Glass Circle News_No.143, Jun 2017

GLASS CIRCLE

•
The Golden Age of Dutch glass

•
The genius of the Blaschka flowers

•
250 years of Scottish glass

•
Country house lighting

CONTENTS

Editorial/Chairman

Letters

Dutch Golden Age

Scottish glass

The Blaschka flowers

Tiffany mosaics
Country house lighting

Reports

Diary

Glass Circle News

ISSN 2043-6572

Vol. 40 No. 1 Issue 143 June 2017

published by The Glass Circle

www.glasscircle.org

Editor

Jane Dorner
[email protected]

9 Collingwood Avenue, N10 3EH

Design and layout

Athelny Townshend

[email protected]

Ninth, shi Glass t :wait nin any ol
iLN

Ot
coinniaree

members bear any responsibility for the views expressed in this

publication, which are those of rho contributor in each case. Every

effort has been made ro trace and acknowledge copyright in the

photographs illustrating articles, The Ediror asks contributors to

clear permissions and neither the Editor nor the Glass Circle is

responsible for inadverrenr infringements. All photographs are

Printed by

Micropress Printers Ltd

www.rnicropress.co.uk

Cover illustration:
Blaschka glass model
of

Jacaranda obtusifolia

(Model 550),
1895.

The Archives of Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka and the

Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants,

Harvard University.
his edition of

Glass

(

gm.

Circle News
is late. This

is because your editor

has been hospitalised

for the last six months — and, indeed,

is editing this edition from the rehab
hospice. That would have been impossible

some years ago, but the internet

means it doesn’t really matter

where you are. Offices call it
hot-desking, though in my case

it occupies the spaces between

blood tests and physiotherapy.

Nurses are intrigued by the notion of a

magazine devoted to writing about glass

and its many guises.

The Chairman indicated in his Letter last

time that a new editor was being sought,

but so far a solution has not been found

and so I was persuaded to carry on at least
one more time. Our designer also felt in

loyalty bound to give Circle members their

dues. The committee is still interested in

hearing from anyone who would like to get__

involved in the editorial side of producing
this magazine. Health scares such as I

have had (and for those who like to know,

ship-wreck though my experience was, its
cancerous cause has been annihilated) make

one reassess what one does in life and I feel I

have edited GCN long enough and it is time

for a fresh approach.

Members who could not come to the

autumn lectures will be pleased to read

the articles by two speakers: Simon Cottle

and John Smith and reports of the two
talks given by Suzanne Higgott and Mike

Noble. We are also able to include the
March lecture on Scottish Glass by Jill

Turnbull. We are conscious that out-of-
towners can’t get to Queen Square evenings

n 2009 your committee

decided that a newsletter,

stapled together, and with
little colour, was not suitable

for the new millennium. The committee

wanted to produced a newsletter that was
printed professionally on A3 paper in full
but would like to know what was said at

meetings. It’s a challenge for our writers

to condense a lectures-worth of material.

John’s original talk on chandeliers used 72
illustrations, and lasted
75
minutes, which

had to be pared down to 54 pictures and

2000
words. Similarly, Jill Turnbull has

reduced
575

illustrations in her

book to
9
in the article.

This edition is also continuing

the story of the Blaschka family

with an article on their flowers to

complement the marine creatures

you read about in Issue no. 545. When I

was making glass myself, I was struck by

a story I read about the remarkable skill

of these glass artists. Asked how one could

acquire his delicacy of touch, Blaschka

pere replied, ‘First get yourself a great-

grandfather who blows glass’. I knew then

I could never make the grade. To be a

fine craftsman, you have to be drink it in

with your parental blood. (Coincidentally,

in her artide on page ][5, Jennifer Brown

quotes the exact passage I remembered so
-`

Tiffany,
subject of our fifth article, in-

herited business sense from his father, but

did not make a single piece that bears his

name though some are signed by him and

all bear the imprint of his various com-
panies, as the article on page
23
explains.

Like Daum, he worked closely with de-

signers. Which all goes to show that there
are many ways of achieving fame.

