Posts Tagged ‘glass makers’

The Regency style of cutting can be
regarded as the classical standard of
British cut glass. It was not long to survive,
however, for in the new designs of 1825-30
there was a change from mitre-cutting to
flat-cutting or surface slicing in a vertical
pattern, as opposed to the horizontal
patterns of previous years. Horizontal
bands of diamonds were replaced as
decoration by a vertical arrangement of
broad hollow flutes, ‘pillared’ flutes, or flat
vertical facets. The essentials of this new
style can be seen in the pattern drawings
of about 1830 of Samuel Miller, foreman
cutter at the Watcrford glass-works in
Ireland. The style may have started in the
cutting shops of Birmingham. Apsley
Pellatt at the Falcon Glasshouse in South-
wark, London, was producing vessels with
vertical arrangements of fine diamond
panels about 1820. The decanter illus-
trated shows pillar-cutting of about the
toco’s.
The broad-fluted style of cutting was
international, with overtones of the early
18th century, and was especially associated
with the Budermeter glass of Central
Europe. About the same time as this style
of cutting appeared in England, the shape
of glass became more angular and straight-
sided, which was suitable for the new form
of decoration. Decanters, particularly,
changed from the barrel shape to a
cylindrical shape with vertical sides. This
remained the characteristic style of the
1830’s and the early 1840’s. Some elabora-
tion on the style took place on the better
pieces so that flutes would have multiple
profiles and would alternate with panels of
mitre-cutting. Arched patterns became
fashionable around 1840; often complex
in detail, they still retained the strongly
vertical tendency of style. The decanter
illustrated is a good example of the arched
decoration of the 1840’s, with mitre-
cutting enclosed by the arches.
CUT-GLASS DECANTER
By Apsley Pellatl, England, 1851
Ht. 311 mm (12-25 11,1
During the 1830’sand 1840’s glass-makers
in England began to appreciate once more
the curves and rounded shapes one could
attain with glass. Water carafes and
decanters began to have spherical bodies,
and champagne glasses with the new-
hemispherical bowl were introduced.
Wine-glasses now had ogee-shaped and
bill-shaped bowls, and cutting consisted
of plain facets running through from the
bowl to the stem. The spherical carafes and
decanters were often cut with ‘printies’ or
rows of large shallow facets. The decanter
illustrated, made by Apsley Pellatt in
London in 1851, has these rounded
hollows on the body of the vessel. Occas-
ionally heavy mitrc-cutting was used, but
the tendency was to decorate these boldly
curving shapes with engraving as opposed
to cutting. The period of common use for
these shapes in England coincided with the
eclipse of the technique of cutting in the
1860’s and 1870’s.
CUT-GLASS DECANTER
England, about 1850. lit. 381 mm (15 in.)
The Glass Excise in England was removed,
after much agitation, in 1845. Glass could
now be made to any thickness without fear
of taxation. One result was a revival in
interest in deep mitre-cutting, where the
glass was thicker and the cutting deeper
than ever before. The decanter illustrated
is a good example of this. Large-scale
mitre-cutting was to be a feature of this
mid-ioth century work. Intricate curvi-
linear designs became more common, and
the actual shapes of the vessels were freer
and had more variety. Contemporary
engravings illustrated much of the intri-
cately cut glass on display at the Great
Exhibition of 1851. Objects that have
survived to the present day show that the
glasses were not quite the ‘prickly mon-
strosities’ they appeared to be in 19th-
century engravings. Mention should be
made of the firm of F. & C. Osier of
Birmingham, who produced enormous
cut-glass centrepieces for this and other
exhibitions, and for eastern potentates
CUT-GLASS BOWL.
Decorated by E. Hammond, Stevens & Williams,
England, about 1895. Diam. 419 mm (16-5 in.)
After the 1851 Exhibition, cut glass was
largely disregarded for many years in
England. During the later 1850’s, 1860’s
and 1870’s, spherical vessels with en-
graved decoration were the fashion. Some
cut glass was always made in this period,
but without any great originality of
thought so far as the design was concerned.
Pressed glass imitations of cut glass also
spurred the reaction against real cut glass.
The intellectual set were against it on
aesthetic grounds from the middle of the
century. In John Ruskin’s words ‘all cut
glass is barbaric’ (Stones of Venice Vol. II
(1853)). Glass fashions at this period were
more or less international, so the eclipse of
cut glass also took place in Central Europe,
France and the U.S.A. at the same time.
However, it came internationally to the
fore again in the 1880’s and 1890’s. In the
pattern books of British manufacturers for
that period the new designs show cutting
as elaborate as was technically possible.
CUT-GLASS BASKET
Stevens & Williams, England, about 1880
Ht. 175 mm (688 in.)
Glass-cutters in England in the 1880’s and
1890’s aimed at a mathematical precision
in their work. Technical improvements
helped them to achieve this, so that even
shapes that were difficult to decorate with
cutting, such as the cut-glass basket
illustrated, became a commercial proposi-
tion. Cut-glass objects that aspired to lesser
heights were square-section toilet bottles
and whisky decanters with ball stoppers,
which were decorated all over with dia-
mond mitre-cutting. Cut glass was looked
upon as the ‘old legitimate trade’ by glass-
makers, and tended to a conservatism in
design, yet the variety of new shapes in
these years was in line with the freedom
of the fancy-coloured glassware that was
being produced, This decoration became
once more the symbol of social and
material success, and was much patronised
by the middle and upper classes. Pressed
glass imitations were no longer the threat
they had been.
DECANTER IN CLEAR COLOURLESS GLASS WITH CUT
DECORATION
Bakewell, Page & Bakewell, Piltsburgh, U.S.A., 1825
The earliest known specimens of American
cut glass date from 1824, although evi-
dence does exist to indicate that cutting
may have been practised even earlier than
this date. Motifs that were used exten-
sively were flutes, panels, stars and plain
geometric bands. The cut decoration was
hand-polished on wooden wheels, which
gave it a softer lustre than that given by the
later high-speed wheel polishing or acid
bath. North American glass factories that
produced cut glass in the early 19th
century were the Bakewell (Company of
Pittsburgh, the New England Glass Com-
pany, and the Boston and Sandwich Glass
Company. By 1830, the American glass
factories were producing enough glass to
encourage the government to stop foreign
imports, and in that year a high Federal
tariff was levied against imports from
Europe. The Baldwin Bill severely limited
imports, resulting in a boom in the
American glass industry.
COVERED VASE IN CLEAR COLOURLESS GLASS WITH RED
FLASHING AND CUT DECORATION
Probably the New England Glass Company, U.S.A.,
about 1845. Ht. 756 mm (2975 in.)
The new tariff laws of 1830 made the
manufacture of fine tableware in America
especially profitable, and by 1840 at least
81 glass-houses were in operation. In West
Virginia, in 1864, a new glass metal was
developed. Instead of the expensive and
brilliant lead glass, a less costly soda-lime
glass was developed, which although it did
not have the ring or rich appearance of lead
glass, was admirably suited to the great
variety demanded by the American public.
With the introduction of this new metal,
American cut glass was even more threat-
ened by cheaper pressed glass imitations.
Cut glass manufacturers were driven to
using the pressed techniques, or else to
producing cut-glass items that could not
be duplicated on the pressing machine. In
this middle period of American glass-
making (1830-80) cutting continued the
use of the flute, cross-hatching, fan, and
diamond motifs, though with a greater
profusion than in the earlier period. All the
glass, however, subordinated decoration
to the shape of the glass.
SEGMENT OE PI-ATE IN CLEAR COLOURLESS GLASS
WITH CUT DECORATION
T. G. Hawkes& Co., U.S.A.
The ‘brilliant’ period of American glass-
making (c. 1880-1915) was so called be-
cause of the fashion for brilliant cut glass,
which became a symbol of social prestige,
its opulence admirably suited to the
formality of the age. The deep-cut patterns
favoured motifs such as the mitre, the fan,
the notched prism, the single star and the
‘hob-star’. A very brilliant lead glass was
used which, in conjunction with the deep
cutting, produced an effect of extreme
richness and crackling brightness which
has to be seen to be fully appreciated. From
the beginning the glass-cutters tended to
cover most of the’surface of the piece with
their decoration. After the turn of the
century the embellishment became even
more elaborate, and the many firms vied
with each other in creating complicated
patterns, completely subjugating form to
ornament. Social and economic factors led
to the manufacturers pricing themselves
out of existence after World War I.
VASE WITH CUT DECORATION IN BLUE-GREEN GLASS
CASED WITH COLOURLESS GLASS
Use Schargc-Ncbel, Germany, 1064
Ht. 208 mm (82 in.)
The heavy, clear colourless glass that was
created in the Bohemian-Silesian area in
the late 17th century provided the stimulus
for a spectacular development in the art of
cutting as well as engraving. Glass so
decorated was soon being produced in all
the German-speaking countries, and by
the 18th century was being exported all
over the world. In the 19th century the
Bohemian factories adopted the English
style of heavy cutting with great success,
and even today cut wares form a large part
of their export wares. Bohemia has pro-
vided the finest cutters and engravers for
countries which have a less firm tradition
in glass-making. Modern German glass
shows the same quest for simplicity which
is noticeable in Finland, Sweden and
Denmark, and the glass-makers have
returned to the basic qualities of glass and
glass-blowing. This is reflected in the
simple lines and sensitive cutting of the
vase illustrated. It is in bluish-green glass
with a clear, colourless casing, the cut
decoration forming a window-like pattern.
VASE WITH  DECORATION
By Pavel lllava, Czechoslovakia, 1959
A fresh stylistic impulse reached the glass
factories of Bohemia in the first decade of
the twentieth century, which was to change
their traditional attitudes to decoration.
