Posts Tagged ‘acid etching’

WINE-GLASS, BLUE GLASS CASED OVER
GLASS, with ACID-ETCHED DECORATION
Benjamin Richardson, England, 1857
I It. 143 mm (563 in.)
Acid Etching: Although acid-etched glasses
arc known to exist from the 17th century,
the process was not generally used in glass-
making until the 19th century, with the
discovery of hydrofluoric acid. Heinrich
Schwanhardt (d.1693), son of the Nurem-
berg engraver Georg Schwanhardt, is
recorded to have engraved glasses with
acid, one example attributed to him being
dated 1686. The technique can be used
either to cut through one layer of glass to
another, as in the glass illustrated, or to
provide a single-layered glass with a matt
finish. An acid-resist such as wax paraffin
covers the parts that are not to be affected,
the pattern having been cut through the
resist. The surface of the glass is then
treated in an acid bath (such as a mixture
of 100 parts of water, 10 of potassium
fluoride and t part hydrochloric acid).
Benjamin Richardson of the Richardson
firm of Stourbridge took out a patent to
etch glasses in 1857.
VASE WITH ACID-ETCHED DECORATION
J. & J. Northwood, England, r.1878.
Ht. 216 mm (85 in.)
It was only in the 19th and 20th centuries
that acid-etching became at all an accepted
mode of decoration. In England it is
known that the Dudley firm of Thomas
Hawkes used the technique in the 1830’s.
Besides flat glass objects, wine-glasses,
bottles and vases were being acid-etched
by the 1840’s. John Northwood and T.
Guest were involved in the Richardson
experiments with acid-etching, and in the
186o’s established themselves as individual
firms specialising in etching. They were
known as J. 8c J. Northwood, and Guest
Brothers respectively, and produced a
quantity of etched work in the later 1860’s
and 1870V The skill and delicacy of the
etching they achieved can be seen on the
vase illustrated, made at the J. 8c J.
Northwood works and shown at the Paris
Exhibition of 1878. Acid-etching was by
no means a technique confined to England,
however.
The Techniques of’Taking Away
As Maurice Marinoi of Trance grew to
understand the nature and working of
glass, he experimented with its ornamen-
tation. In 1922 he began using the
technique of acid-etching in a manner
distinctly his own. The process had been
used by French glass-makers since the
mid-19th century. F.mile Galle, comment-
ing on the technique, had said that it would
not do for delicate work, but ‘it cuts into
certain glasses in a manner of its own’. He
used it in his factory from 1890 onwards,
and the Daum factory had also used it to
some extent. Marinot took up acid-etching
because it suited his purpose better than
any other decorative technique. When he
employed acid-etching he used the massi v e
forms he had always favoured, in trans-
parent, occasionally tinted, glass. The
etched designs cut deeply into the surface,
giving an almost sculptural look to the
glass. The whole surface of the glass was
subjected to the treatment, with the most
varied results.
Acid-etching has been used to give a matt
surface to the colourless glass vase illus-
trated. This slender vase has a round foot,
w ith a long stem widening slightly towards
the bowl, which is of an exaggerated tulip
shape. It is just one example of the beaut]
of modern Swedish glass. Even such an
aesthetically difficult technique as etching
has been triumphantly used to give .1
beautiful all-over textural and eye-catch-
ing finish. It has been said that ‘Sweden’s
great contribution to modern design was
to transform Functionalism from an in-
tellectual theory into a practical instru-
ment for better living’ (Polak, 1962). This
was eminently shown in her glass-making;
but besides qualities like fitness for prac-
tical purpose, toughness in wear and
cheapness of production, the general aim
from the beginning was to create objects
of beauty. The Swedes succeeded in their
glassware perhaps more than in any other
branch of modern design.
ENGRAVED AND SAND-BLASTED VASE
Hy Sverre FtTterscn, Hadeland, Norway, 1038
Sand-blasling: In the process of sand-
blasting a stream of sand, crushed flint or
powdered iron is directed on to the surface
of the glass in a jet of air. The parts of the
glass to be left plain are covered with a
stencil plate of steel, or an elastic varnish
or rubber solution painted on to form a
protective shield. The type of finish is
varied by altering the size of the nozzle, or
the abrasive, or the air pressure. The
technique has been in use since 1870,
though it has rarely been applied to vessel
glass, except for lettering on mass-pro-
duced items, and is mainly used on glass
panels for decorative architectural use.
One of the more successful uses of sand-
blasting on vessel glass was by Sverre
Pettersen of Norway (1884-1959), who
was engaged as designer to Hadelands
Cilasswerk in 1928—at that time the only
factory for table glass and decorative glass
in Norway. During the ‘thirties he pro-
duced some very interesting pieces with
sand-blasted decoration.
PLATE WITH SAND-BLASTED ENGRAVING
By I adislav Oliva, Czechoslovakia, 1959
Diam. 362 mm (1425 in,)
Such are the difficulties attached to using
sand-blasting for anything but the heaviest
surface decoration that only very occasion-
ally are satisfying examples of the tech-
nique to be found. One of the exceptions is
this plate, designed and executed by
Ladislav Oliva (b. 1933) in Czechoslovakia.
The plate, in clear colourless lead crystal
glass, has a slightly raised rim, and the
grille-like decoration is in the form of cuts
about to mm (4/ioths in.) deep. Oliva
manages through this technique to give
the glass a new and exciting appearance.
His decorative themes always seem to
result from the natural lights of the heavy
glass mass. The matt finish that sand-
blasting imports to the glass can be very
pleasant to the touch, although sometimes
it can give a fairly rough effect.
The  century has been called the ‘golden
age of glass”, for it added many new tech-
niques to the glass-maker’s repertoire. This
sudden burst of activity can be put down to
many factors, including ‘the industrial revo-
lution, the relaxation of government controls
on the industry (specifically in England) and
a pride of craftsmanship born of freedom’
I Revi, i<)5g). Not since the Italian Renais-
sance had there been such an interest in new
glass-making ideas. In America the larger
firms hired scientists to discover new methods
of colouring glass, one of the best-known
being the Englishman Joseph I^ocke. In
Britain and on the Continent there was keen
rivalry in producing new types of art glass
for a highly competitive market. Demand
rem lied its zenith towards the end of the
I ii torian era. Since then, though new
techniques have still greatly interested glass-
makers, the art glass produced has reflected
the inherent qualities of the material, rather
than added decorative effects.
Pearl Satinglass, also known as Pearl Ware,
Mother-of-Pearl Satinglass and Verre de
Soie, can be found in a variety of patterns
and colours, but basically it shows the
technique of keeping a symmetrical or
controlled pattern of air traps within the
body of a vessel. The vase illustrated shows
a typical example in the so-called hobnail
pattern. Benjamin Richardson of England
filed the first patent for this technique in
1857. His method was quite simple. A
gather of glass was blown into a mould
which carried the pattern in projected
form. The piece, thus indented, was
covered by a further gather of glass, which
caused air traps to form over the pattern.
