique Clear Colourless Glass - WINE-GLASS - MOULDED HONEY POT
September 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Clear Colourless Glass
The new glass-of-lead was in full produc-
tion by 1682, and by the end of the 17th
century nearly thirty glass-houses through-
out England had adopted it. The period of
fifty years following the general adoption
of the new formula saw the greatest
English achievement in the art of glass.
For a further half-century the English
glass-maker continued to invent new
styles of great interest quite independently
of his European contemporaries. At the
beginning of the 18th century the majority
of English glasses had very little decora-
tion and were heavy and capacious. The
large goblet illustrated is a good example
of this. By the end of the t8th century,
however, English glasses had become
smaller and much lighter in style.
There were many reasons for the revolu-
tion in style just mentioned. The Treaty of
Utrecht in 1713 allowed the glass-makers
of Central Europe to trade westwards; the
accession of George I of Hanover to the
throne of England in 1714 brought an
infiltration of Continental craftsmen, who
were to influence the form and decoration
of English glass; classicism became popu-
lar in all branches of art. Possibly the
greatest influence on English glass-making
however, was brought to bear by the Glass
Excise Acts of 1745, 1777 and 1787. The
merging of the Continental and English
forms continued in England until the first
Glass Excise Act of 1745, which imposed
a tax of one penny per pound on the
materials used to make glass-of-lead.
Other taxes followed which severely ham-
pered English glass-makers, and it was not
until 1845 that these crippling taxes were
finally removed. Efforts to make glasses
lighter in order to lessen the tax burden
include the so-called Excise wine-glass
illustrated, which has a hollow stem.
WINE-GLASS
Norway, second half of the i8ih century.
III. 175 mm (6 88 in.)
Lead crystal glass was introduced to
Norway by a young Englishman, James
Keith, who left South Shields in 1755 to
work at the Royal Norwegian Glass Works.
It seems that glass had first been made in
Norway in 1741. German glass-makers
were called in to run the Nastetangcn
glass-house, and by 1748 they had achieved
considerable success. Further glass-houses
were later set up, notably the Hurdals
Verk, and an enlarged Nostetangen led to
the setting up of the Royal Norwegian
Glass Works. James Keith worked there
until 1787, and introduced the spirit of
Newcastle design; the result was a mixture
of German and English styles peculiar to
Norwegian glass. German influence was
dominant in the cheaper glassware, and
English influence in the finer type. Hurdals
Verk took over the making of fine glass-
ware from Nestetangen after 1777, and in
turn handed over in 1808 to Gjevik Verk,
which however closed in 1843.
MOULDED HONEY POT
Rene I -aliquc. France, 1927-29.
Hi. 197 mm (775 in.)
Rene Lalique (1860-1945) initially be-
came famous for his Art Nouveau style
jewellery, shown at the Paris Exhibition in
iQoo, much of it inlaid with coloured glass
pastes. He also experimented with vessel
glass and the decoration of window panels,
but direction was finally given to his work
when the perfume manufacturer Coty
commissioned a series of luxury flacons
from him. He took over a small glass
factory in 1908 and experimented in blown
glass, then in 1918 acquired the factory at
Wingen-sur-Modcr, where he developed
the glass he became famous for, a colour-
less type of great purity which was often
allowed to retain the matt finish given to it
by the mould or the engraving-wheel. The
vessel illustrated has this frosted finish. He
made vases, flacons, bowls and jars, clocks,
lamp-fittings, figures, screens and panels
for furniture; his favourite decorative
motifs were the female figure, birds, fish
and flowers in rather stilted patterns.
‘Lalique’s glass has the ethereal brilliance
of Arctic ice,’ said Guillaume Janncau in
1931. Occasionally he coloured his clear
metal, using striking contrasts such as
sealing-wax red or black against white,
furnace colouring was not ignored, and
some of his glass have an opalescent sheen.
Sometimes he used abstract patterns, as in
the vase in clear glass illustrated, with
deeply moulded patterns picked out in
black. The ‘twenties were to prove Lal-
ique’s most creative period. During this
time he produced some very large vases and
cups, sometimes singly by the cire perdue
process, more often by the hundred from
the power-press. His style reflected the
mood of the ‘twenties, but in the ‘thirties
he seemed to have lost much of his
original verve. After his death in 1945 his
son Marc carried on the work of the factory
on much the same lines as his father,
though concentrating more on glass for
interior decoration than on vessel glass.
One of the most remarkable personalities
in modern glass history was Gunnel
Nyman (1909-48) who founded an original
art of glass in Finland. She began as a
designer of furniture, training at the
Design School at Helsinki, but when
Henri Ericsson, head designer at the
factory of Riihimaki, died, she started to
design glass for the factory. Her designs
won a competition set by the Karhula-
Iittala factory, and she then dedicated
more of her time to glass. Between 1945
and 1947 she completed most of her best
work. Her designs were executed at
Riihimaki, Nuutajarvi or Iittala, which-
ever was most suitable, and her ideas
flowed freely. She worked in clear, colour-
less glass, occasionally touched with milky
white. Her intense feeling for the soft
pliability of glass is shown in her many
‘folded’ works, one of which is illustrated
here. When she died at the age of forty the
line she had started was taken up and
developed most successfully by a group of
Finnish designers.