The impulse came from Vienna, where the
architect and designer Josef Hoffmann
(born 1870) had become a powerful influ-
ence. He was an early pioneer of a Func-
tionalist style in decoration and advocated
the use of basic geometric figures like the
square and circle for designs. Through his
work at the Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule
(Viennese School for Applied Arts) where
he taught, he popularised heavy, angular
forms. His style of purely geometric
ornament was transmitted to the Bohemian
glass industry by way of the schools for
glass-making and decoration in Haida and
Steinschonau. After the political revolu-
tion in 1948 the tradition for Bohemian cut
crystal continued, though softer patterns
were favoured over the old rigid cut-glass
designs. Pavel Hlava (born 1924) is best
known for his cut and engraved glass.
The Techniques of Taking Away
DISH WITH FACET-CUTTING AND ‘DIAMOND-POINT-
ENGRAVING
Germany (exported from Egypt ?), 2nd century A.D.
Ht. 6t mm (25 in.)
Dxamnnd-Potnl Engraving: Kngraving
glass with a diamond point was a technique
practised in Italy from before the middle
of the 16th century. Centuries earlier than
this, during the period of the Roman
Empire, engraving in the same style was
being produced. Some sharp instrument
not unlike a diamond point must have been
used; the results arc rather rougher, but
the similarities in technique cannot be
denied. ‘The first instance of this type of
engraved bowl was found in a grave of the
late 1st century A.D. on Siphnos in the
Aegean. However, it is not until the later
2nd century A.D. that a school of such
work can be recognised. The pieces are
colourless, clear glass bowls bearing myth-
ological and genre scenes in facet-cutting
with ‘diamond-point’ engraving for the
details. Many of the bowls have Greek
inscriptions giving the names of the
persons depicted, and all have a curvilinear
engraved band, usually just below the rim.
SEGMENT OE PLATE ENGRAVED IN DIAMOND-POINT
Willi GILDED AND FILIGREE DECORATION
Venice, mid-ihthcentury, Diam. 275 mm(10s in.)
Venetian cristallo glass, with its brittle
soda-lime constitution, was particularly
suited to the technique of diamond-point
engraving. When the diamond point was
pressed against the glass, this took the
impress with precision, yet still allowed
much treedom of movement to the en-
graver. However, although the technique
was practised in Italy, it was never as
popular there as on the glass of Venetian
type (Jacon de Vemse) found in other
European countries, notably in Holland
and also Hall-in-the-Tyrol. The diamond-
point engraving was usually used in con-
junction with gilded decoration. Dishes
with fantastic birds and long-tailed mon-
sters, as in the dish illustrated, were
produced, as well as those with coiled
foliage and coats of arms. The dish shown
is in clear, colourless glass with granular
gilding and a filigree network, as well as
diamond-point engraving. Dragons, birds
confronting a mask and crossed Papal
Keys form part of the engraved decoration.
GOBI II WITH DIAMOND-POINT INGKWING
Attributed to Jacopo Verzelini, Km/land, 1581
iii 210 mm (8-ag in.)
A group ol diamond-point-engraved glas-
ses has commonly been attributed to
Jacopo Verzelini (1522-1606), a Venetian
who came to England from Antwerp in
1571. In 1575 he obtained a privilege from
Queen Elizabeth I for a period of twenty-
one years which gave him the sole right to
make glasses after the Venetian style in
England, and forbade the importation of
foreign glass. In 1592, when he was
seventy, he gave up glass-making and
retired to Downe in Kent, where he died
at the age of 84. All the glasses ascribed to
him are large goblets of various proportions
with hollow moulded or gadrooned knops
on the stems. The goblet illustrated is in
clear, colourless glass with a slight greenish
tinge and diamond-point engraving on the
straight-sided bowl. The engraving on
Verzelini glasses has been attributed to
Anthony de Lysle, an engraver of pewter
and glass who is thought to have come
from France.
BOUQUET  IN DARK BLUE GLASS ENGRAVED WITH
11II DIAMOND POINT AND GILDED
Hall-in-the-Tyrol,
Ht. 202 mm (7-95 in.)
Diamond-point engraving was a charac-
teristic form of decoration at an important
glass-house at Hall-in-the-Tyrol. This
was started in 1534 and flourished in the
third quarter of the 16th century. It was
under the direction of Sebastian Hoch-
stetter, an Augsburg merchant, and event-
ually came under the patronage of the
Archduke Ferdinand. The articles pro-
duced by this works were in blue, green,
and clear and colourless glass, with dia-
mond-point engraving and (often dam-
aged) lacquer painting and lacquer gilding.
In the last third of the 16th century most
European glass-making countries were
producing glasses similarly decorated and
diamond-point engraved. Scrolled arab-
esque foliage, borders of chain or guilloche
pattern, hatched ‘ladder-borders’, and
borders of single formal leaves or of crest-
ing are usually found on all these glasses.
Obviously, these could not all be the work
of the same hand, but more probably the
work of a craftsman from Hall and his
pupils.
‘ROYAL OAK GOBLET’, ENGRAVED IN DIAMOND POINT
England, 1663. Ht. 143 mm (5-63 in.)
Few glasses survive from the period when
the Duke of Buckingham (1628-87) to°k
over from Sir Robert Mansell the making
of fine glass in the Venetian style in
England. The most important glass to
survive is this goblet, engraved in diamond
point with a portrait of Charles II
surrounded by engraved oak branches
with the inscription ‘Royal Oak’. There
are also portraits of Charles and his wife,
Catherine of Braganza and the Royal Coat
of Arms on the reverse, with the date 1663.
The metal is greenish-brown and the style
is facon de Venise. The glass was probably
made to commemorate the marriage of
Charles and Catherine in 1663. Another
famous glass of the same period is the
‘Exeter Flute’, probably made for the
coronation of Charles II. It stands 17
inches high, with a portrait of Charles II,
a sprouting oak stump and the inscription
‘God Bless King Charles the Second’ in
diamond point on the fluted bowl.
HOWL, DIAMOND-POINT-ENGRAED
Probably Savoy Glass-house, England, c. 1676
Hi. 98 mm (1-85 in.)
GOBI.r.T ENGRAVED IN DIAMOND POINT, SIGNED
‘WM. VAN HEEMSKERK’
Netherlands, 1686. Ht. 200 mm (788 in.)
(See alio colour photograph 22)
The bowl illustrated is one of a pair found
in 1037 aI Tring. They are known as the
‘Buggins’ Bowls’, since they depict the
arms of Butler Buggin of North Cray,
Kent, and his wife Winifred Burnett of
Leys, Aberdeen. They were married in
1676, the year that George Ravenscroft of
the Savoy Glass-house in London estab-
lished his glass-of-lead. However, it was
not until the following year that the Glass
Sellers’ Company allowed him to seal his
glasses with a raven’s head seal, so the
Buggins’ Bowls must have been made
prior to this. These heavy lead-glass bowls
have an almost modern look to them, due
to the absence of the intricate cutting that
was to become so characteristic of later
English lead glass. The diamond engrav-
ing on the bowls belongs to the tradition of
the past, since the technique is more
suited to the earlier thin-walled vessels of
the soda-lime type of glass.
In 17th-century Holland diamond-point
engraving was especially fashionable as a
pastime amongst amateurs, many of whom
became very skilled. Two famous names
are Anna Roemcrs Visschcr (1583-1651)
who decorated green glass Romers with
(lowers, fruit and insects, calligraphy and
inscriptions in Roman capital and Greek
letters, and Willcm Jacobsz van Hecms-
kerk (1613-92), a cloth merchant, poet and
dramatist of Leiden, who practised calli-
graphy on glass, mainly bottles, usuall\
adding his signature and the date. Exam-
ples of his work date from between 1648
and 1690. It is thought that much of the
diamond-point engraving found on Eng-
lish glasses of this period is probably
Dutch work. Up to this time Holland had
been producing Venetian-type cristallo
glass, but towards the end of the 17th
century she began to make ‘flint glass
ranglaise’. Possibly as a result, by the
1690’s wheel-engraving replaced diamond-
point engraving as the popular form of
decoration.
WINE-GLASS, ENGRAVED IN DIAMOND
POINT
England, mid-i8ih century
The group of vessels engraved in diamond
point known as ‘Amen’ glasses forms a
sub-division of the type called Jacobite
glasses. These were used to toast ‘The
Cause’ by the clubs and societies which
fostered Jacobite sentiments in England in
the 18th century. ‘Amen’ glasses arc
engraved in diamond point with a royal
crown, the cipher IR and RI entwined, and
the figure 8, together with either two or
four verses of the Jacobite anthem, ending
with the word ‘Amen’. They are essentially
private glasses, used for expressions of
loyalty to James and Prince Charles
Edward, and occasionally Prince Henry.
Some arc dated, like the Dunvegan Castle
glass, 1747, and the Mesham and the
Drummond Castle glasses, 1749. In the
1930’s some good forgeries of ‘Amen’
glasses were put on the market. Jacobite
glasses have been in such demand that all
the various types have been reproduced by
forgers.
GOBLET, STIPPLE-ENGRAVED BY FRAN.N GREENWOOD
Glass, English; engraving, Dutch, dated 1728
Ht. 210 mm (8-25 in.)
Stipple Engraving: For the technique of
stippling, grouped and graded dots were
engraved with a diamond point on the
surface of a glass object, the dots repre-
senting the highlights of the design. The
diamond point was set in a handle which
may have been gently struck with a small
hammer to produce a single dot on the
glass. In the better examples of stippling
the decoration can be compared to a deli-
cate film breathed upon the glass. Frans
Greenwood, a native of Rotterdam,
brought the art of stippling to its greatest
heights in the first half of the 18th century.
Born in 1680, he died in 1762, and was
apparently of English descent. He was
actually an amateur glass-engraver, who
from 1726 held an official post in Dor-
drecht. Nevertheless, he produced a quan-
tity of stippled glasses, often signed and
dated, and usually copying prints after
contemporary paintings. A typical example
is the light baluster glass illustrated, which
depicts a man holding a Rotner signed
‘F. Greenwood 1728′.
Glass, Knglish; engraving, Dutch, about 1790
Laurence Whistler, England, H15-;
Olhcr artists contemporary with Green-
wood also practised the art of stippling.
The best-known names are Aert Schou-
man, G. H. Hoolart and J. van den Blijk.