Another method current in England and
America in the late 19th century was to line
a heated mould with glass tubes, either
clear and colourless or coloured, and to
blow a bubble of glass into this mould.
BOWL OPAQUE IVORI
COLOURED GLASS CASED WITH A P.AIJi RUBY OUTER
LAYER
Stevens & Williams, England, about 1885
lit. 140 mm (55 in.)
The tubes would thus be caught up and
marvered into the body of the glass. By
twisting the paraison the worker produced
articles of glass with pearly swirled stripes
on the outer surface. This method was
probably used to produce the body of the
bowl illustrated, which has been further
worked to form a frilly rim, and has the
heavy applied decoration current around
1885, Patents to produce Pearl Satinglass
were filed by firms in New York in 1881
and France in 1885. The Mt. Washington
Glass Company of the U.S.A. filed patents
in 1886, which also suggested using heat-
sensitive metal to colour the glass, and
giving the article a lustreless finish by
using an acid bath, or by sand-blasting.
The Phoenix Glass Company of Pennsyl-
vania filed patents in 1886, 1887 and 1888;
the final patent described the use of two
moulds, one to pattern the inner wall of
the article, the other to be used after the
outer casing of glass had been applied.
FAIRY LAMP IN PEARL SATINGLASS, RAINBOW STRIPED
IN BLUE, ROSE, YELLOW AND APRICOT
About 1885. lit. 152 mm (6 in.)
The finished product made by the tech-
nique last described displayed a criss-
crossed network of pearly-indented lines
contained in the body of the article.
William Webb Boulton, who had the
Audnam Bank glass-house in England,
filed a patent for Pearl Satin Glass in 1885.
Other English glass-houses manufactured
this type of glass, notably Stevens &
Williams of Brierley Hill, who called it
‘Verre de Soie\ Much of the Pearl Satin-
glass produced in the late 19th century
came from Bohemian and French factories.
These cheaper wares, supplied by factories
at Steinschonau and Altrohlau, Bohemia,
effectively ruined the market for the finer
wares of England and America. Many
different means were used to colour Pearl
Satinglass. The rainbow striping suggested
in this fairy lamp was produced by laying
coloured rods of glass on the body of the
article before it was fully formed.
VASE IN PEARL SATINGLASS
Thomas Webb & Sons, England, probably early
iSoo’s. Hi. 260 mm (1025 in.)
The technical development of trapping air
in moulded recesses between an opaque-
glass body and a tinted layer was further
refined by Thomas Webb & Sons of
England. In the magnificent example
illustrated the vase has a diamond air-lock
pattern between opaque and translucent
layers of glass, but has been covered by an
outer layer etched away to form a floral
pattern in relief; the whole article has a
satin finish. In 1889 Thomas Webb
patented this process for manufacturing
cameo relief designs on articles of Pearl
Satin Ware. After the diamond air lock
pattern had been produced in the usual
way, an extra coating of opaque white or
coloured glass was applied. The design
was painted on to this coating with acid-
resisting inks; when the article was plunged
into an acid bath, the acid dissolved away
all glass not protected by the resist. The
glass-maker had to be extremely careful
not ti) leave the object in the acid too long,
lest the acid reached the air traps.
FOOTED VASE, WITH CORAIE1NE DECOR AI ION
Last quarter of iqih century. 111. 127 mm (j in.)
Corulene: ‘The vase illustrated displays a
type of decoration that became popular
from its introduction in the last quarter of
the 19th century and is known as
‘Coralcne’. A design was painted in enamel
on the surface of a glass. Tiny glass beads,
which could be clear, coloured or opales-
cent, were then applied and stuck to the
enamel paint of the design. The object was
next put into a muffle-kiln, where the
enamel and beads were fired firmly into
place. Decoration could be in the shape of
coral, but is also seen in fleur-de-lis,
herringbone, sheaf of wheat and many-
other patterns. This type of decoration is
found in all colours and on all types of
glassware. Coralenc was so named by the
Mt. Washington Glass Company in the
U.S.A., and by several Continental and
English glass manufacturers. Its use was
not restricted to any one factory.
Amberina is generally recognised as a
clear amber glass shading to red at the top.
The patent for it, dated July 24, 1883, was
granted to Joseph Locke of the Libbey
Glass Company. This remarkable man was
born in Worcester, Kngland, in 1846 and
worked first as a potter. Guest Brothers of
Stourbridge, etchers and decorators of
glass, engaged him, but later he was
persuaded to join the firm of Hodgetts,
Richardson & Company, where he pro-
duced his copy of the Portland vase. After
various employments, Locke finally went
to America in 1882, where he was signed
on by the New Kngland Glass Company
of Cambridge, Mass., later to become the
Libbey Glass Company of Toledo, Ohio.
‘Amberina’, ‘Pomona’, and ‘Agata’ glass
are only a few of his achievements while in
their employment. Amberina was the first
patented method for producing shaded
and parti-coloured glassware from a sen-
sitive homogeneous metal.
To produce Amberina a very small amount
of gold in solution was colloidally dis-
persed in a transparent amber glass metal.
When an object had been made from this
mix, it was allowed to cool below a glowing
red heat and then certain parts were re-
heated at the ‘glory hole’ (a small opening
in the furnace). This caused a red colour to
strike in the reheated portions—but over-
firing caused a fuchsia or purple shading.
Further patents were issued either to
Locke or to Kdward D. Libbey. An
interesting development was the produc-
tion of blanks composed of sensitive
Amberina glass which, after moulding,
were reheated to produce a deep ruby
colour on the outer surface only. A design
would be cut through to the undeveloped
amber colour below, giving a rich effect.
Amberina was made in Cambridge, Mass.,
between 1883 and 1888 by the New
Kngland Glass Company. A fine though
short-lived revival was made between 1917
and 1920, when the firm had moved to
Toledo, Ohio; one of its products is
shown above.
New England Glass Company, U.S.A., 1886
Ht. 178 mm (7 in.)
Almost every glass company in Europe and
America probably made Amberina at some
time during this period. A new technique
was patented for the New England Glass
Company in 1883 and was called ‘Plated
Amberina’; this was unique to that firm.
A piece of opal or opalescent glass plated
with a gold-ruby mixture was reheated at
the ‘glory hole’, so that it would develop
deeper and lighter shadings on its outer
surface. When Amberina metal was used,
the shading would of course be amber-to-
red. However, other colours could be
made: a sensitive cobalt and ruby glass
mixture would produce a plated ware
shading from blue to ruby. Canary, blue
and green colours were also mentioned in
the patent. Plated Amberina invariably has
moulded ribbed decoration, as in the
example shown, though this had no par-
ticular bearing on the specifications men-
tioned in the patent. It was manufactured
only from 1883 to 1886.