It remains for me to say goodbye to

Circle members, many of whom have

become friends-by-email over the eight

years I have been editing this magazine. I
have enjoyed it, but all good things must

come to an end.

colour. Dr David Watts, who had done a
remarkable, if sometimes controversial,

job of editing the newsletter, which he

had founded many years ago, asked to

step down from the editorship.

We were extraordinarily lucky that

Jane Dorner, a professional editor and a

EDITORIAL & CHAIRMAN’S LETTER

Editorial

Jane

Dorner

Chairman’s letter

by John P. Smith

2
Glass Circle News Issue
143 Vol. 40 No. 1

LETTERS

Letters to

the editor

LEFT:
A suite of
12

place

settings all engraved
and signed by W

Fritsche (1853-

1924)
Fritsche, the

foremost ‘rock
crystal’ engraver,
who was born

in Meisterdorf
(Mistrovice), east

of Prague, worked

for
Thomas
Webb

and Sons; he also

found time to be a
publican, running

The Red Lion in
Amblecote.

BELOW:
Specimen of

BlaschkaMarine Life:

Tubulari indivisa

(Nr.1914
1885

glass artist, was able to take over

the editor’s role, with Athelny

Townshend as designer. Jane

has extremely high professio-
-1

standards, as anyone who has

submitted material to what has
become a fully-fledged magazine

will vouch. Our magazine has
become the yardstick for other

magazines and journals to measure
up to.
As well as being interesting,

informative, and occasionally

amusing, the magazine is now

considered an organ of record in
academic circles and that is re-

flected in the numbers of scholars

who are prepared to contribute to

it. David had very strong views on

glass scholarship and was known
to allow these to affect his edito-

rial judgement, discouraging some

submissions.
As she has written above Jane is

now standing down as editor, but

her influence on the magazine will

continue for many years to come,

and we are extremely fortunate to
have had her as editor.

The next issue you receive

will be a joint, bumaer edition,
produced for both Glass Circle

and Glass Association members.
Our interests overlap to a large
extent, and as producing and

printing a publication is the largest

item in both our finances we
thought that we would give this
idea a try, without committing

to carry on the idea in the future.

That will be decided by feedback

from members.
I can now give you some good

news concerning the future of the
Broadfield House glass collection

and the White House Cone pro-

ject. Unfortunately the original
firm commissioned to design the

project resigned the commission
in November last year, which has

set back Lottery Funding applica-
tion timing. In the meantime the

empty museum space is being used
for the occasional
ad hoc

exhibition

of contemporary glass, the biennial
Contemporary Glass Society ex-

hibition and competition, and fun
events. The new designers have,
however, put on a small exhibition

of rock crystal glass for the general
public to evaluate, to help them in

their design process. Plans are now
coming on nicely and the Garfield

Weston Trust has given a grant of

£zo,000. Allister Malcolm, the res-

ident glass artist, is on view in his
hot glass facility which is up and

running in the building.
All letters about a previous edition

of the magazine refer to Vol.
39
No.

2
Issue no. 142 unless otherwise

stated.

Royal Ontario Museum

collects GCN

I
just wanted you to know how

much I appreciate receiving the

hard copy of
Glass Circle News.

The publication and content are
wonderful and informative. I

find all of the articles interesting

and pass any information on

new publications on to Brendan
Edwards, the recently appointed

Head of the Library at the Royal

Ontario Museum. I can usually
persuade him to order the books
for the ROM Library. I appreciated

the story on the Blaschka Marine

Life
(See below).
I think it is an

important and timely exhibition,

given the state of the world’s
oceans. As I have been down-

sizing my library since retiring and
becoming a Curator Emeritus, I
have passed on all of the Glass

Circle publications that I could

find to the ROM Library and they
have catalogued them and put

them in order. This may be the only

range of Glass Circle publications

available at a Canadian library.
Peter Kaellgren,

Ontario

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

LETTERS

Washed-up

I
found this piece

of glass on an

Irish beach and

wondered if any

of your members

could shed any

light on what it

is It’s too thick to

be a bottle I think

and has `R (or A) 2,2,’
on one side and some
faint letter or number on
the other (I think). It appears

to be dark blue. It was found

on Blackball beach, County
Wexford.

I’d appreciate any wisdom from

the great pool of Circle experts.