In the last forty years of the 18th century
stipple-engraving was done by numerous
artists, the most famous of them being
David Wolff in Holland, whose name has
become synonymous with the technique.
He was born in 1732 at ’s-Hcrtogcnbosch
and married in 1762 at The Hague, living
there until his death in 1708. The glass
illustrated shows the portraits of William
V of Orange and his wife, Fredcrica
Wilhelmina Sophia of Prussia. In the 19th
century Andries Melort of Holland (1779-
1849) copied in stipple on to Hat sheets of
glass the work of Dutch painters. D. H. de
Castro (d.1863), a chemist of Amsterdam,
revived the technique of stippling in the
Wolff manner in the mid-19th century,
and more recently E. Voet and others in
I lolland have used the technique.
Since the last World War Laurence Whist-
ler (b.1912) of England has concentrated
upon the art of stippling glass. His designs
are highly personal and imaginative. I le
started his engraving in an unusual way,
for during the 1930’s he used to amuse his
friends and himself by scratching lines of
poetry on windows in the Elizabethan
manner. Later he developed his skill to
engrave wine-glasses, each design being
specially made for a rich and aristocratic
person. At this stage he was employing
diamond-point engraving, frequently us-
ing genuine eighteenth-century wine-
glasses on which to practise his art. His
designs were of the Baroque tradition,
with emblems and allegorical allusions as
favourite themes. In his later work Whis-
tler has also designed the glasses them-
selves, which he decorates so that form and
decor become as one. Most of these glasses
are made for him at Whitefriars.

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.

THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS
Nevers, Prance, 1777. Hi. 210 mm (8-25 in.)
Verre de Nevers: This technique origin-
ated in Nevers in the late 16th century, and
it is more closely allied to lamp-working
than to the normal techniques used for
creating glass objects, such as blowing and
moulding. It flourished in Europe for
some two centuries. This delightful group,
depicting the judgment of Paris, was made
in Nevers in the heyday of the glass
figurine, between the late 17th and early
18th centuries. The figures were made by
softening rods of glass of different colours
and winding them over a metal armature.
Every fold of the garments on this group
has a metal base below the glass. When the
glass was sufficiently thick, and after
repeated reheating, it was modelled to
shape with the aid of prods and pinchers. I n
Verre de Nevers groups, decorative details
such as leaves are made entirely of glass,
with no supporting core, while such forms
as birds might be blown.
WINE-GLASS WITH LAMP-WORKED DECORATION
Saxony? early 18th century. 111. 140 mm (55 in.)
Lamp-working is a technique used by
glass-makers to make objects by using only
a single flame as a source of heat. Glass
rods are normally used, held over the
flame and melted or softened to the
desired shape. In modern times, the most
popular lamp-worked objects are small
animals made out of coloured glass rods
melted down, bent and joined to the
required form. Details like eyes are made
by putting a small drop of molten glass on
the object, with possibly another centred
on the first drop to form the pupil. The
ornate stem-work on Venetian and /aeon
de Venise wine-glasses is closely allied to
this technique. One of the rare instances of
true lamp-working on a blown glass is the
wine-glass illustrated, which is one of a
series that have a band of lamp-worked
decoration round the centre of the bowl.
The work stands out in three dimensions
from the bowl, the small Cupid being
almost free-standing; he holds a garnet in
his hand. The provenance of these vessels
is not certain.
TULIP-SHAPED JUG
Karl Kopping, Berlin, c. 1900
I It. .120 mm (126 in.)
Karl Kopping (1848-1914) was a painter
and etcher in Berlin. Between 1892 and
1900 he designed some tall decanters and
goblets made at the lamp from tube glass.
At that time Germany had lor some ten
years been under the influence of the style
for naturalism created by Emile Galle of
France. It became known in Germany as
the Jugendsttl, and Karl Kopping’s exag-
gerated Art Nouveau glass vessels form a
part of this movement. The starting point
for his designs was the flower on its stalk,
and the colours he used could be both bold
and delicate. The stem of the glass
illustrated is in blue, the leaves are in
copper-green glass and the tulip-shaped
bowl has a metallic finish. The piece is
signed on the foot: ‘C. Kopping’. 1 lis work
became popular, and several museums
bought examples of it, but today they are
regarded more as period pieces.
BIRD FOUNTAIN
England, it»th century. III. 4H9 mm (1925 in.)
(See also colour photograph 16))
It has always been the custom for glass-
blowers to amuse themselves in spare
moments by creating fantasies in glass.
These are known in the trade as ‘friggcrs’
—a word which possibly derives from the
Old English ‘Jrician’, to dance. In Scotland
they are called ‘whigmelccrics’. In the
19th and early 20th centuries friggcrs
included elaborate fountains surrounded
by birds with tails of glass fibres and fully
rigged sailing ships on spun glass seas, as
well as the objects mentioned on page 100.
The more elaborate friggcrs are usually
protected by a large glass dome. Friggers
were made for amusement, for family
presents, as an extra source of money, or
even for fully mercantile reasons. Travel-
ling glass-makers who visited fairs and
private houses produced many of these
novelties, having as their kit a bundle of
multi-coloured glass canes and a little
furnace heated by a tallow flame.
The ‘taking away’ or abrasive techniques of
glass-making have as long a history as glass
itself Even earlier, hieroglyphic inscriptions
had been engraved on hard stone vessels, and
we definitely know that as early as the 16th
century B.C. glass was being engraved in
Egypt. Most of this engraving was probably
done with pointed instruments or possibly
with a rotary wheel. Wheel-culling and
wheel-engraving are the two terms most
commonly encountered, and though they are
thought of as almost separate methods,
basically the techniques are the same. In
both, a rotating abrasive wheel cuts into the
glass surface. The mam distinction is that
large wheels are used for cutting, where the
worker holds the glass on lop oj the wheel,
between himself and his tool; and small ones
for engraving, where he holds it below the
wheel, so that he can see what he is doing.
Culling is characterised by large-scale,
geometric designs, usually relatively deeply
incised, and engraving by jine, detailed,
usually pictorial work.
Grinding and Cutting from a Raw Block of
Glass: This was the only ‘taking away’
technique that was used to produce a com-
plete vessel or other object. The method,
which was covered in the first chapter,
dealing with techniques before blowing
was invented, continued in use for a short
time after the 1st century B.C. The ring
illustrated is a good example of the method
used to produce a single decorative object.
One might imagine that a gem or even a
glass cameo was once set in the concavity
left by the glass-cutter at the front of the
ring. (lasting glass in moulds and blowing
glass were so much easier, that this tech-
nique, using rotary abrasion to shape an
object, fell into disfavour. It was con-
tinued primarily as a means of finishing off
already made glass forms, or as a means of
embellishment.
GOBLET BEARING THE NAME OF TUTHMOSIS III
(1504 1450 B.C.)
Egypt III. 130 mm (5-1 in.)
Early Wheel Engraving: The goblet illus-
trated, made of turquoise-blue opaque
glass with a gold ring at the rim and base,
is a famous example of early incised work.
Some glass vessels from the 18th Dynasty
in Egypt are decorated with incised
inscriptions such as that found by Sir
flinders Petrie at Tell el Amarna. A frag-
ment of a bowl at The Corning Museum of
C1 hiss bears a fragmentary inscription
relating to the wife of Amcnhotep III
(1412 1375 B.C.), and is said to reveal ‘the
characteristic tapering ends of wheel cuts’.
Whether the engraving on these early
vessels was done with a point or by means
of a rotating instrument has been tho-
roughly discussed by R. J. Charleston (see
Bibliography). For the most part it seems
that just a pointed instrument was used,
and it was only in the later Egyptian
period that there is evidence of wheel-
engraving on the glass, probably by the use
of a bow-lathe.
SHALLOW BOWL WITH PETAL DESIGN
Roman Empire, 7ih 5th century B.C.
Hi. 39 mm (155 in), diam. 174 mm (685 in.)
In the general Mesopotamia-Assyria-Asia-
Minor region, rotary abrasion was used to
sharpen up decorative motifs, which were
first produced by moulding processes.
There is a large family of bowls with
radiating petal motifs—one being illus-
trated here—the earliest of which is known
to date from not later than 700 B.C. These
were produced by being cast into moulds,
and finished by grinding and cutting. As
abrasive powder on the wheels, emery was
probably used; this was apparently known
in Egypt at least as early as the 18th
Dynasty. The known use by the Egyptians
of tubular metal drills in cutting granite
was probably paralleled further East in the
first millenium B.C. Some such means
must have been employed in the hollowing
out of vessels like the famous ‘Sargon vase’
(see first chapter).
It is not known what type of abrading
equipment was used in Roman times to
decorate glass. It has been suggested that
an all-purpose tool could have been used,
which could be adapted as lathe, drill or
engraving wheel as needed. The Romans
definitely used abrasives such as emery for
cutting, and pumice stone for polishing the
cuts. Probably from Egypt came a group
of facet-cut and ‘diamond’-point engraved
bowls from the ist and 2nd century A.D.
(See Diamond-Point Engraving.) These
are the parent group from which are
descended all late Roman cut and engraved
glasses with figured scenes. The quality of
Alexandrian engraved work deteriorated
during the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D.
However, in the west, from some time in
the 3rd century A.D. onwards, a great
quantity of figured cut or engraved glass
began to be produced in Italy and the
neighbouring provinces, of which the dish
illustrated above is an example.
Figured decoration in engraved work was
not altogether abandoned by workers in
the eastern workshops, as is seen in some
later exports to the west from the east.
However, in general they began to con-
centrate on easier designs, suited to less
skilful engravers, and presumably for more
speedy production. The jug illustrated,
with geometric decoration in friezes, is an
example of the rather rough designs the
West Syrian/Egyptian workshops fav-
oured. It is in dark yellowish-green glass,
which is of rather poor quality, being
bubbly and streaky with impurities. The
fine linear and facet cutting of the earlier
period is not in evidence. Wheel-engraving
was now used to imitate facet cutting, with
designs of curved lines, circles and ovals.