PARFA1T oi.ass in rose amber glass
Ml Washington Glass Company, U.S.A., 1886
Ht. 127 mm (5 in.)
The Mt. Washington Glass Company,
New Bedford, Mass., attempted more or
less successfully to produce its own
Amberina glass under the name ‘Rose
Amber’. This was in every way similar to
Locke’s Amberina. Needless to say, the
New England Glass Company had an
injunction granted in 1886 in their suit
against the Mt. Washington Glass Com-
pany for infringement of their patent.
The Circuit Court of the United States
forbade the New Bedford firm to produce
its Rose Amber wares. However, it did not
seem that this injunction had any effect.
The New Bedford Board of Trade Report
of 1889 describes the making of Amberina,
Rose Amber, by ‘two companies, of which
the Mt. Washington was one’, and de-
scribes how ‘it caught the popular fancy
and was all the rage for about two years’.
According to this report it was the success
of the Amberina glass that caused Mt.
Washington to go in for an opaque shaded
ware—Burmese glass.
AMBERINA GLASS
New England Glass Company, U.S.A., iS
iii. 121 mm (475 in.)
WINE-GLASS IN ALEXANDRITE GLASS
English, beginning of 2olh century
Ht. 114 mm (45 in.)
Quite a number of Amberina pieces were
pressed or press-moulded. This piece can
definitely be attributed to the New Eng-
land Glass Company, since it follows a
design sketch made by Joseph Locke in
1884 when he was head designer for the
Cambridge winks. I lobbs Brockunier &
Company of Wheeling, West Virginia,
were licensed to manufacture pressed
Amberina by the New England Glass
Company in 1886. Sowerby’s Ellison Glass
Works Ltd., Gateshead-on-Tyne, Eng-
land, were also licensed to produce pressed
Amberina in 1883. A transparent, homo-
geneous glass shading from pale amber to
a delicate rose tint was press-moulded by
the firm of CristalletICS de Baccarat of
France from 1916. Known as ‘Rose Teinte’,
or to collectors as ‘Baccarat’s Amberina’,
it was reintroduced in 1940 as a popular
item. Its delicate colours were a result of
using less gold salts in the glass, but its
similarity to the American Amberina and
Rose Amber is undisputed.
‘Alexandrite’ glass, a single-layer glass of
three blended colours, first appeared about
1900, and is reputed to have been made by
the two English firms of Thomas Webb &
Sons and Stevens & Williams. 11 started off
as an amber glass; a portion would be re-
heated to rose, and reheated again to blue
on the outer rim, producing an exception-
ally beautiful effect. It is found in plain as
well as patterned surfaces. Stevens &
Williams used a differing technique to
produce the same effect. They cased a body
glass of transparent amber with rose and
blue glass. The outer casings of blue and
rose were then cut away, to reveal the
yellow glass beneath. Kolo Moser, a glass
designer of Bohemia of the early 1900’s,
produced an amethyst transparent glass
which carries the mark ‘Alexandria, but
this one-colour ware should not be con-
fused with the work attributed earlier to
Webb and Stevens & Williams.
PITCHER IN RUBY GLASS WITH DEVELOPED
OPALESCENT DESIGN
I hi i ijih century. I It. 279 mm (11 in.)
Opalescent Glass: In the late 19th century
glasses with raised opalescent white de-
signs became very popular. A coloured
gather of glass was heavily coated with a
sensitive, clear colourless glass containing
bone ash and arsenic. This was blown into
a patterned mould to give it the raised
design. It was then cooled slightly and
reheated, the raised parts striking an
opalescent white, while the background
retained the original colour. Inexpensive
glassware in this technique was produced
by Hobbs Brockunier & Company of
Wheeling, West Virginia; Alexander J.
Beatty & Sons of Steubenville, Ohio;
Phillip Arbogast of Pittsburgh, Pennsyl-
vania ; John Bryce & Company of Pitts-
burgh ; King & Company of Pittsburgh;
and Doyle & Company of Pittsburgh, and
others. Thomas Davidson of George
Davidson & Company Ltd. the Teams
Glass Works, Gateshead-on-Tyne, Eng-
land, patented in 1889 a process for making
a pressed, shaded version, in which the
opalescence was either white or of the
same shade as the body metal.
VASE IN BURMESE GLASS
Ml. Washington Glass Company, U.S.A., 1885
Ht. 305 mm (12 in.)
‘Burmese’ glass is a single-layered glass
shading from opaque greenish-yellow to
deep pink at the top. It was developed by
the Mt. Washington Glass Company,
New Bedford, Mass. Frederick S. Shirley
patented his formula for Burmese in 1885
for the firm. He produced the glass by
adding small amounts of fluorspar, feldspar
and oxide of uranium to essentially the
same ingredients as used by Joseph Locke
to make his Amberina glass. The fluorspar
and feldspar gave the glass its translucency,
and the uranium oxide made the ordin-
arily translucent white glass melt a pale-
yellow in colour; the gold made the glass
sensitive to thermal changes so that when
reheated at the ‘glory hole’ it struck a
salmon pink colour, which shaded down
to the original yellow. A second reheating
caused the pink glass to revert back to its
yellow colour, a feature quite often seen
on the rim of a piece of Burmese glass.
Frederick Shirley’s formula for Burmese-
glass was patented in England in 1886.
Thomas Webb 8i Sons of Stourbridge,
England, purchased a licence to copy-
Burmese products as well as to produce
their own shapes and designs. Most ol t he-
English Burmese ware is acid-finished,
though Mt. Washington produced both
glossy and acid-finished Burmese ware.
Thomas Webb & Sons called their glass
‘Queen’s Burmese Ware’. The glass was
much used for the patent ‘fairy lights’ or
small individual candle shades so popular
in England and America in the late
‘eighties. Queen Victoria ordered a tea-set
in Burmese glass from the Mt. Washington
Glass Company, enamelled with what was
to become known as the ‘Queen’s’ design.
The ornamentation of Burmese ware was
often of a highly decorative order. Verses
by well-known poets, Egyptian scenes, and
bird and animal portrayals were included
in enamelled motifs. Occasionally, finely
wrought applied decoration w ould be used.
Peach Blow: When a ‘Peach Bloom’
coloured Chinese porcelain vase was sold
for $18,000 in 1886, this caused such a
sensation that products labelled ‘Peach
Bloom’ or —slightly changed ‘Peach
Blow’ attracted many sales. ‘The glaze on
the vase was described as being the colour
of ‘crushed strawberries’. The magic of
the name attracted the attention of manu-
facturers of coloured art glasses, who tried
to devise new types suitable for this name.
Hobbs Brockunicr & Company of Wheel-
ing, West Virginia, produced such a glass
and called it ‘Wheeling Peach Blow’.
Replicas of the ‘Morgan’ vase were made,
like the example illustrated, in both glossy
and acid finishes. The moulded Stand with
its five-headed griffin is in an unimportant-
quality amber glass, hut the vase itself is
made of white opal glass plated with 1
transparent amber glass, made heat-sensi-
tive with gold salts. Reheating caused the
glass to strike a ruby colour, shading to
yellow or amber.