Milly Frances,

County Wexford

Losing marbles

This
photograph is of a near

I set of marbles for the game

of fox and geese. The marbles
pictured are unlike any others I

have seen over the 5o years I have

been collecting. The bodies are

bottle glass — some deep brown

as in beer bottles but otherwise

aqua glass as used for mineral

water bottles. The decoration is

in splashes and swirls confined to
the surfaces using a limited pallet

of white, yellow-brown and blue.
Vessels made in bottle glass with
splashed decoration like these

marbles are commonly associated

with the Nailsea Glassworks near

Bristol but was also known to
have been in the Alloa Glassworks

in Scotland and towns in the
Midlands, Yorkshire and Tyneside.

If any member has clue as to how

I could find matches for the three

missing ‘geese’, this ‘fox’ would be

most grateful.

Christopher Maxwell-Stewart
St Leonards, East Sussex

Blue or grey
azel Bell in her letter to GCN

I 142. refers to Shakespeare’s

Two Gentlemen of Verona
in which

Julia observes that Silvia’s eyes are

`as grey as glass:
The

commentary

Shakespeare’s work, by Henry

Hudson LL.D., written
c.
191o,

referred to by Hazel, gives the

gloss that at this (Shakespeare’s)

time glass was not colourless, but

blue, hence Silvia’s eyes were blue,
soft azure or cerulean!

Unfortunately around 1910 a

canard was put about by some

glass dealers and authors that you

could recognise Irish glass by its

delicate blue tint, and whenever

Bohemian glass makers had a

batch which had turned slightly

blue they made ‘Irish’ glass with it.

No glass was ‘blue in Shakespeare’s

time, but a light grey. As usual Will

got it right, Silvia’s eyes were a

delicate grey colour.

This led me to consider glass

in Shakespeare. I discovered the

website shakespeareswords.com.

Shakespeare used the word glass

over 5o times, but in almost all
cases he used the word glass to
mean looking glass, not window

glass or drinking glass. The biblical

‘in
a glass darkly’

also refers to a

looking glass. Looking glasses in

Shakespeare’s time indeed gave a

grey reflection.

John R Smith
London

A mirror
in

Shakespeare’s time

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

Packaging

Eurther
to your interesting article

I on packing glass, please allow
me to add a couple of points. I

frequently have to send glass by

courier within and beyond the

UK. I have found that the charges

for courier service are based partly

on weight and partly on volume.
When carrying many packed
pieces of glass for myself and

others in a small car or van, volume

and stackability of the boxes are

also vital.

I therefore recommend packing

to be in double, preferably three-

ply, cardboard boxes. These are

strong enough to stack and to

survive most couriers abuse both
to the destination and back.
Avoid wooden crates if sending

to the States unless they are

certified steam sterilised against

pests and wood virus — otherwise
they get returned directly from

US Customs & Border Controls

(https://www.cbp.gov)

never

reaching

their

destination.

Suppliers such as Rajapack (www.
rajapack.co.uk) have a wide range

of such cardboard boxes and
usefully provide both internal and

external dimensions.

Furnishing foam makes a

perfect support for all but the

heaviest of glass sculptures (over
to kg). It can be cut to size by soft

furnishing suppliers (choose the

firmer variety of furnishing foam

but no need for the camera bag

type expensive foams) or suppliers

such as the wonderful Pentonville
Rubber Company, Pentonville

Road, London NI (wvvw.

pentonvillerubber.co.uk). Allow a

6 cm layer underneath, around the

sides and on top of the glass, then
up to two or three layers of foam

with holes cut out for each glass

piece, interspersed with 4 cm thick
separating layers.
This permits a much smaller and

lighter box than one would obtain

with polystyrene chips or bubble

wrap, reducing costs considerably.
I doubt it is prone to swelling
at high altitude. It also makes

unpacking easier and repacking

far less prone to poor handling by
a gallery assistant, each piece of

glass just requiring a sheet or two

or acid free tissue paper before

being slotted into its allotted
hole. One can cut the foam easily

with scissors or a scalpel, using a
paper template for the profile(s),
marking each hole or receptacle

with a marker pen for each glass
as a further failsafe. On safe return
of box, the foam can usually be
reused for other items or recut.
Katharine Coleman,