The style took particular root in Egypt,
and probably in Syria also. Many of the
vessels of this type found in the west must
have been imports from these areas.
Diatreta are the most extraordinary and
most outstanding examples of the tech-
nique of abrasion ever made. From experi-
ments carried out by Fritz W. Schafer in
Germany and Barbini and Fuga in Italy it
has been proved with almost complete
certainty that these delicate cage cups were
produced by lapidary means, and not by
any other technique (see Bibliography). A
small battery of wheels and readily avail-
able abrasives, plus the skill of the en-
graver, are all that is needed to make a
diairelum from a solid, carefully annealed
blank. Diatreta are the finest product of
the Cologne and Trier glass-makers in the
4th century A.D. They have been found
in the Rhineland, on the Danube, in
Northern Italy and in Greece. The three
most beautiful, all with inscriptions, came
to light in Cologne. The inscription on the
one illustrated is in Greek, and conveys an
exhortation to drink.
With the decline of the Roman Empire in
the West, glass engraving died out. This
was largely because there was no (ine-
quality glass made after this time that was
suitable for engraving. In the East the
technique never ceased, and glasses with
cut decoration can be traced in unbroken
continuity through Sassanian to Islamic
times. Baghdad and Basra were noted for
cut glass in the 9th century A.D. and later.
In the 9th and ioth cerfturies, after a
renaissance under the dynasty of the
Samanids, a school of relief-cutting flour-
ished in Persia and probably in Meso-
potamia, which in Europe was not rivalled
until the end of the 17th century. The flask
illustrated is an early example of a shape
that was to remain popular throughout the
Islamic period. The scrolling engraved
design was to exert a great influence on the
mind of the Islamic artist.
Hedwigsglas in light brown clear glass, the
gilt-copper foot a later addition
So-called Hedwigsgldser represent the last
wheel-cut glass vessels to be produced in
the Orient, and are recognised as master-
pieces of Egyptian skill. Their origin is by
no means absolutely certain. These thick-
walled glasses carved in hochschnitl (deep
cutting) are maintained by B. Shelkov-
nikov to be the work of a 12th-century
White Russian workshop in Novogrudok,
which was presumably under the influence
of Byzantium. They are certainly a con-
tinuation of the art of rock-crystal cutting,
and more probably originated in Egypt.
The motifs used include stylised lions
and griffins between palm branches, as in
the illustrated example. Two of these
glasses reputedly belonged at one time to
St. Hedwig (1174-1243), wife of the Duke
of Silesia, and it is from her that the glasses
take their name. (Legend has it that the
saint caused water to change into wine in
one of these glasses.) Her niece, St.
Elizabeth (1207-31) also had a Hedwigs-
glas, reputed to give strength to women in
labour, which eventually came into Martin
Luther’s possession.
clp with facet-cltting
Barnwell, Cambridgeshire, England, lasi quarter of
1st century or early 2nd century A.D.
Ht. 90 mm (355 in.)
Facet-Culting is a form of decoration that
goes back certainly to the early Roman
period. Large, broad wheels were needed
to make the facets in the glass. R. J.
Charleston points out that Pliny mentions
some of the abrasives used for grinding in
Roman times, such as ’sand of Naxos’ for
emery, ’sands’ from India, Egypt and
Nubia, and certain stones from Armenia
and Cyprus. He also points out that
Theophrastus mentions pumice and also
emery in his History of Stones. Pliny
mentions Thebaic stone from Egypt and
pumice for the final polishing of marbles.
A wheel with a broad cutting or grinding
edge was certainly used to produce the
facet-cutting on this cup, which is in clear
glass with a greenish tint. Cups like this
found in England and Cyprus are thought
to originate from Western Syria or Egypt
and, in the later 2nd century A.D., from
East Syria.
During the 2nd century A.D. the East
Syrian glass-makers and decorators devel-
oped their knowledge of the art of glass-
engraving including facet-cutting. The
art lived on through Sassanian to Islamic
times. The flask illustrated, in clear glass
with a slight blue tinge, is a typical example
of the continued tradition of wheel-cut
decoration. Oval concave facets cover the
body of the flask, and the neck also has a
ring of facets. Previous to this, in Sassanian
times, wheel-cutting, particularly facet-
cutting, resulted in some striking glass-
ware. Most of the surviving examples from
this period arc cither facet- or linear-cut,
including characteristic shapes such as the
hemispherical bowls with concave cut
facets which were exported to the West
and East, even as far as Japan.
Facet-cutting, particularly for stem-work,
became popular in the second half of the
18th century. Facetted tumblers and
bottles were current in Bohemia, and in
Germany facet-cut knops appear on wine-
glasses from the Laucnstein and other
Hessian glass-houses in the first half of the
18th century. In England at the same time
glass-grinders were facetting the edges of
mirrors, and simple diamond-facetting
was beginning to appear on some glasses.
Scent bottles of opaque white glass and
blue glass, and snuff bottles dating from
about 1770, had all-over facetting and
were often enamelled and gilt. Once
thought to have originated from Bristol,
they more probably came from the Birm-
ingham, South Staffordshire or even Lon-
don area. From the middle of the 18th
century, facet-cutting became an estab-
lished form of decoration in England,
appearing particularly on wine-glass stems,
between c. 1760 to f.1810. Examples can be
found through to the modern period.
VASE WITH FACET CUTTING
By Keith Murray. Stevens & Williams, England,
1939. Ht. 206 mm (8-13 in.)
The architect Keith Murray (b.1893) first
began to take an interest in glass after the
Exhibition in Paris in 1925. He asked
himself why he found the conventional cut
crystal of England so unsatisfactory. After
analysing old English glass, he decided the
glass was better if left plain, or when it was
cut, if the cutting was in a ‘well organised
decoration’, flat cutting being particularly
appealing. The idea of an artist designing
for industry was beginning to be accepted
in England, and in 1932 it was arranged
that Murray should act as designer for
glass for Stevens & Williams at Brierley
Hill, near Stourbridge. During the seven
years he worked in glass he produced
designs for simple unornamented table
services and for some larger pieces. His
most important works are the large vases
and dishes in heavy metal decorated with
facet-cutting reminiscent of early Georgi-
an work. They powerfully express his
architectural feeling, and the decoration
matches the material superbly.
BOWL WITH  FACETTING
By Miluse Roubiekova, Borske sklo, Czechoslovakia,
1958. Diam. 450 mm (17-7 in.)
After the political revolution in Czecho-
slovakia in 1948 the glass industry was
nationalised. The Creative Glass Centre in
Prague was set up in 1952, in order to
establish contact between the glass-works
and the artists and designers, and to
encourage research into new methods of
decorating glass. Czechoslovakian glass
has long been known for its great tradition
in lead crystal cutting, and like its British
counterpart, Bohemian crystal still enjoys
a large public all over the world. The
tradition continues, but finds new expres-
sion in less rigid cut-glass patterns, softer
patterns of a gently formalised character
being increasingly favoured. A good exam-
ple of the new trend is the free irregular
facet-cutting on this bowl designed by
Miluse Roubiekova made at the Borske
sklo, Novy Bor. The usual diamond or
star motifs are no longer in evidence, but
the unsymmetrical lines of the bowl still
enhance the brilliance of the glass.
Later Wheel Engraving: In gem-cutting,
wheels of various materials were certainly
being used by the 15th century to engrave
and polish. By the 16th century, the prin-
ciple of continuous rotary movement had
been established. Engraving equipment
driven by a foot treadle was in use by glass
engravers in the early 17th century. Caspar
I.ehmann, the greatest name in the revival
of glass-engraving in Europe in the late 16th
century, was an engraver of hard-stones
before he was a glass-engraver, and one-
can assume his equipment was more or less
the same for both crafts. Lehmann was
‘Imperial gem-engraver’ to the Emperor
Rudolph II at Prague in 1601, and in 1608
was described as ‘Imperial gem-engraver
and glass-engraver’. From the very begin-
ning, then, the glass-cutter undoubtedly
borrowed his ideas from the gem-cutter,
whose art was so closely allied to his own.
This was a tradition that was to continue
into relatively modern times.
Caspar Lehmann’s engraving is shallow—
because of the thinness of the glass—two-
dimensional and unpolished. Prague was
one of the centres for rock crystal cutting,
and this is reflected in the style of the
engraving, which is flatly cut and gains its
effect from the contrast between the white
engraved lines and the’dark background of
the clear glass. In 1600 I.ehmann obtained
an Imperial Privilege conferring on him
alone the right to practise the art of glass-
engraving in the Imperial domains I le
bequeathed his privilege to his pupil
Gcorg Schwanhardt the Elder, born in
Nuremberg, who worked with him at
Prague. In 1622 Schwanhardt returned to
Nuremberg, where he founded a brilliant
school of wheel-engraving which flourished
to the 18th century. The new potash-lime
glass developed in Bohemia and Germany
in the early 17th century was eminently
suitable for the technique of wheel-
engraving.
COVERED GOBLET IN GREEN GLASS WITH CLEAR GLASS
STEM (DETAIL)
Probably engraved by Hermann Schwinger,
Nuremberg, Germany, about 1665- 80
Hi. 394 mm (15-5 in.)
Schwanhardt’s work in rock crystal and in
glass shows a complete mastery of the
technique of wheel-engraving. His work
was both polished and unpolished, and he
often used as motifs landscapes with
figures, with formal baroque scroll work.
He sometimes added delicate diamond-
point work to his glasses. Among his
pupils were members of his own family,
his sons, Georg the younger and Hcinrich,
and three of his daughters. Other notable
artists among the Nuremberg engravers
were Hermann Schwinger (1640-83) and
Georg Friedrich Killinger (first recorded
1694, died 1726). They all engraved the
same characteristic type of tall goblet,
with hollow knopped stem. The family
of Johann Hess at Frankfort-on-Main
engraved similar glasses in the second half
of the 17th century. Johann Heel (1637-
1709) glass-engraver, silversmith, faience-
painter and engraver of prints in Nurem-
berg also engraved glass in a somewhat
different style, following the motifs he
used in faience painting.