The Mt. Washington Glass Company
filed trade-name papers on the terms
‘Peach Blow’ and ‘Peach Skin’ through
Frederick S. Shirley in 1886. As a
colourant for their new products Shirley
substituted a small amount of cobalt or
copper oxide, instead of oxide of uranium
as in making Burmese. This produced a
homogeneous glass shaded pale grey-blue
to a delicate rose tint in the reheated
portions. When plunged in acid the surface
acquired an all-over slightly grey cast. As
it is a single-layered glass, the shading is
the same on the inside as on the exterior.
The Mt. Washington Peach Blow wares
were manufactured in similar shapes to
their Burmese ware. Moulded and applied
decoration were used, as well as gilding
and enamelling. The example illustrated
shows the ‘Queen’s’ design, as ordered by
Queen Victoria from the firm. The pattern
is of conventionalised flowers in raised
enamel, much of the decoration done in
pure gold reduced with acids.
The success of its Amberina glasses caused
the New England Glass Company to
experiment further with heat-sensitive
glasses. One of the resulting products was
patented by Edward D. Libbey in 1886
and called at first ‘Wild Rose’, later ‘Peach
Blow’. It is a single-layered glass shading
down from red to white in the lower part
of the piece. To produce it, an opal glass
was combined with a gold-ruby glass in
one pot. When a vessel had been formed,
reheating produced the rose colouring in
the required parts. Glasses made from this
metal were moulded, decorated with gild-
ing and enamelling and also acidized to a
satin finish. Occasionally, they would be
left in the original glossy state. The vase
illustrated was decorated by Joseph Locke
for his daughter Nora. The etched reliel
designs covering the surface of the glass
have been outlined and highlighted with
gold traceries and a dark brown mineral
stain.
At about the same time that the U.S.A.
glass-making firms were experimenting
with heat-sensitive glasses, both Thomas
Webb & Sons and Stevens & Williams of
England manufactured shaded wares
which they termed ‘Peach Glass’ or ‘Peach
Bloom’. Webb’s Peach Glass was cased,
the inner layer being creamy coloured with
a slight ly greenish cast in the upper portion.
It is similar in appearance to Hobbs
Brockunier & Company’s ‘Wheeling Peach
Blow’. Stevens & Williams of Stourbridge
produced a glass called ‘Peach Bloom’
which was also very much the same in
appearance. The English Peach glasses
were produced in both glossy and acid
finishes, and arc frequently found with
elaborate gold decoration on both finishes.
Occasionally, Webb’s Peach Glass will
have the Webb incised mark on the base;
Stevens & Williams ware also sometimes
bears a mark under the foot.
The Boston & Sandwich Glass Company,
Sandwich, Mass., manufactured a glass
known as ‘Sandwich Peach Blow’. This
was a single-layered glass, strawberry ice
cream pink in shading, often found in
moulded and twisted swirl decoration; see
the example above, which also has the
characteristic thorn handle of the period.
Overlay decorations in a camphor or
greyish colour are quite usual, the com-
plete piece having an acid finish. Many-
other types of glass are loosely termed
‘Peach Blow’, but basically, apart from a
slight variation in colour shading, the
products can be summarised as follows:
Webb and Wheeling Peach Blow are
always lined, but Mt. Washington, New-
England and Sandwich Peach Blow are
never lined. The Bohemian manufacturers
soon cashed in on the vogue of Peach Blow
wares, producing far cheaper glasses,
which forced the better products off the
markets, though their wares in no way-
resembled those made in America and in
England.

TRANSLUCENT WINE GLASS IN THE
CAMEO TECHNIQUE
Rinnan Empire, possibly isi century A.I).
Hi. 62 mm (2-44 in.)
PORTLAND VASE IN DARK AND OPAQUE
GLASS, CAMEO-CUT
Roman Empire, late isl century B.C. or early isi
century A.I). III. 245 248 mm (0-65 075 in.)
Cameo Class: This technique is a mixture
of both wheel-cutting and engraving, and
in the later period, of acid etching. This
art, certainly practised by the Romans, in
their glass-houses at Alexandria, was
brought to such perfection between the 1st
century B.C. and 1st century A.D. that
glasses like the Portland Vase could be
produced. It is possibly the most dramatic
form of abraded decoration on a vessel. At
least two layers of differently coloured
glasses were needed for vessels of cameo
glass. These would be carved through to
the under-layers by the lapidary’s wheel.
Roman cameo glass (also called verre
double) was usually made up of translucent
white glass cased on to a darker ground of
blue glass, which was then carved with
ornamental designs or mythological or
genre scenes. The scene depicted on the
blue and white glass cup illustrated is a
mythological scene devoted to the worship
of Priapus, a fertility god.
Roman cameos form only a small group of
Roman glass products, bui they rank high
amongst the achievements of the great
glass-makers of this period. Possibly the
most famous of all Roman cameos is the
Portland vase, said to have been found in
1582 in a sarcophagus on the Appian Way
near Rome. It was bought by the British
Museum from the Duke of Portland in
1045. To make it, two gathers of glass, one
cobalt blue, one opaque white, were fused
together and probably blown and shaped
as one. This would have to have been very
carefully annealed (cooled under con-
trolled conditions), for if the rate of
cooling on cither face was even slightly
different, the glass would shatter. When
annealed, the glass would have been
marked with the desired decoration, and
the larger unwanted areas of white glass
ground away with heavy wheel abrasion to
the blue underneath.
OVAIL CAMEO (WITH A DEMONSTRATION OF HOW IT
WAS MADE)
Roman Empire, 41b century A.D.
Ht. 41 mm (163 in.)
The delicate work necessary to finish off
the figures on a cameo would probably
have been accomplished with fine wheel
abrasion, since even at this early period it
was possible for wheels the size of a
pinhead to be made for fine work. The
manner of carving was very much akin to
the carving of a layered gem-stone such as
onyx or banded agate. The changes in
thickness of the opaque or translucent
white glass layer brought about by the
differences in the depth of the carving
produced subtle tonal variations. The
illustration shows the various stages a
Roman glass-maker would go through to
produce the cameo of a youth’s head and
shoulders. First the two layers of glass
were fused together, then the oval shape
cut out; the main areas of white which
were not needed were then removed, then
the finer details were filled in.
FI.ASK WITH CAMEO CUT DECORATION
Persia, oth-iolh century A.D. Ht. 150 mm (59 in.)
Between the period of Roman cameo-
working to the great revival of the tech-
nique in the 19th century, it is often
assumed that no such work was carried
out. This is not quite the case, for cameo
glass was certainly made in Egypt and
Persia in the 9th and 10th cerituries A.D.