London

Newcastle wineglass

I
recently found a glass that has

I me stumped! It is a wineglass of
the so-called Newcastle-type, with

a superbly engraved crowned coat
of arms on the bowl consisting

of a pair of crossed anchors with

the letters ‘AN; surrounded by a

trophy of battle arms. The anchors

suggest a naval association and

perhaps the letters identify the

arms as that of the Admiraliteit van
het Noorderkwartier (Admiralty

of the Northern Quarter of the
Netherlands), one of the five

admiralties of the Dutch Republic.
Made up of West Friesland and

part of northern Holland, it was
established in 1589 at Hoorn and

was disestablished in 1795. (The
only version of the Admiralty’s

arms that I have found online,
however, have the letters AW)
What is unusual about the

glass is that there is a diamond-

point ‘inscription’ on the rough

pontil mark. It is not clear what

is intended, however. It could be

or the numerals `+9 or ‘6+: I

have not found a reference to any

glasses with such an inscription.
One always hopes, of course, that

it is the mark of the engraver, but
none comes to mind. Has anyone

seen such a mark, and is there any
identification of what it signifies?
Dwight Lanmon

Phoenix, Arizona
RIGHT:

Dwight Lanmon’s
Dutch engraved

`Newcastle’ light
baluster with

enigmatic engraved
pontil
mark

LEFT:
Detail of the

engraved pontil
mark

BELow:

Finely engraved
bowl showing the

arms
of

Admiraliteit
van het

Noorderkwartier

LETTERS

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

DUTCH GLASS

The Golden Age of Dutch glass

f all the decorative glass

produced in Europe in
e 17th century the

exquisite conceptions

of the Netherlandish glassmakers

are amongst the most outstanding.
Combined with the versatility and

imagination of the country’s glass

engravers, for much of the first half

of that century their glass products

achieved an almost unparalleled

level of perfection in northern
Europe. The developments of high

quality glass manufacturing and

engraved decoration on glass –

especially using a diamond-point
— were not entirely coincidental,

greatly influenced as they were by
the extraordinary developments

simultaneously taking place in the
Netherlands in the arts, sciences

and trade. The circumstances that

led to this flowering of creativity
have been acknowledged through

the definition of the era as that of

the Dutch Golden Age, the age of

Rembrandt, Vermeer and a host

of other leading Dutch painters

who have subsequently become
household names. Several of the
Dutch glass engravers of this

period have also become world-
renowned in their field.

Whilst under aristocratic

patronage the glassmakers of the

German provinces also thrived and
ultimately eclipsed the Dutch by

their use of enamels, production of

imitation rock-crystal masterpieces

and engraving using copper-wheel

techniques later in the 17th century,

it was the appearance of fine glass

in the Netherlands which came

as a surprise. Partly inheriting the
mantle of the declining Venetian

industry in the early years of

the century, the Netherlandish

glass industry never adopted
the grand Baroque elegance of

their neighbours. Indeed, the

Baroque style was not a powerful

influence in Dutch art and not a

characteristic of the Golden Age.
Although the Dutch Golden

Age was a period in history
roughly spanning the i7th century,
it dawned in the last quarter of

the i6th. It was a period in which

Dutch commerce, science, military

and art were among the most

acclaimed in the world. The first
half is characterised by the Eighty

Years War between the Dutch
Republic and Spain which ended in

1648 with the Peace of Westphalia.
The war was fought over religious

freedom and economic and

political liberty, and ended in total

independence of the reformist
northern provinces. The Golden

Age continued in peacetime during

the Dutch Republic until the end

of the century, typically depicted

and celebrated by engravers on

glass with the coats of arms of the

17 provinces and their leaders such
as that Northern Netherlandish

Roemer, possibly engraved by

Willem Mooleyser,
c.
168o, also
engraved with the arms of Prince

William III of Orange (1650-17o2)

(fig. I).