COVERED GOBLET WITH HOCHSCHNITT CUTTING
By Friedrich Winter, Silesia, end of 171I1 century
Ht. 280 mm (11 in.)
{See also colour photograph iH)
During its most flourishing period (c. 1685-
1775) German glass-engraving was done
mainly by unknown artisans working for
themselves in north-eastern Bohemia and
Silesia. However, the best-known work
was done by the engravers to three German
courts. Friedrich Winter set up the first of
these workshops in 1687, with permission
from Count Christoph Leopold von Schaff-
gotsch, at Petersdorf in the Hirschbcrger
Tal. He used water power, and produced
many glasses in the Hochschnitt technique.
Under the patronage of Friedrich Wilhelm,
Elector of Brandenburg, Friedrich Win-
ter’s brother Martin (died 1702) set up an
engraving workshop in Potsdam near
Berlin in 1687. This was also run by a
water-power mill specifically to produce
works in Hochschnitt (deep cutting) and
Tiefschnitt (intaglio work). Martin Win-
ter’s highly gifted nephew Gottfried Spiller
worked here, becoming a partner in 1683.
His engraving included flowers, allegories,
portraits, coats of arms, sometimes in
Hochschnitt, and occasionally he used the
ruby glass of the Potsdam glass-house.

JUG  DARK GREEN BOTTLE GLASS Willi
c OMBED OPAQUE WHITE THREADED DECORA I KIN
England, laic iSth early 19thcentury
Hi. 105 mm (4-13 in.)
PIPE IN (TEAR COLOURLESS GLASS WITH OPAQUE
WHITE STRIPED DECORATION
Probably Sowerby’s Ellison Glassworks, England,
about 1X60. I.englh 367 mm (145 in.)
Vessels made from bottle glass, and later
clear glass, with applied glass threads,
usually opaque white in colour, marvered
and combed to the surface of the glass,
have come to be known as ‘Nailsea’ glass.
The tradition that associates this type of
glassware with the Nailsea glass-house,
near Bristol, England, is a strong one, but
since this factory made crown window
glass, the earlier bottle glass wares arc
unlikely to have been made there. Because
most of these vessels were made as a
sideline, little documentary evidence re-
mains to show exactly when and where
they were produced. The few dated
examples come from the early part of the
ioth century. It is known that clear glass
‘Nailsea’ type wares were made at a glass-
house in Warrington in Lancashire. ‘Alloa’
glass is the Scottish term for a ‘Nailsea’
style glass. Though there is little direct
e\ idence, there is no reason why the Alloa
Glass-house in Scotland should not have
produced this glassware.
Many other simple wares in a style akin to
‘Nailsea’ glass were produced in the first
half of the 19th century. Among these were
the friggcrs, or glass fantasies—unlikely
objects such as fantastic tobacco pipes,
rolling pins, walking sticks, shepherds’
crooks, bells, witchballs and musical in-
struments represented in glass. Many of
the rolling pins and most of the tobacco
pipes have applied glass threads in opaque-
white or coloured glass, in true ‘Nailsea’
tradition. It is impossible to say where
most friggcrs were made, and they should
be considered as individual pieces of glass-
makers’ skill made both for amusement
and for commercial purposes. They were
produced as private sidelines in the largest
window glass concerns such as Pilkington
Brothers of St. Helens. Probably triggers
were made throughout the 10th century
but a new interest in them appeared at the
end of the century, when small factories
started to produce ruby pipes and bells,
spun glass ships and birds and walking
sticks in quantity.
JUG IN AMBER GLASS WITH WHITE BLOBBED
DECORATION
Found in one of the Aegean islands, mid-tst
century A.D. Ht. 238 mm (9*35 in.)
Marvering small pieces ofglass into the body
of a vessel is a somewhat cruder form of
decoration than applied glass thread-work.
The Romans certainly favoured this mode
of decoration for their vessels. This jug, in
amber-coloured glass, has opaque white
blobbed decoration. The white blobs cover
the whole of the body and the neck of the
vessel, though only a few stray ones can be
found upon the base. Pieces of white
opaque glass would have been scattered on
a flat stone slab (marver) and caught up on
the hot gather of amber glass on the
Roman glass-worker’s blow-pipe. By work-
ing the gather of glass on the marver, he
would bring the white glass level with the
surface of the amber glass, so that a smooth
surface was achieved when the vessel was
eventually blown. This 1st century A.D.
decoration was probably produced in
Northern Italy.
Adding: The Glass-maker’s Skill
FLASK IN PALE BLUE GLASS WITH ‘PEBBLED’
DECORATION
France, 17th century. Ht. 157 mm (6-13 in.)
Though the technique was never wholly
forgotten, the next notable instance of
small pieces of glass being used as a
decoration on the surface of the vessel
came in France in the second half of the
16th century. The technique had been
practised by the Venetians, and was copied
from them by the French glass-makers.
Their multi-coloured ‘marbled’ or ‘peb-
bled’ glass usually consisted of bright
opaque colours splashed on a light blue
glass ground. Shapes favoured by the
French glass-house which produced this
glass were the characteristically French
pilgrim-bottle and barrel-shaped vessels.
There are ample records that Venetian and
Altarist glass-makers worked in France
from the late 15th century onwards,
though few examples of their work have
been recognised. This ‘pebbled’ glass is a
genuine example of French glass a la
fag on de Venise, but remains distinctly
French in style.
Adding: The Glass-maker’s Skill
JUG IN GREEN BOTTLE GLASS WITH FLECKED
DECORA! IDS
England, 18th century. Ht. 181 mm (7-13 in.)
Glasses with flecked decoration, consisting
of fragmented coloured glasses marvered
into the surface of the glass, have often
been brought under the general heading of
‘Nailsea’ glass. This was indeed a charac-
teristic form of decoration for ‘Nailsea’
glass, besides the bold looped and striped
decoration described in the previous sec-
tion. As already mentioned, ‘Nailsea’
glass must be regarded as a style rather
than as a product of any specific glass-
house. Generally speaking, ‘Nailsea’ glas-
ses were made in green bottle glass,
which was used for its cheapness, as it
avoided the Glass Excise Acts of England
(repealed in 1845). Clear glass with striped
and flecked decoration is sometimes also
ascribed to Nailsea and Wrockwardine
Wood, though it was probably produced at
many of the other centres that made this
type of glassware. Products notably in-
cluded jugs, bottles and flasks in the flecked
ware, though more fanciful examples can
be found, such as top hats.
Hobhs, Brockunier& Company, U.S.A., 1884
Ht. 152 mm (6 in.)
In 1884 a patent was issued to William
Leighton, Jr, of Hobbs, Brockunier &
Company of Wheeling, West Virginia, for
his method of producing ‘Spangled Glass-
ware’. His process was a simple one. Flakes
of biotite or mica were laid on a marver and
picked up on a gather of opaque white or
transparent coloured glass. The gather
with the flakes adhering was then dipped
into a pot of clear colourless glass, which
locked in the ’spangles’. The gather could
then be blown and shaped into the desired
article. Spangled glass became one of the
most popular products in both art and
table glassware produced by the Wheeling
company. Sowerby’s, of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, England, produced a similar ware,
usually with a deep blue base called ‘Blue
Nugget’. ‘Spatterglass’ is similar to Span-
gled glass, except that instead of metallic
flakes, variously coloured fragments of
glass were marvered into the opaque white
or coloured glass base.
About 1884. Ht. 127 mm (5 in.)
In the same style as the foregoing were the
so-called ‘Vasa Murrhina’ glass products.
Coloured glass and mica flakes were em-
bedded in the opaque base, with an overall
transparent casing. John Charles De Voy
of the Vasa Murrhina Art Glass Company
of Sandwich, Mass., and Hartford, Conn.,
registered a patent for this type of glass-
ware in 1884. Sheets or particles of mica
were coated with gold, silver, copper or
nickel. The coated mica was then incor-
porated on to a gather of glass, which was
subjected to heat. This caused the glass to
flow over and adhere to the mica. The
gather could then be blown into the article
required. Shards of ‘Vasa Murrhina’ type
glass have been found on the site of the
company’s factory in Sandwich, also on
the old factory site of the Boston &
Sandwich Works. Patents for this type of
glassware were registered in England
between 1878 and 1882.
WINE-GLASS INCORPORATING rHREADS Of OPAQUI
WHITE GLASS
Venice, Italy, 16th century. Ht. 131 mm (5-13 in.)
Incorporating threads of opaque white glass
into the body of a vessel was a development
of the Venetian glass-makers. Thin rods
of opaque white glass (lattirno) were
probably set at exact intervals round the
inside of a heat-resistant open container.
A gather of clear, colourless glass would be
blown into the centre of the container, and
the rods of glass caught and worked very
gently into the gather of glass. The bubble,
now containing the white threads, could
then be blown to the desired shape.
Another method that might have been
used by the Venetians was to lay alternate
rods of opaque white and clear, colourless
glass side by side on a tray, and then to fuse
them together in a kiln. These could then
be caught up on a gather of clear, colour-
less glass and blown to the shape required.
In both these processes, in order to make
the ends of the rods meet, the end of the
bubble would have to be pinched together
and the unwanted glass cut away.
The influence of Venetian glass-making
spread all over Europe, notably to Spain,
Germany, France, the Netherlands and
England, during the 16th and 17th cen-
turies. Thus the technique of incorporat-
ing threads of lattimo glass into the body
of a vessel appears in other glass-making
centres besides Venice. Each of the Euro-
pean countries mentioned developed its
own version in the facon de Venise, the
influence of the local glass-blowers making
itself felt, so that pure Venetian inspiration
vanished and strong regional characteris-
tics began to prevail in the glassware. The
jug illustrated—a remarkable example of
the use of broad vertical bands of lattimo
glass between very narrow lines of clear,
colourless glass—is, in shape, a vessel of
typical late mediaeval form in the Southern
Netherlands. The contemporary value of
the piece is reflected in the use of silver-
gilt mounts on rim, handle and base. A
similar glass is listed in the 1559 Inven-
tory of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
In Roman times glass-makers sometimes
decorated the edge of vessels with a rope-
pattern, where an opaque white thread was
twisted and embedded in clear, colourless
or coloured glass. This is the only early
parallel to the Venetian technique of
incorporating threads of white glass into a
vessel. The Italian glass-makers who
migrated to other countries, and their
pupils, certainly had full command of the
technique. As well as the illustrated flute
glass, which has made delicate use of the
technique in the long bowl, handsome-
tankards employing the technique were
produced at Liege or in the Netherlands.