Complete pieces have been found from
those countries, and fragments of cameo
glass of the same period have been found
in Samarra. The overlay glass is either
coloured green or blue. The flask illus-
trated is an outstanding example of Persian
camco-cut work. It is in colourless glass,
cased with green depicting the form of a
hare, the articulation of the joints being
cut away to the colourless glass beneath.
This cameo glass formed part of the school
of relief-cutting which flourished in Persia
and probably Mesopotamia in the 9th and
10th centuries. Cameo glass was also
produced in China well before the 19th
century.
John Northwood, born in Stourbridge,
England, in 1837, was the first, and lead-
ing, exponent in England of the art of
cameo glass. After completing his famous
relief-carved ‘Elgin’ vase, he was commis-
sioned by Phillip Pargeter of the Red
House Glassworks near Stourbridge to
produce a copy of the Portland vase. He
did this successfully, and followed it up by
producing his ‘Milton’ vase and later his
famous ‘Pegasus’ or ‘Dennis’ vase, com-
missioned by Thomas Wilkes Webb,
which is illustrated here. Members of the
Northwood School included his own son
John II, who produced works in the
cameo technique. During the early years
of English cameo glass, (.1870 to 1880,
pieces were carved mainly with hand
tools, and each was normally the work of
an individual artist. To supply public
demand a quicker method for production
had to be found and thus the engraving
wheel came to be used, and the production
became a co-operation between designer,
etcher and engraver.
This new ‘commercial’ production of
English cameo glass lasted roughly from
1880 to 1890, and on the whole the results
tended to be good. Stevens 8c Williams of
Brierley Hill and Thomas Webb & Sons
of Stourbridge produced the greatest
amount of cameo work in this period.
Besides the John Northwood school there
existed a second school of cameo glass
artists at the firm of Hodgetts, Richardson
& Company of Wordsley. The two most
important artists there were Alphonse
Lechevrel and Joseph Locke. Alphonse
Lechevrel, a Frenchman, was taken on by
the firm to instruct a small group of men
in the art of carving glass cameos and was
one of the first to follow John Northwood
in this difficult technique. Lechevrel had
already made his name as a medalist, and
had a good grounding in figure, floral and
geometric designs. A few of his pieces of
cameo glass survive, including the vase
illustrated.
CAMEO GLASS VASE, RUBY BODY
Ctrved by Joseph Locke, New England Glass
Company, U.S.A., c. iMg
Alphonse Lechevrel’s most promising
pupil was Joseph Locke, a perfectionist in
whatever medium he attempted, an accom-
plished glass technologist, a finished pain-
ter, engraver, etcher, sculptor and inven-
tor. When eventually he came to be
employed by Hodgetts, Richardson &
Company he produced his masterpiece,
the second copy of the Portland vase in
cameo glass, exhibited at the Paris Exhibi-
tion in 1878, where it won the Gold Medal
Award. Locke left Hodgetts, Richardson
& Company to work for Phillip Pargcter of
the Red House Glassworks, who had the
Northwood version of the Portland vase.
He went on to Webb & Corbetts, and then
left lor America in 1882 where he joined
the New England Glass Company of
Cambridge, Mass. Hecontinued his cameo
work in America, the vase illustrated being
an example of his work there. Occasionally
he used enamelling to embellish his cameo
work still further.
Carved by George Woodall, late 19th century
Ht. 220 mm (9 in.)
The brothers George and Thomas Woodall
had the good fortune to receive their early
training in cameo work from John North-
wood. Both were engaged by the firm of
Thomas Webb & Sons of Stourbridge to
work exclusively on cameo glass. The
Woodall school is noted for being by far
the most productive of the three schools
of English cameo glass. George had a
natural talent for figure composition, as
did his brother, though Tom seemed to
prefer decorative and floral patterns and
often executed the borders on their joint
works, usually signed ‘T & G Woodall’.
The early works of George Woodall were
mainly hand-carved, and his later pieces
mostly worked on the engraver’s wheel.
Much cameo glass was produced under
his direction by a large group of workers.
Tom and George Woodall and James
O’Fallon were the designers, though some
of their workers were quite capable of
producing and executing their own de-
signs.
‘lace-de-boheme’ cameo glass vase
Bohemia, (.1885. lit. 229 mm (9in.)
Most of the English cameo glass produced
between 1880 and 1890 was destined for
the American market. After 1890 demand
for this tine work dropped, because of the
influx of cheap imitation cameo work on
to the market. These cheaper pieces were
made by giving the glass a thin opal casing
and then applying the pattern to this
casing with acid-resisting ink; the article
was then plunged into a hydrofluoric acid
bath, which dissolved away all parts of the
casing not protected by the acid-resisting
ink. Thus an article was easily made with
a flat opal glass design in very shallow-
relief on a coloured background. Still
cheaper imitations came with ‘Florentine
Art Cameo’, and i.ace-dc-Boheme Cam-
eo’ made in Bohemia, which was simply
heavy white enamelling, often copying
English cameo designs, on a coloured or
satin glass body. ‘Mary Gregory’ glass,
described in the enamelling section, was
also a cheaper imitation of cameo work.
CAMEO GLASS VASE IMITATING  CARVED IVORY
WITH APPLIED GLASS WINDOW’S
Designed by Kretschman and decorated in gold and
enamel by Jules Barbc, Thomas Webb & Sons,
Kngland, 1-.1887
Thomas Webb & Sons of Stourbridge,
England, were the sole producers of a
novelty-type cameo glass which was made
in imitation of old carved ivory. Thomas
Wilkes Webb patented the process in 1887
and in the U.S.A. in 1889. An article made
of ivory coloured or opaque white glass
was etched with a shallow relief design,
which was deepened with an engraving
wheel. The design produced was wiped
clean and then rubbed with a brown or
other coloured stain; the stain made a dark
tint in the recesses of the design, and was
also apparent on the high points of the
design. The result made a piece of’cameo’
glass which looked like old carved ivory.
‘Tom and George Woodall used Oriental
and East Indian objets d’art as models for
this technique, and other members of the
Woodall team, Jules Barbc, Jacob Facer
and Nash, produced designs for this ware.
Both Stevens & Williams of Brierley Hill
and Thomas Webb & Sons of Stourbridge,
England, produced a glassware which was
known as ‘Dolce Relievo’ or ’soft relief. A
gather of clear coloured glass was picked
up on a first gathering of opaque white or
ivory-coloured glass, and the article was
fashioned in the normal way. When the
object had cooled, a design was painted on
the outer coloured glass, which was care-
fully etched away. This left various shad-
ings in shallow relief on the white or ivory
background. Any merit that the piece may
have depends entirely on the original
beauty of the design and on the skill of the
etcher. The vase illustrated, made at
Stevens & Williams, is one of the better
examples of the technique. Thomas Webb
& Sons were also responsible for cameo
glass pieces made to imitate 18th-century
Apart from beads, decorative plaques and
models of animals, very little glass was
made in China before the 5th century A.D.