To appreciate Dutch glass

of this period it is necessary to
understand the political, religious,

urban and commercial changes

which together laid the basis for
its production. Throughout the

early years of the war, in their

bid to secure religious freedom
there was a dispersal of religious

groups within the region, partly
encouraged by the Catholics in
the south of the country (now

roughly Belgium) who supported

the dominant Spanish rulers.
Protestants showed greater

allegiance to the provinces in the
north, an area we now know as the

Netherlands. These Protestants

were often skilled craftsmen and
merchants, especially from the

Simon
Cottle

Fig. I A North

Netherlandish Roemer,

circa 1680, engraved
in diamond-point,

possibly by Willem

Mooleyser (1640-
1700), with the

crowned arms of the

Seventeen Provinces
of the Netherlands

flanking the arms of
Prince William of

Orange
(1652-1702),

24cm high

6
Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

DUTCH GLASS

southern port cities of Bruges,
Ghent and Antwerp whilst the

Catholic patricians of the north

were generally landed in their
background. More Protestants

moved to the north between 1585

and 1630 than Catholics moved in

the other direction.
Amongst the exodus of

craftsmen moving northwards

were skilled Venetian and French

glassmakers who brought with
them the styles of manufacture

in which they were trained. Their

complicated
filigrana
techniques

such as that of
vetro a retorti

and

vetro a reticello
were practiced by

the newly arrived glassmakers,

especially those settling in Liege

and Amsterdam. The delicate

facon de Venise
designs introduced

into a region which had grown up
with the Waldglas tradition of the

northern Rhineland were at odds

with the heavy green form glasses

such as the traditional roemer or

berkemeyer. Nonetheless, both

styles became representative of the

age, especially as they were utilised
by the cleverest of engravers as

blank canvases for their delicate

workmanship and ingenious
artistry (fig. a).

Dated 1604,
a facon de Venise

beaker depicting Christ on a donkey
(fig. 3), the reverse with a Pope on

imperial white horseback, after a

late 16th century anonymous print,
reflects the religious divisions.

Calvinism was to become the state

religion in the Dutch Republic.

This does not imply that unity

existed. Although the Netherlands

was to become a tolerant nation
compared to neighbouring states,

wealth and social status belonged

almost exclusively to Protestants.

The cities with a predominantly
Catholic background, such as

Utrecht and Gouda, did not enjoy

the benefits of the Golden Age. As

for the Protestant towns, unity of

belief was also far from standard.

Indeed, by the last quarter of

the century the extraordinary

calligraphic work in diamond-point

of Willem Jacobsz van Heemskerk
(1613-9z) demonstrated that

Calvinism was not the only
Protestant view prevalent in the

Dutch Republic. Heemskerk was

an outspoken member of the
Protestant Remonstrant sect who

had in 1610 presented to the States
of Holland a remonstrance in five

articles formulating their points

ABOVE LEFT:

Fig.
2
Winged flute

glass, Northern
Netherlands, facon de

Venise, c.1675-1700,
30.4 cm

ABova:
Fig 1

Roemer, Northern
Netherlands,

c.1618-25, portrait of

Maurice by the Grace

of God born Prince

of Orange Count of

Nassau, the reverse

with a view of the city

of Dordrecht, parrot

and butterfly, 1Z4 cm

(Rijksmuseum) after
engraving by Willem

Jacobsz. Delft (1580-
1638).

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

ABOVE:
Fig. 4

A large facon de Venise

plate, Willem Jacobsz
van Heemskerk,

dated 1685,
32.3cm,

the engraving

commemorates the
marriage of M. Joost

van Heemskerk, and

Anna Conink

LEFT:
Fig. 5 Goblet

and cover, dated

1685, by Willem
van Heemskerk, the

inscription taken from

the
Old
Testament,

Ecclesiastes 3, ‘To

everything there is

a season; the cover

inscribed ‘Aggression is

dangerous;
19.1
cm

ABOVE MIDDLE:

Fig. 6 Small flask with
silver mounts, dated

1688, Willem van

Heemskerk,
17.5
cm,

inscribed ‘Good luck to

him who endeavours to
do well’
and
under the

foot He who has good
intentions and actions
will be of peaceful

mind:

ABOVE FAR RIGHT:
Fig. 7 Roemer,

Northern Netherlands,

dated
1621, Anna

Roemers Visscher

(Amsterdam 1583-

1651), 13 cm,
signed

Anna Roemers
of disagreement with Calvinism.