In Germany, the popular tall cylindrical
glass, or ‘Stangenglas’, was not only made
of cristallo glass, but was often decorated
with these bands of lattimo glass incor-
porated into the vessel. Rarely, coloured
as well as opaque white threads were used,
in colours like yellow, purple and blue.
Adding: The Glass-maker’s Skill
A superb sophistication of” the technique
just described is shown in the plate
illustrated. It is in fact made up of two
plates, with opposing white radiating
thread decoration, which were fused to-
gether to form one piece. Tiny air bubbles
were caught between the threads, giving
the plate a rich and delicate appearance—a
wonderful example of the Venetian glass-
maker’s versatility. The essentials of the
technique have been copied successfully
by the American glass artist and tech-
nologist, Dominick Labino, of Grand
Rapids, Ohio. He placed 12 opaque white
threads in a metal container at even dist-
ances and worked these into a gather of
glass, as already described. He then blew
the gather into a bubble, catching the end
of it and twisting the glass one way so that
the threads spiralled to the left. After
forming a bowl shape, he put this into a
specially prepared crucible and placed it in
the annealing kiln to keep warm.
The next stage in the production of
Labino’s vetro di trina was to repeat the
procedure with another gather of glass.
this time with the 12 threads spiralling to
the right. The first bowl shape was then
taken out of the annealing kiln in its
container, and the second partially-blown
gather dropped into it, so that the two were
joined when further blowing was em-
ployed. The two joined paraisons were
then reheated, and a further gather of glass
taken over them, to give the finished object
added strength. From this Labino formed
in the usual way a dish which had opposing
white radiating thread decoration in the
Venetian tradition. The Italian name for
this type of glass means iace glass’; in
German it is known as ‘Netzglas’. Apsley
Pellatt in his book Curiosities of Glass-
making (London, 1849) describes basically
the same technique, whereby two cup-like
formations, one with milk-white canes
spirally applied inside the cup, the other
with milk-white canes spirally applied
outside, were combined, the former over
the latter, to produce a vessel in vetro di
trina. The technique was used in England
and on the Continent in the 19th century.
In the mid-iqth century, Bohemian,
French and English glass factories all
imitated Venetian techniques of glass
manufacture. This included the incor-
poration of opaque white or coloured
threads of glass into the body of a vessel.
So-called 19th-century ’striped’ glass fol-
lowed this technique. Coloured and clear,
colourless glass rods would line a mould.
A bubble of glass blown into the mould
picked up the rods, and they became as one
with the body glass. When the bubble of
glass was deftly twisted, the embedded
rods could be made to spiral around the
body of the finished vessel. To produce
the fine effect seen on the ewer illustrated
demanded a considerable amount of skill
on the part of the glass-maker. A patent
for ‘Improvements In Decorating Glass
With Stripes’ was taken out in 1885 by
V\ illiam Webb Boulton of Bonbon &
Mills, who had the Audnam Bank glass-
house in England.
Ice Glass: The Venetians decorated some
clear glass by plunging a bubble of hot
glass for a moment in water and then
reheating it. This produced a roughened,
fro/en or crackled appearance, given the
name ‘Ice Glass’. A further means of
producing a frosted effect upon glass is to
roll a bubble of glass over a marver that
has previously been covered with frag-
ments of broken glass. The fragments
adhere to the hot bubble, and when the
whole is slightly reheated, form an ‘icy’
effect. The bubble can then be worked to
form the desired article. The beaker
illustrated is a handsome example of the
Venetians’ work. The frosted texture is
only on the outer surface of the glass, the
interior surface remaining smooth to the
touch. Visually, these pieces appear to be
covered with cracks, but the reheating
makes them perfectly whole and quite sale
for use. Once the technique had been
invented by the Venetians, it spread
quickly throughout the Continent.
Apsley Pellatt (1791-1863), the 19th-
century glassmakcr of the Falcon Glass-
house in Southwark, London, continued
to make his mark on his trade by the
publication of two books on glass-making,
published respectively in 1821 and 1849.
In his Curiosities ofGlassmaking, published
in 1849, he described several of the
Venetian techniques, including the pro-
duction of ‘Ice Glass’ or frosted glass. At
the 1851 exhibition his firm made a special
display of the technique, which he called
‘Anglo-Venetian’. In his explanation he
shows how a gather of glass was slightly
inflated, then plunged at nearly white heat
into cold water; it was then immediately
reheated, giving a crackled effect on its
outer surface. The bottom of the bubble
was flattened and a pontil rod attached;
the blow-pipe was removed and the article
finished on the pontil rod. Great care had
to be taken not to overheat the article, as
this would melt out the frosting.
Apsley Pellatt claimed that the technique
of ‘Ice Glass’ was known and practised
only by the Venetians until he revived it in
the mid-i9th century. This would seem to
be incorrect, since several examples of the
technique are to be found from the
Continent between these dates. At first,
only clear colourless ‘Ice Glass’ was pro-
duced, to simulate real ice, but mid-igth
century fashion soon desired it to be
coloured. Usually the base glass was
coloured in ruby, rose, yellow, blue or
green, the fragments picked up being clear
and colourless. Occasionally the reverse
happened, the fragments being coloured
and the base glass clear and colourless. Ice
Glass known as ‘Craquelle’ and ‘Overshot’
was produced by the Boston & Sandwich
Works, and possibly by some other
American factories. It was advertised in
1883 by Hobbs, Brockunier & Company in
‘Rose, Sapphire, Old Gold and Marine
Green’ colourings.

Glass is distinguished from other materials by its transparency.
People like glass because of its shine and the way drinker.
glass refracts the light that passes through it. Glass is also extremely practical. It does not allow liquids to permeate it and is a poor conductor of heat. On the other side of course is glass’s only disadvantage — its fragility. Glass today is something modern humankind takes for granted. There is an involved process before glass objects reach the consumer.
Glass is formed by heating various metal oxides and quartz. In addition to the raw materials of glass (quartz and borax), there are also alkaline substances (potassium or sodium oxide). These make the silicates indissoluble.
The right composition of substances for glass is the result of centuries of experience. Glass was probably first made about 4,000 years ago — perhaps discovered in ancient Egypt by chance.
The production of glass was then a relatively straightforward process. The glass-makers first smelted glass in earthenware vessels over an open fire. The glowing pieces of glass adhered together and were then plunged into cold water where they splintered.
These shards of glass-like material were known as frit. The frit was then ground between millstones under powdered when it was smelted once more to achieve the desired result.
This principle was in use until some time after 1500. Old illustrations often show two glass furnaces: one is for the initial smelting of the raw materials and the second for melting the powdered frit.
The production of glass was changed in the eighteenth century in Britain. Coal replaced wood for the glass furnace but this turned the glass yellow from the sulphur dioxide that is released. This meant that glass had to be smelted in a sealed kiln.
This also made it more difficult to keep an eye on the smelting process. A solution was found by producing softer glass mixtures.
Means of decoration
Glass can be decorated in a number of ways. The most direct method is to apply layers of other glass or to mark the surface during the glassblowing process while the glass is soft. Such results depend on the skill and artistry of the glassblower. Glass has been blown since early times and had reached a state of high art in Roman times.
There are various waysin which glass can be decorated during blowing. One way is to add small pieces of glass or `prunts’. Another way is to spin the glass of the same or contrasting colour so that it forms a spiral on the glass surface. Many of the varying techniques are based upon centuries old traditions.
An entirely different way of decorating glass is to enamel or paint it.
This technique does not rely on the artistry of the glassblower. This is done with either ‘cold’ or fired enamel. Glass can also be gilded with precious metals such as silver or gold. Further ways of decorating glass are by cutting or engraving it. Glass is engraved with a diamond which ‘draws’ a design on its surface and it can also be stippled (a Dutch invention) with either a diamond or softer stylus.
Different effects can be created by making either open or dense stipple marks.
Glass has been cut since early times but etching was discovered by the Swede Sheele who notice that the acidic gases of hydrogen fluoride ate in to glass. Glass can also be ‘etched’ by sand-blasting. Encapsulation is done by placing objects in glass while it is still soft that then become fixed in the solid glass. This method was especially popular in Europe between 1800 and 1850.
Glass production from east to west
The production of glass spread to other countries from Egypt around 1000 BC. The techniques were extensively improved between the sixth and second centuries before Christ.
A very important discovery was made at Sidon in Syria in the first century before Christ – the glassblower’s ‘blowing iron’.
This enabled objects to be made of thin glass. It was a technique that spread throughout the Roman empire to Italy and Spain to the west but also to Gaul (France), Britain, and Germany in the north. The major glassblowing centres were established along the Rhine and in Gaul (France).
Production in the east
In common with many other techniques, glass-making was also largely forgotten following the fall of the Roman empire but this was not true in the east. The most important glass-producing region was Byzantium where new techniques were also developed that can be seen in cut and engraved goblets, bottles, ewers, and mosaics of the era.
Arabs were extremely fond of glass embellished with gilt or enamel and major Arab glass centres were Damascus and Aleppo in Syria.
Very fine coloured glass goblets, bottles, ewers, lamps, and dishes were made in these towns between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. These were often decorated with bright painting.
Persian glass-making took over the leading position in the fifteenth century and Persian glass even influenced Spanish glass. Surviving Persian glass from this era consists mainly of bottles of green or blue glass.
Medieval European glass
Glass production in the former western Roman empire after its fall only survived in Gaul (France), Germany, Flanders, and Britain.