As already mentioned, it is thought that
the secrets of glass-making were brought
to (ihina from the West in A.D. 435. Little
is known of Chinese glass-making during
the Sung and Ming periods. During the
Ch’ing period a glass workshop was
established in Peking in 1680 under the
patronage of the Kmperor K’afig Hsi, and
cameo-cut glass was featured amongst its
products. The most prolific period of
Chinese glass-making, however, comes in
the reign of the Kmperor Ch’ien Lung
(1735-95). The bottle illustrated is thought
to have come from this period, being in
opaque white glass with an overlay of red
glass depicting mounted warriors, build-
ings and nobles in a stage-like setting. The
effect of layered onyx or other semi-
precious stone was thus simulated, for the
Chinese seemed to be only interested in
glass in so far as it imitated more precious
materials.
CAMEO GLASS VASE IN PINK AND WHITE OPAQUE GLASS
Ml. Washington Glass Company, U.S.A., late
iQth century. Ht. 121 mm (475 in.)
Production of cameo glass in the U.S.A. in
this period was limited, not for lack of
expertise, but because of the high cost of
production. A great deal of English cameo
glass was of course being imported to the
States. However, some was made there,
the example shown being a pink and white
cameo of the Mt. Washington Glass
Company, New Bedford, Mass. The firm
also made blue and white cameo glass,
using the same relatively few patterns for
both. The outline of the ‘cameo’ decora-
tion is finely etched, but there any
resemblance to English cameo work ends,
for the decoration is produced solely by
the use of acid, and the effect of the design
is rather flat. On the other hand, some very
notable cameo work was produced in
America by the firm of Louis Comfort
Tiffany with Arthur J. Nash. Frederick
Carder certainly made traditional cameo
glass objects in England, and later, when
he worked in the U.S.A. he invented
Steuben ‘Acid Cutback’ glass, which is
allied to the cameo technique.
CAMEO GLASS VASE
Venice, Italy, last quarter of 10th century
Cameo glass was produced in Venice in the
late 19th century. It is not known who
produced these pieces, but their chief
characteristic is that they are made of
Venetian soda-lime metal, as opposed to
the heavy lead glass of English cameo
glass. This lighter glass, when used for
both the inner and outer layers of the
objects, gives the carving of the cameo a
more delicate but less distinct appearance.
Small details such as the carving of faces
were not easily achieved with the more
brittle metal. These pieces, all apparently
carved by the same artist, are in deep blue
glass cased by white opal glass. They
attempt to copy some of the ancient
Roman cameos, including the Portland
vase. Small alabastrons, vases, large and
small cups and saucers are copied from
ancient examples. The owners of the
cameos, Pauly & Cie of Venice, produced
a few pieces of cameo engraving on leftover
blanks from the late 19th century.
VASE IN CAMEO GLASS
Kmilc Galle, Nancy, France, end of ihe iqth century
I It 44S mm (17-63 in.)
French cameo glass has en entirely different
artistic feel from that of the meticulously
engraved English type. The French glass-
makers used acid etching to engrave their
designs on to blanks of cased coloured
glass, in a style originally intended to copy
oriental models. Emile Galle (1846 1004)
was the most prominent figure in the
production of French cameo glass. He
learned his trade at Mcisenthal, and then
had a more formal art education in Weimar,
followed by studies in the major museums
of London and Paris. He established his
own workshop for glass decoration in 1867.
With his father he began the regular
production of art glass in Nancy in 1874,
and continued until his death in 1004.
Strongly influenced by the art of Japan, he
took as his favourite subjects flowers,
insects and landscape designs, in contrast
to the figure subjects favoured by English
artists for cameo glass.
CASED-GLASS CAMEO VASE IN AUBERGINE,
WHITE
By Emile Galle, Nancy, France, iSgo 1000
The smaller details on Gallc’s cameo glass
were finished off on the engraving wheel.
The majority of his cased glass vases, with
a decoration of flowers and leaves, date
from after 1890. So-called ’standard Galle’
vases with conventional Art Nouveau
flower patterns in one colour against an
opaque white background as illustrated arc-
probably factory products, rather than
Galle’s personal handiwork. It is very rare
to find two identical pieces among the
massive output of his factory. Like most
French glass-makers of this period, he
usually signed his work. Even after his
death, when the factory continued under
the direction of Victor Prouve, the pro-
ducts were still signed ‘Galle’, hut a star
preceded the name, and production in
Gallc’s style certainly continued until
1913. Closest to Galle’s work came the
products of the firm of Daum in Nancy;
this concern was established by Jean
Daum Urol hers, Nancy, Franee, c. 1895
Jean Daum’s two sons, Auguste and
Antonin, were personally influenced in
glass-making by Emile Galle. They soon
(V.i890) began to produce articles decor-
ated with flowers and leaves in cased glass,
using on their works a monogram incor-
porating the Cross of Lorraine. Their
early productions of Art Nouveau glass
were very fine, and they continued to make
art glass until the First World War, but
their later work is of much poorer quality.
Once Galle died, his inspiration seemed to
die with him. Other makers of cameo glass
in Galle’s style were the factory of Lunc-
ville, near Nancy, and also Sevres, which
produced the designs of the firm of
Landier et Fils. Other lesser-known
workers in French cameo glass were De
Vez, Le Gras, Andre De Lattc, Edward
Michel, M. Walter, Alphonse G. Reyen,
Tessire du Motay, Kessler and Mareschal.
The technique of French cameo glass was
copied by many countries in Europe.
i \MH) glass vasi in KM) imhiiihu 111 ysn
By Tiffany, U.S.A., late i<)th century/early 20th
century. Hi. 146 mm (575 in.)
Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) joined
forces on a shareholding basis with Arthur
J. Nash, an English glass-maker, and other
investors. Nash later brought in his sons
A. Douglas and Leslie Nash. They oper-
ated the factory at Corona, Long Island,
New York, known as Tiffany Furnaces,
and later as Louis C. Tiffany Furnaces
Inc. When Tiffany left in 1924, it became
the A. Douglas Nash Co. Tiffany products
owed much to L. C. Tiffany from 1 he-
design point of view, but it was the Nashs’
practical knowledge of glass-making that
made them technically outstanding. One
of the products that must be mentioned
here is their cameo glass, which generally
consisted of two or more layers of glass.
The designs were painted on in acid-
resistant materials, then the object was
plunged into an acid bath, which revealed
the under layer or layers. The design was
finished off with engraving and polishing
tools.
VASE IN ‘ACID CUTBACK’
By Frederick Carder, Steuben Glass Works,
U.S.A., early 20th century. III. 305 mm (12 in.)