Many of his glass inscriptions

reflect his religious convictions.

Although a cloth merchant by

trade, van Heemskerk spent

his spare time writing poetry

and engraving on glass, a hobby
of many educated amateurs in the

17th century. During his long life
Heemskerk engraved hundreds

of glass objects. His literary

interests are seen in the varied and
multilingual aphorisms, poetic

sentiments, toasts, and biblical

quotations that he engraved in
fluid lettering on bottles, dishes,

and drinking glasses (figs 4, 5 and
6).
Many of those Protestants

who moved northwards settled in
Amsterdam, transforming what

was originally a small harbour

into one of the most important

seaports and commercial centres
in the world by 163o. Where rich

aristocrats often became patrons
of art in other countries, because

of their comparative absence in the
Netherlands this role was played

by wealthy merchants and other
patricians. The daughter of one of

the Amsterdam merchants who

settled in the city and prospered
in this enlightened era was Anna

Roemers Visscher (1584-1651). Her
family’s economic and social status

in Amsterdam enabled Anna and
her sister Maria Tesselschade to be

schooled in languages, calligraphy,
embroidery, drawing, painting and

of course glass engraving. Both

sisters practiced this art but Anna’s
work was outstanding. In her work

on glass one can see the influences

of almost all the other arts in

which she trained ( fig. 7).
Against
prosperous

background th
th
e

is
arts flourished.

Dutch painting and print engraving

of the period was amongst

the best in Europe. Botanical,

ornithological and animal prints

provided many of the sources for
the numerous engraved designs

on vessel glass. (figs. 8, 9, io & 12)
Good examples of ornithological

print sources used by glass
engravers are those copied from

Nicolaes de Bruin’s
Volatilium
and

his
Libelius Varia Genera Piscium

Complectans:
a humorous series

of cavorting dwarfs taken from a

series of prints entitled
Facetieuses

inventions d’amour et de guerre,
Paris,
c.

1634, after Stefano della

Bella (1610-74), the print probably

by Francois Collignon (1611-85),

a pupil of Jacques Callot (1592-

1635) can be found on both a large
roemer and a silver beaker of the

DUTCH GLASS

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

DUTCH GLASS

same period.
In painting, still life arrangements

emerged in Europe in the i7th

century. The subjects were

chosen to depict either mortality

such as skulls and perishable

foods or material pleasures. The

arrangements were constructed so

that the artists could demonstrate

their proficiency in handling light,

colour, texture and substance.
Amsterdam merchants adorned
their houses with family portraits

and still life paintings. The
inclusion in these paintings of

wine glasses and other glass objects

was a further acknowledgement of
the importance of the category as

a material pleasure and as objects
of luxury and value. Imported

wine and Chinese porcelain,
placed alongside impressive silver

vessels and facon
de Venise
glass on

white tablecloths and ornate lace
embroideries presented statements
of achievement for the owners

of such paintings. Many of these

pictures, such as those by Willem

Claesz and Floris Claesz van Dijck,

in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam,
(fig. iz) illustrate typical but high

quality glasses of the period,

particularly the delicate serpent-

stemmed or winged glasses made
in the Venetian tradition for wine

and the heavy-styled green-tinted
Waldglas roemers for beer.

Glass makers and engravers

benefited from the growing wealth
of the nation. Several further

factors contributed to the flowering

of trade and industry. A necessary
condition was a supply of cheap
energy from windmills and from

peat, easily transported by canals
to the cities. The fuel was a source

for the glassmakers whilst the

invention of the sawmill enabled
the construction of a massive fleet

of ships for worldwide trading
ABOVE LEFT TO

RIGHT:

Fig 8 Roemer, c. 1640,
anonymously engraved,

after Stefano della Bella,

25.5cm

Fig. 9 Source engraving

Fig. 10 Roemer,
Northern Netherlands,

c.1600-25, 30.5cm; the

engraving copied from
Nicolaes de Bruin’s
Volatilium and his

Libelius Varia
Genera

Piscium Complectans

BELOW LEFT TO
RIGHT:

Fig. 11 Nicolaes de

Bruin’s
Volatilium

Fig.
12
Still Life, Willem

Claesz. Heda,
1635
and for military defence of the

republic’s economic interests. The

windmill provided power as well
as becoming a symbol of the new
nation.
Traditionally able seafarers and

keen mapmakers, the Dutch began
to trade in the i7th century with the
Far East and as the century wore

on, they gained an increasingly

dominant position in world
commerce, a position previously

occupied by the Portuguese

and Spanish. In
1602
the Dutch

East India Company
(Verenigde

Oostindische Compagnie
or VOC)

was founded. It was the first-

ever multinational corporation,
financed by shares that established

the first modern stock exchange.