In the early Middle Ages the preference was for decoration with grooves, flattening, and decoration with ‘threads’
of glass. Several new types of object appeared such as `trunked’ and ’studded’ beakers. Otherwise just simple medicine bottles were made from green glass that was far from perfect.
Glass production even went into decline in the ninth century and many in Christian countries regarded glass as a heathen product. After all the heathens used bottles for their ‘pagan’ burials. Pope Leo IV even banned the liturgical use of glass. Not everyone was of the same opinion.
Bishop Isidorus of Seville in Spain wrote a treatise about glass based on Naturalis Historiae, written by the Roman Plinius. The monk Theophilus wrote an extremely important work about glass —probably during the late tenth or early eleventh century, somewhere along the Rhine.
In a piece about the art of glass he described the constituents of Roman and Asian glass, wrote down many legends, and described the process of glassblowing in great detail.
Venice
Sometime around the birth of Christ, glass was produced in northern Italy. The technique was maintained by cloistered orders and spread from these during the Middle Ages throughout Europe. It was in this region that the one of the most famous glass-making centres was established.
Benedictine monks in Venice specialised in making bottles by the year 1000. Following the conquest and pillage of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204, many Byzantine glassblowers sought to escape to the powerful trading city of Venice.
They strengthened Venetian glass-making with techniques such as glass mosaics. The first thin and hollow glass-ware and first glass jewellery were made in Venice in about 1250. Soon afterwards the production of glass became a monopoly of the Venetian state. The glassblowing works though were forced to move outside the city. With their extensive use of fire they threatened the safety of the city and hence were moved to the island of Murano.
The first reports of exports of glass from Venice are also recorded around 1250. They also made optical glass for spectacles and window glass.
A great deal of glass incorporating soda from burnt seaweed was made in the fourteenth century. The Venetians also began to make latticinio glass with thin white threads around 1400. The Venetians were also known to make golden coloured glass by chemical means and other colours too with copper and cobalt.
They also decorated their glass by `burning’ colours into it. This is very characteristic of fifteenth century Venetian glass. In the sixteenth century the Venetians mainly decorated their glass with patterns of opaque white threads. Vegetal and abstract designs were also created on the thin-walled soda glass.
In addition to clear cristallo glass, Venice also made opaque white lattimo glass that was translucent but not transparent, millefiori containing tiny rods of coloured glass, and frosted glass with a cracked surface. The glassblowers also produced all manner of decorative forms with glass. The chemical composition of Venetian glass was a secret with severe penalties for anyone who revealed the procedures to make it. Despite this, many Venetian glassblowers left for other parts in the early sixteenth century and became involved abroad in the production of imitations of Venetian glass. Excellent copies of glass d la facon de Venice were made in Spain, France, and the Low Countries. These are so good that it is very difficult to determine whether a piece is made in Venice or elsewhere. The main differentiation is that the metal (body of the glass) of the imitations is not so clear, fine, and thin as that produced on the Venetian island of Murano.
Developments elsewhere in Europe
In Bohemia and Germany they also tried to join in Venice’s success. The glass works there only flourished after the Middle Ages. Many attempts were made in France employing Italian immigrants to make totally transparent and clear glass. Dutch glass makers began to make diamond engraved fluted glasses in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and it was the Low Countries too that made glasses with a characteristic ‘winged foot’. It was also quite common for glass made in one place to be decorated elsewhere.
BOHEMIAN AND GERMAN FOREST GLASS
The extensive forests of Bavaria were home to many glass works. The production area lay within an area bordered by the Thuringia and Bavarian forests, and the Alps and Fichtel mountains. Because of iron and potash in the raw materials the glass produced was mainly green.
New types of glassware were created that were primarily functional with the main output being glass beakers but ink pots and alchemists’ and apothecaries’ jars were also made.
This was often decorated with prunts and molten threads of glass. Glass was also decorated with bizarre relief forms. All these products were small icrean size in the fourteenth and fifteenth century. Larger pieces were noss bt made until the sixteenth century.
The most widespread of these are so maigelein: shallow beakers of blown gas
A 17th century Dutch green Romer glass. This type first appeared in the 15th century.
of which the bottom is pressed inwards. There were also much larger Pasglas measured glasses, beakers in the form of cabbage stalk, beakers with finger grips, and vertically ribbed cylindrical beakers. The classical slim and tall beakers of Bohemian glass were made in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Their small stems are externally decorated with prunts of molten glass. The Romer glass was first made in the fifteenth century. These wine glasses were extraordinarily popular in the Rhineland. A bellied glass, shaped like an onion with a curved neck consisting of several plaited tubes of glass also appeared in Bohemia in the late Middle Ages.
ENAMELLING
Every glass works outside Italy strived to improve on Italian glass with their local products but the shape of their glassware is clearly different from that of Renaissance Italy. This is because of different local drinking customs. Wine was drunk in Italy but north of the Alps people mainly drank beer. This caused different demands of glasses. The Humpen beer glasses were made from the middle of the sixteenth century.
At first these were conical in form but later only cylindrical Humpen were made. This latter type had a low sole and sometimes also had a hinged lid. The style of painting was intended to give the impression of an Italian product and this also helped to mask the imperfections in the glass.
Enamelling was commonplace on sixteenth century central European glass. The best period for this form of decoration was reached in the earlier seventeenth century. The quality of glass was then improved through the addition of chemicals.
Another category of glassware was the beakers that bore the owner’s crest of arms.
These were also monogrammed and dated. Others, known as ’state eagle’ Humpen were decorated with the German state arms. Quite separate from these glasses though were the Fichtel mountain ox-head glasses that were painted with pictures of the wooded hills from which the Eger, Main, Naa, and Saale rivers rise. Old and New Testament references, fables, and allegories were also common painted decorations in both the Renaissance and Baroque eras.
Although enamelled glass originally came from Venice it gradually became the speciality of central Europe. This method of decoration was used for more than 250 years.
Spun stem Dutch glass. Spinning a thread of glass of the same or contrasting colour around a glass core is one method of decoration.
Enamel became less expensive in the later seventeenth century so that ‘ordinary’ citizens were able to buy it. Finally it became a product for the masses and when applied to milchglass became a cheap alternative to porcelain.
Finding out the origins of a piece is no easy matter. There are countless different types with regional and local characteristics but these became less pronounced as glassblowers moved to work at different places.
PAINTED TRANSPARENT GLASS
A new manner of decorating hollow glass objects was introduced in the later eighteenth century using transparent enamels instead of opaque ones. The porcelain artist Samuel Mohn of Dresden was the first to use this technique.
His ‘friendship’ glasses are painted with portraits, landscapes, allegories, and verses. He customarily signed his work with Mohn fecit. His son, Gottlob Mohn, established himself in Vienna in 1811 and signed himself G. Mohn in Wien. His first work was the painting of town views.
The Viennese porcelain and glass artist Hothgasser took up this popular subject, working mainly on bell-shaped glasses on long branched stems. He mainly signed his work with his monogram between the ‘teeth’ of the branched stem.
Sometimes though he used his full signature on his glasses. These were given as a present or friendship’s token, or served as souvenir. Kothgasser’s glasses with playing cards were very popular around 1875. Kothgasser’s work was in great demand and hence widely copied but reproductions are easily spotted by the naive compositions and lack of technique.
BOHEMIAN ENGRAVED GLASS
The process of engraving was already known during Roman times but the ancient technique was re-invigorated during the sixteenth century in southern German with fresh demand for this style of decoration. This arose because of exports of engraved crystal from Milan. The so-called ‘mountain’ crystal was rare and hence expensive. This led to people in southern Germany deciding to apply the decorative technique used with crystal on glass. Lehmann One of the most famous engravers is
Kasper Lehmann, engraver to the court at Prague. Until recently he was even deemed to have been the ‘inventor’ or glass engraving.
Engraved ginger glass, circa 1700. Although known since Roman times, it was not re-introduced until the 16th century, in southern Germany. Engraved glass became very popular in the north of the Low
Countries.
He established himself in Prague around 1600 and in 1609 he gained a monopoly from the king for the engraving of glass. Lehmann had a number of students, including Georg Schwanhardt, the most important of them, who returned to his home town of Nuremberg following Lehmann’s death. There were many engravers working in this town but each had his own area of speciality.
Schwanhardt mainly worked with Venetian-type goblets, although Venetian glass itself is not suitable for engraving because it is too fragile. Glass with lime added was used for engraving. This sparkling glass was clear and pure with strong refractory properties. It became known as Bohemian crystal.
Bohemian ‘crystal’ was discovered between 1670 and 1680 more or less simultaneously in three glashutten in southern and northern Bohemia. Knowledge of the process spread quickly throughout Bohemia.
Painting with enamel was depressed here by engraved Bohemian ‘crystal’. The first decorations were copies of motifs used in Venice. Because of the high quality of the new material it quickly became a formidable competitor for Venetian glass. Traders not only succeeded in selling Bohemian glass throughout Europe, it was also shipped to other parts of the world.
When the engraving switched to the Baroque style Bohemian glass was even more successful.
SILESIAN ENGRAVED GLASS
The successful formula of Bohemian glass works was also followed in Silesia. The works of Count Schaffgotsch were very important to this region. The glashut in Hermesdorf in particular produced some fine pieces. This was due to the engraver Friedrich Winter who engraved a series of friendship goblets and beakers there after 1690.
The engraved glass from the works at Lobkowitz in Wiesau and Warmbrunn were also of exceptionally high quality. Silesian glass is characterised by the narrowing at the bottom of the drinking vessel. Although Bohemian glass itself was of higher quality, the exceptional Silesian engraving was better than that of Bohemia.
Glass production was advanced following Prussia’s capture of Silesia from Austria in 1742. Glass production in Silesia and Bohemia began to become less significant in the mid eighteenth century due to a number of factors. These included a smaller market through European wars that had caused economic collapse and also a reduction in the size of the market through the development of porcelain and lead crystal. Superb glass goblets made way for simple beakers. Both form and decoration were simplified and more suited to the new circumstances.