Frederick Clarder of the Steuben Glass
Works, Corning, New York, established
an etching room for glass at the works in
about 1006. He was familiar with the
etching process in connection with cameo
glass from his Stevens & Williams days in
Kngland, and he carved his cameo plaque
‘The Immortality of the Arts’ while
working under the tutelage of John North-
wood. Until about 1932 Carder produced
at Steuben a cameo-type glass which is
called ‘Acid Cutback’ by collectors. The
design was transferred to the glass by
means of a print made on paper in a ‘wax
ink’. The area of the glass not covered with
the pattern was painted with wax, to
protect it from the etching acid. The glass
was left in the acid bath for the time
required to etch the designs to the desired
depth. Two layers of glass were normally
used, the darker colour most frequently
being the outer layer, though occasionally
single-layer pieces were made.
COLOURLESS GLASS WITH CUT
DECORATION
Ireland, late iSth century. Ht. 13(1 mm (538 in.)
(See also colour photograph 21)
Cut Glass: To most people the term means
the type of deep wheel-cutting used on
Irish glass from the late 18th century
onwards, and also on modern cut wine-
glasses and containers. The popularity of
today’s cut-glass products is a legacy of the
great popularity this type of glassware
enjoyed in Kngland and America during
the 19th century. In this style of decoration
angular cuts are made into the vessel
which, when polished, act as prisms with
adjacent cuts, giving a very brilliant effect.
The glass blank would first be marked
with the pattern, a mixture such as white-
lead and gum water being used. Following
the design, deep cuts would be roughed in
against an iron wheel fed with abrasive
such as sand. Water-cooled stone wheels
which need no abrasive might be used to
add fine lines. The cuts could then be
polished by lead or wooden wheels, or,
after the second half of the 19th century,
by plunging the vessel into a mixture of
hydrofluoric acid and sulphuric acid.
waisted bowl in clear, colouri j.s.s glass, stained decanter in cut glass with mushroom stopper
yellow, vviiti cut decoration England, about 1820. Ht. 241 mm (0-5 in.)
Ireland, 1.1820-30. Diam. 143 mm (563 in.)
The years 1780 to about 1835 can be
described as the period of freedom for
Irish glass-making, when the trade was
unfettered by any serious restraints. It was
during this period that some of the most
notable work in cut glass was produced in
Ireland. The principal glass-house cities
were Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Belfast.
The common belief that Waterford glass
has a blue tint is entirely wrong; some
glasses made on the Continent in imitation
of the Waterford style are markedly blue
in colour, but the original Waterford glass
is clear and colourless. Objects made
included barrel-shaped and straight-sided
decanters, bowls and vases, often with a
turned-over rim and a domed foot, covered
bowls and jars with button finials, urns,
kettle-drum bowls, plates, bowls and
stands, ewers with swan neck handles, jugs
with rounded bodies, and serving dishes.
The cut decoration was mostly done by
English craftsmen, who emigrated to
Ireland after Free Trade had been de-
clared in 1780.
The historical impact of early 19th century
English cut glass can be compared to the
influence on glass-making that Venice had
in the 16th century or to that of the
engraved glass of Central Europe in the
17th and 18th centuries. The inability of
the Venetians, with their lighter soda-lime
metal, to copy cut glass led to their eclipse
as the main glass-making centre at this
period. The success of the French and
Belgian factories in copying English cut
glass was a main cause for their develop-
ment in the first half of the 19th century.
The United States of America quickly
took to cut glass, and even in Central
Europe the style could only be partially
resisted. Mitre-cutting, or the cutting of
V-section grooves into glass, was the
characteristic Regency style. The decan-
ters, like the illustrated one, were mostly
barrel-shaped, with rings applied to their
necks, and usually with ‘mushroom’-
shaped stoppers.
Kngland. probably the 1820’s. lit. 89 mm (3-5 in.)
in m dish i\ tit GLASS
Kngland. about 1820. Length 219 mm (8-6? in.)
The V-section grooves of the mitre-cutting
were usually in straight lines. The main
decoration on the glass was caused by the
intersection of these grooves at ninety or
forty-five degrees. The simplest decora-
tion, when the grooves met at ninety
degrees, was the production of a field ol
plain ‘diamonds’ or small pyramids of
glass. There were many variants of this
sort of decoration, but one of the most
popular was the field of intricate ’straw-
berry diamonds’ found on so many pieces.
The bowl illustrated is a typical example.
Since the middle of the iSth century the
geometrical cutting of the soft English
lead glass had absorbed many glass decora-
tors, but it was the styles of the early 19th
century that were to establish its lasting
popularity. Regency cut glass was in fact a
logical technical development from the
shallow facetted glass of the mid-i8th
century.
Regency cut glass subordinated the shape
of the vessel to the decoration. Its solidity
and sparkling appearance reflected the
ostentation that was prevalent in all the art
forms of the British Regency and Con-
tinental Empire styles. In addition to the
square-cut patterns, other designs on
vessels involved the use of radiating cuts.
Usually the base would be ’star-cut’, and
the edge of the vessel might have ‘fan-
cutting’ on each of a scries of semi-circular
projections. This can be seen in the oval
cut-glass dish illustrated. It is strange that
this style of decoration, which needed such
thick glass for its execution, should coin-
cide with the period of the Glass Excise.
Between 1745 and 1845 the various
governments sought to gain revenue by
taxing the glass output in England.
Strangely enough, the effect of the Excise
seemed to be the concentration of all the
glass-makers upon one current style of
clear glass with cut decoration.
The Techniques of Taking Away
Early 19th-century glass shapes can norm-
ally be distinguished from their late 18th-
century forerunners by their heaviness and
formality. The cut decoration was more
often arranged horizontally than vertically.
This is apparent on the cut-glass dish with
cover that is illustrated. It has generally-
been assumed that most cut glass was
made in Ireland, where until the mid-
1820’s there was no Glass Excise tax. This
cannot in fact be true, since there were
never more than ten factories in Ireland
producing decorative glass, whereas in
England they numbered about fifty. Apart
from a few special cases, it is virtually
impossible to distinguish between English
and Irish glass on the grounds of style or
of the glass used. When the Excise was
introduced into Ireland in 1825, that
country was producing Ј20,000 worth a
year of flint glass, compared with over
Ј20,000 worth in Scotland and Ј170,000
worth in England.
The tendency to call all cut glass ‘Irish’ or
‘Waterford’ probably reflects the way
research has been made into the subject.
Much has been written on the history of
the Irish factories in the early 19th
century, but very little has been done on
the much wider field of English cut glass
in this period. Wine-glasses or ‘rummers’
of the early 19th century in England
usually had convex or straight-sided bowls.
Short bucket shapes were common, as
well as the taller flute shape illustrated.
Stems were short, often with disc-shaped
knops. The intersecting mitre cutting used
so much on other vessels was considered
unsuitable for drinking glasses, so their
decoration usually consisted of flat vertical
facets towards the lower part of the bowl.
Jugs had become a popular form of glass-
ware but in Regency times they tended to
copy pottery shapes and did not have the
fluidity of form of true glass art.