This company received a Dutch

I! I, A’

N81GNi ,AJDM I R ATO

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1
9

Republic. Dutch traders shipped

wine from France and Portugal
to the Baltic and returned with

grain for countries around the

Mediterranean. By the 168os, an

average of nearly i,000 Dutch

ships entered the Baltic Sea each
year to trade with markets of the
fading Hanseatic League. How
much glass was shipped to these

areas is largely unknown.

As more and more land

was utilised, partially through
transforming lakes into polders,

local grain production and dairy

farming soared. Because of the

importance of wealth in defining

social status, divisions between

classes were less sharply defined

and social mobility was much

greater than elsewhere. Calvinism,
which preaches humility as an

important virtue, also tended

to diminish the importance of

social differences. Workers and
labourers were generally paid
better than in most of Europe,

and enjoyed relatively high living

standards, although they also paid
higher than normal taxes. Farmers

prospered from mainly cash crops
needed to support the urban and

seafaring population.
The landed nobility had

relatively

little

importance,

since they lived in the relatively
underdeveloped inland provinces,

and unlike in Italy, the Holy
Roman Empire or even in England,

their importance is not quite so

visible in the engraving on glass.

It was the urban merchant class

that dominated Dutch society.

That is not to say that aristocrats

were without social status. On
the contrary, wealthy merchants

bought themselves into the

nobility by becoming landowners

and acquiring a coat of arms and

a seal. Aristocrats also mixed with
other classes for financial reasons:

they married their daughters

to wealthy merchants, became

traders themselves or took up

military office. Merchants also

started to value public office as a
means to greater economic power

and prestige. The intermixing of
patricians and aristocrats was

most prominent in the second

half of the century. As was the

appreciation of leading figures of

the Republic such as the young

William of Orange. The governor
or stadtholder of Amsterdam,

later to become King William
III of England, he is occasionally

depicted by an engraver known

only as Master CM on tall wine

flutes (fig.
13).

Either appearing on

horseback or as a standing figure,

these portraits of William are

amongst the most desirable of all

Dutch 17th century engraved glass

and his portrayals may also be
found on pottery, derived as they

were from known published print

sources (fig.
14).

Fine glass in the 17th century

emerged from a country which

celebrated a renaissance in industry,

culture and politics, enabling its

citizens to grow both in confidence

and prosperity. These favourable
conditions were ideal for the

glassmakers and decorators to
flourish. That this also coincided

with a wonderful flowering of the
Fine Arts was of great benefit to

the glass artists who gained much

inspiration from this climate of

creativity. Enterprise and status
was celebrated through engraved

decoration whilst Venetian
craftsmen freely demonstrated
their artistry through the

complicated formations of the

serpent-stemmed glasses and the
intricate
filigrana
objects. When

both manufacturing and art came

together they created works of

genius, adding further lustre and

significance to what we now know
as the Dutch Golden Age.

Simon Cottle is Managing Director
of Bonhams European and US
Regions and Director of European

Ceramics and Glass. This article is
based on a lecture given to The Circle

on 3o June 2o16.The co-hosts were
Michael and Jenny Nathan.
©
So
t
he
by
‘s,
Lon
don

DUTCH GLASS

monopoly on Asian trade and

would keep this for two centuries.

Often celebrated in Dutch glass
of the mid-18th century, the
VOC became the world’s largest

commercial enterprise of the 17th

century.