The Bohemian glass industry searched for a way to emerge from the crisis.
One of their developments was milchglas that was supposed to compete with the rapidly growing market for porcelain. Entire sets of tableware and drinking services were produced from 1760 to the mid nineteenth century by works at Harrachov in Bohemia.
The opaque ‘milk glass’ was much cheaper than porcelain but could emulate it in both form an enamelled decoration.
GERMAN DEVELOPMENTS
The discovery of the addition of lime to forest or potash glass in Bohemia was also important for the German glashutten.
This was especially true of those works of the electors of Saxony and Brandenburg which bordered Bohemia. Silesian experience in both glass making and engraving was utilised at Brandenburg works at Potsdam, Berlin, and later also at Zechlin. Potsdam attracted Martin Winter, brother of the highly regarded Helmdorf engraver.
The glass specialist and alchemist Johann Kunckel was given the task of researching the best composition for glass. He is credited with discovery of Zwischengoldglas or ‘gold-ruby’ glass. Other gifted engravers also worked for Brandeburg glass makers in addition to Winter.
Glass from this time is solid and heavy. The foot or stem, drinking vessel, and lid were decorated with leaf motifs. Pieces were lighter after 1720 under the influence of the engraver Elias Rosbach. Zechlin glass though (which had gilt medallions melted into its surface) remained fairly robust.
Knowledge of how to produce Bohemian glass spread via Nuremberg northwards. Important centres were established at Brunswick and Hesse, while the glashutten of Thuringia were also important parts of the German glass industry. Just as with porcelain, the electors of Saxony also initiated establishment of glassworks in their domain.
The Saxon works copied Bohemia so precisely that their glassware closely resembles Bohemian glass. Saxon glass though uses slightly different forms, such as horizontal, diagonal, and faceted rims on the stem and underbelly of the bowl. There is a difference too in the gilded relief and gilded engraving
‘RUBY GOLD’ GLASS
In addition to engraved glass, Bohemian glass works also produced ‘ruby gold’ glass or Zwischengoldglas during the prime era for Baroque style. This type of glass had been known in Roman times but forgotten. Following its rediscovery by Johann Kunckel in Brandenburg, Bohemian glass makers also started to make it. The same type of decoration was employed as was used for Bohemian `crystal’.
This consisted of engraving, silver gilt or gilt leaf motifs placed between two layers of glass. Only a few pieces were double layered at that time.
English lead crystal and Dutch glass
Around 1750, glass that was stabilised with lead became important in Europe. The heavy lead ‘crystal’ was well adapted to practically-shaped pieces following
Painted glass box, circa 1850. This type of movingly painted glass boxes were made in Friesland in the Low Countries Classical lines. Lead crystal has unique properties.
It is absolutely clear and is decorated in an entirely different way. By use of a diamond cutting disc a large number of facets can be created that cause light refraction — acting as a series of prisms. Dutch glass was extensively engraved with diamond cutters and lead crystal became extremely popular there. After 1750, some exceptional Dutch pieces were made by stippling the glass with a diamond.
The solid goblets used for this purpose were partly imported from Britain.
Nineteenth century glass
Bohemian crystal found a strong competitor with English lead crystal cut glass. This was because the lead crystal was ideally suited to the forms of the fashion for Classicism. The Bohemian glass makers reacted by adopting the English cut-glass technique but Bohemian glass was not suitable for cutting. The consequences were therefore limited and the technique was restricted so that cutting remained solely an extension to engraving. The subjects for engraving were determined by the current fashion and this can be seen by the motifs used.
Count Georg Buquoy of Neugrdtzen in southern Bohemia became very taken with Wedgwood’s ‘Egyptian Black’. In common with Friedrich Egermann in Haida, Neugrdtzen began making black Hyalith glass that was mainly decorated in a golden chinoiserie style.
The wares included carafes, coffee services, dishes, and vases. Egermann created Lithyalin, a different form of opaque glass that resembled jasper and agate. Like these stones it could be facet cut. Egermann’s glass works also used a golden yellow glass paint that he invented. This was used on goblets and beakers from 1820. Egermann’s greatest achievement though was his contribution to the enriching of glass.
With the help of copper he was able to create cheap imitations of expensive
golden-coloured ruby glass. Glass makers sought an ever greater range of colours and forms for their wares. On the one hand they attempted to improve the process of applying coloured glass to a clear glass base while on the other they sought to develop new methods.
This led to a new technique in which several layers of coloured glass were applied to a base. It was a process that had originated in China. By cutting away parts of the different coloured layers, all manner of colour effects could be created. The use of several layers of milchglas was particularly popular. With this, when a pattern had been cut out it was further decorated with enamel.
Bohemian glass companies exported lots of this type of ware in the 1850’s. Around 1820 the Bohemian glassworks also made glass that was smelted with embedded plaster or porcelain with portraits of famous persons. From 1830 onwards the glass market changed radically because of the major changes in how glass was made. Until that time each piece was individually crafted by a glassblower. During the nineteenth century factories began to press mould glass. This process made it possible to mass produce glass making.
The artistic level of the output dropped of course but commercial considerations were generally more important than aesthetic ones. Very few managed to avoid this trend. One who did was the Viennese artist Ludwig Lobmeyr, who owned a quality glass making works in Steinsch6nau. He was one of a group of artists who opposed the levelling down and increasing lack of taste of the mass produced wares.
This group studied ancient and exotic forms of glass and this led to their works making new types of glassware with simple and functional shapes. Before this trend gained wider acceptance though it was consumed in an even more radical movement that swept Europe under the Art Nouveau and Jugendstil names. The artists A. Daum and E. GaI16 gave glass-making back its individual power of expression and returned to the old traditions. In the United States Louis Comfort Tiffany was inspired by oriental and classical glass. His work was widely admired and echoed in Europe.
One glass works that copied his lead was the Liitz works at Klostermiihle in Bohemia.
Glass and jewellery
Glass paste and beads were used for jewellery back in the age of the ancient Egyptians. Alexandria supplied the then known world with glass beads during the
ancient Greek civilisation and during the Roman empire. The strings of beads made with them were of different colours. The glass was decorated with wavy melted threads of lighter-coloured glass. The production of beads spread through Constantinople and the other towns of the Roman empire to Europe.
Venice was an important production centre for glass beads in the eleventh century. Imitation gem stones had been made in Bohemia as early as the fourteenth century. In the eighteenth century
Louis XIV style mirror of the 19th century.
They also started to make glass beads. Production of glass beads had started in the German Nuremberg in the sixteenth century followed by the Fichtel mountains area of Bavaria in the seventeenth century, and soon afterwards by Potsdam and Thuringia.
Bead production of importance got under way in France in the seventeenth century.

Vases
Vases are designed for displaying floral arrangements, but as solitary objects they enhance a room’s decor. Instead of being merely flower containers, they are considered art objects or decorative accessories, depending on their price. Like table wares, Deco vases were made of either pottery, porcelain, glass or metal. The photographs in this section are arranged in that order.
French art glass vases are the most expensive. Examples shown here include pieces by Legras, Schneider and Verlys. Other French manufacturers such as Baccarat, Lalique and Galld perhaps are more famous. But as their creations have become scarce and very costly, other factories’ products have gained recognition. Consequently, most French art glass has moved entirely out of the range of the moderate collector.
For Deco image, however, less expensive vases made by European and American factories are quite pleasing. Much of this glass is unmarked and not attributable to any one factory. Lack of identification may serve the collector well when Deco shape rather than company or artist is the major concern. Czechoslovakian glass made between 1918 and 1939 has been gaining interest among Deco collectors for several years. Most of the pieces are marked “Czechoslovakia” or “Made in Czechoslovakia.  The shapes and vivid colors of this good quality glass are quite representative of the Deco era. Prices usually remain moderate. Black milk glass or black amethyst glass made during the 1920’s and 1930’s is another type of relatively inexpensive glass with Deco overtones. Black glass was made by several American factories, but most pieces are unmarked.
American glass makers such as Cambridge, Fostoria, Heisey and New Martinsville, to name a few, are noted for stemware and serving dishes, but vases and other decorative items also were produced by these factories. Clear and colored glass vases were sometimes made to match the modern table ware patterns. Fan shapes, blocked geometric forms and even etched nude designs project a Deco theme. Although this type of glass is avidly collected by Depression glass collectors, prices are far less than those for French art glass.
The most expensive ceramic vases are those made by European art potteries. Art pottery, however, usually is priced lower than art glass. This is apparent when prices are compared for the Amphora and Boch Freres ceramic vases with those for the Legras and Verlys glass examples. American art pottery is generally lower in price than European. Among American Art potteries, attention is being paid to the Deco production made by companies such as Roseville. Less expensive vases are Japanese or American pottery varieties which were sold by dime stores or florists’ shops. The angular white glazed Japanese vase shown here was originally cheap, but the striking Deco shape has caused its current value to increase sharply.
Porcelain vases are medium priced with few being either bargains or exorbitantly high. Porcelain is superior to simple pottery because it is stronger and translucent, but those qualities are not always reflected in prices. Most European porcelain vases are less expensive than European art pottery. The reason is because many decorative items such as urns, vases and jardinieres were produced in quantity by porcelain factories. Moreover, they were often decorated with transfer designs or exported as undecorated vases. The latter were purchased by aspiring amateur china painters, and thus the decoration is not as creative or professional as that of art potteries.
Metal adapts well to angular shapes. Although glass and ceramic vases are more common, those made of brass, bronze, copper or chrome often evoke the Deco image in a more eye-catching way. The chrome vases pictured here are priced at the low end of the scale, but the Deco features are quite obvious. Brass and copper vases vary in price depending on size, but most are over $ 100. The sterling on bronze vases were made by the Heintz Art Metal Company. Such pieces are rarely less than $100 or more than $300. French bronze vases may be out of an affordable price range for moderate collectors. But an urn like the one shown, or similar vases, is usually considerably less than a bronze statue would cost. If French bronze would lend a note of prestige to one’s collection, such vases are a good choice.