Antique Engraved Glass

Engraving, whereby a decorative pattern is finely cut onto the surface of the glass, dates back to Roman times. The very earliest types of engraving were diamond-point engraving, which involves scratching fine lines into the glass with a sharp instrument (usually a diamond stylus), and wheel engraving, where the design is cut into the glass by means of a rotating
wheel. Stipple engraving, a more sophisticated form of diamond point engraving, where patterns of tiny dots rather than lines at used to create a shaded design, was first used from c.1621 acid etching, which involves burning a design out of the top layer of glass with acid, evolved with the invention
hydrofluoric acid c.1770 and was widely used in Britain.
Although glass was engraved from Roman times, and examples of fine engraving exist on 15th–century Venetian glass, the widespread use of such techniques as diamond-point and stipple engraving dates mainly from the second half of the 16th century. These techniques were introduced to decorators in the Low Countries by itinerant Venetian glassworkers. Wheel engraving was first used in Germany in the late 16th century.
DIAMOND-POINT AND STIPPLE ENGRAVING Diarnond-point engraving, in which the design or decoration is scratched onto the surface of the glass by a sharp diamond stylus, is particularly suited to thin-walled glass too hard to withstand wheel engraving. It was the only engraving technique suitable to
be used on delicate cristallo glass. Diamond-point engraving was therefore quite common on 15th-century Venetian and later facon de Venice (”in the style of Venice”) glass. However, the technique did not reach its apogee until it was taken up in the Low Countries during the 17th century, where it was carried out by both amateur (those who decorated glass as a hobby) and professional glass decorators. Anna Roemers Visscher (1583-1651) was an amateur glass decorator in Amsterdam, where she engraved delicate designs of flowers, fruit, and insects, as well as lines of poetry in calligraphic script, on beakers and Romer (a type of drinking glass). Another distinguished amateur glass decorator, Willem Jacobsz van Heemskerk (1613-92), in Leiden, produced most notably free-flowing calligraphic designs on such wares as bulbous serving bottles and jugs. Among the best-known professional engravers was Willem Mooleyser (active 1685-97), from Rotterdam, who used diamond-point engraving on bowls, flasks, goblets, and Romer.
In stipple engraving, which is a development of diamond-point engraving, a stylus is very gently tapped on the glass to make a design built up of small dots; these dots create areas of light (dense areas of dots) and shade (sparse areas of dots) to create the delicate design. The detail may be so fine that the design will Only be seen clearly when the glass is held to the light. Common designs include portraits and allegorical Subjects. Examples of stipple-engraved glass are rare,
as the technique is slow, extremely difficult, and requires great skill and patience.
As with diamond-point engraving, the most notable designs were produced by glass decorators from the Low Countries. Visscher introduced the technique to The Netherlands c.1621, but perhaps the best-known exponent was Frans Greenwood (1680-1761), an amateur glass decorator in Dordrecht who employed the technique exclusively from c.1722. He incorporated floral and fruit motifs and also copied designs from contemporary mezzotints and paintings. One of his followers was David Wolff (1732-98),
), a painter who
produced his own designs and portraits. Some of Wolff’s pieces are signed and his style inspired other artists towards the end of the century; such pieces are commonly known as “Wolff” glass. Another follower of Greenwood was the painter and engraver Aert Schouman ( 1710-92). Greenwood, Wolff, and Schouman all mainly worked on glass thought to have been made in the factories around Newcastle-upon-Tyne in northern England, which made a soft glass that was better suited to the stippling technique than the more brittle soda glass.
WHEEL ENGRAVING
In wheel engraving, a mechanical wheel fed with an abrasive paste (typically a mix of oil and emery) is used
cut a design onto a glass surface. The technique, which has been used since Roman times, is best suited
thick-walled pieces, because the depth of the cut is an essential part of the design. The modern technique was probably developed between c.1590 and 1605, at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph 11 in Prague, by the gem engraver Caspar Lehman 15-0-1622), who engraved plaques and beakers with portraits and allegorical subjects.
In Bohemia a new type of glass known as “lime” glass, in which chalk lime carbonate was added to the batch to give a strong, colourless crystal suitable for deep engraving, was developed c.1683. At about the same time water power was introduced to drive the wheels, and this also enabled deeper cutting. Especially notable is the work of Dominik Biemann (1800 1857), whose training at the Prague Academy of Drawing is reflected in his fine engraved portraits on beakers and medallions. Of particular note are the Baroque pokals lidded goblets) decorated with Hochschnitt (”high cut”) engraving by the Silesian Friedrich Winter (d.C. 17 12). One of Lehman’s pupils was Georg Schwanhardt the Elder 1601-70), who left Prague for Nuremberg where he established a workshop and founded a dynasty of skilled engravers, including his son Heinrich (1624l
The technique was further developed in the 19th century, as Bohemian craftsmen pioneered a process whereby glass was overlaid with a layer of glass in a different colour and then wheel engraved to show the design in the colour of the first laver. Two lavers of glass were standard, but sophisticated pieces were composed of up to four layers. Such pieces demanded great expertise, as each coloured layer cooled at a different rate, and with each additional colour the risk of cracking increased. Common decoration included forest and hunting scenes, rural views, and castles. However, most sought after are special commissions such as portraits of famous people, battle scenes, and important buildings. Highly skilled Bohemian craftsmen travelled across Europe, so many pieces of this type were produced in various countries.
Towards the end of the 19th century some fine wheel-engraved pieces with Hochschnitt and Tiefschnitt (incised or intaglio) decoration were designed by J. & L. Lobmeyr (est. 1823) in Vienna. The firm produced copies of 18th-century designs and worked in Classical and contemporary styles. Leading engravers who worked for Lobmeyr included Karl Pietsch ( 1826-83), Peter Eisert ( 1828-94), and Franz Ullmann (1846-1921 ).
Engraved glass was also produced in Sweden. In the 20th century some outstanding pieces were made at the Orrefors factory (est. 1898) in Orrefors, in the Sul Aland region. In 1916 Simon Gate ( 1883-1945) was brought in as a chief designer, and he was joined the following year by Edvard Hald (1883-1980). Gate’s designs typically feature elegant Neo-classical figures,
while Hald’s figures are more caricatured and are mostly shallow engraved. Between 1928 and 1941 Vicke Lindstrand ( 1904-83) also worked for Orrefors, producing stylish and elegant designs.
Diamond-point and stipple engraving
• CONDITION diamond-point engraving should be shallow, with ragged, slightly broken lines, minor damage will not greatly affect value of early pieces
• BEWARE copies were decorated by
enthusiastic
amateurs in the I 9th century; when dated there is no Confusion, but undated older glasses can be misleading
Marks
Diamond-point pieces may he signed on the foot or in the design
Wheel engraving
• TYPES OF GLASS 19th-century Bohemian coloured glass Was a popular base; this glass should feel heavy
• DECORATION late 18th-century pieces feature formal designs; heavy, ornate engraving is typical; high-quality pieces have elaborately cut, ornate feet