The Dutch also dominated

trade between European countries,

favourably positioned at a crossing

of east-west and north-south

trade routes, and connected to a

large German hinterland through

the River Rhine. Glass from the
Rhineland area was brought

through the southern provinces

to the northern cities of the
BELOW LEFT:

Fig. 13

Flute glass, dated

1657, 40 cm,
portrait

of Willem III (1650-

1702), based on an

engraving by

A. Sivertsma, by
Master
CM

BELOW:
Fig. 14
Anthonie H.

Sivertsma, mirror
image print of Prince
Willem at
234
years

old, c. 1653, wearing

the Order of the
Garter

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

Ill

Cour
tesy
Dav
i
d Warr
i
latv.

SCOTTISH GLASS

From goblets to gaslights

The Scottish glass industry 1750-2006

ollowing her talk

t….

e•D

to the Glass Circle

on 16 March, Jill
Turnbull wrote

the following summary of her new
book.

The aims of this book are

twofold; first to discover

and record as much as
possible about the history

of flint glass production in
Scotland, about which very

little has been written; the

second to bring to the attention of
those interested in collecting and
dealing in fine glass that a great

deal of good quality, fashionable,
flint glass was produced there, but

is rarely considered when it comes
to possible attribution.
It is always difficult to create a

balanced narrative using original

archives because the amount of
information about individual

glassworks varies considerably
and often depends largely on legal

documents. It is also a problem to

provide relevant illustrations of
the glass itself — unless there are

catalogues or drawings available,

it is impossible to tell where a

glass was produced. There is, for
example, no identifiable glass made

by the Greenock Flint Glass Work

Company, which was set up in 1815
to produce all kinds of plain, cut,

and engraved glass’ Under various

titles and partnerships, including

the involvement of Frederick
Pellatt, the business produced

table glass until 1843 but we do not

have a single identifiable example,

although they exported a great
deal to Dublin, which was their

best market.
There are 18 chapters in

‘From Goblets to Gaslights’, 13
of them providing the histories

of individual glassworks in
Edinburgh, Leith, Glasgow,

Greenock, Alloa, Bathgate, Perth

and Caithness. The remaining
five cover cut glass and sulphides,

pressed and moulded, plain and

coloured, and engraved glass,
while ‘Lights, Medicine and Music’
explores some of the less collected

items which were vital to the

viability of the glassworks, and a
few of the more exotic ones like
musical glasses.
The history of the rebirth of

Scottish flint glass production
begins in 5777 after a
hiatus of some forty years.

That gap in the making of
anything but bottles posed a

huge problem for potential

entrepreneurs — the total

lack of an available workforce

with the required expertise. The
Verreville glassworks in Glasgow

overcame this difficulty through
the involvement of four well-

known glass manufacturers from

the north of England who were

able to provide the necessary

workforce, while three successful
Glasgow merchants completed the

partnership.
As so often happened, there were

numerous changes of ownership

and problems encountered during
the company’s history, which often
yield useful information for the

researcher. A lengthy legal dispute

at the end of the 18th century,
for example, provides interesting

evidence of the wages of the
managers of glassworks in England

as well as Scotland. In the early

19th century the manager of the
glassworks at Leith (three houses)
was paid £415 a year, while the
Hattonheath Company paid theirs

£605.
Among the documentary

evidence there is a Verreville

price list dated 1811 as well as

advertisements, invoices, and
catalogues of the contents of the

works, including a cutting shop

for forty cutters, etc. so we have

a good idea what they produced
over the 5o years of the glassworks’
existence, but identification of the

glass is another matter, except,
perhaps for one surviving piece.

(fig. 1)

Possibly the highest quality flint

glass was made at the Edinburgh

Glasshouse Company in Leith,

which began the production of
domestic glass in 1785. It was rare

at that period for the aristocracy

to buy their table glass in Scotland
— they usually did such shopping

in London. Not so at Leith. The

Duke of Buccleugh bought over

1000 wine and champagne glasses
and goblets from the Edinburgh

Glasshouse Company between

1785 and i800. A complete list of
all the glass recorded in invoices
between 1785 and 18o8 is contained

in an appendix to the book, while

the company’s price list of 5797

is the earliest of several from

different manufacturers which

are illustrated. The quality of the

glass is borne out by the report
of a Swedish industrial spy who

wrote in i8oz: ‘The glassworks

just outside Leith are especially

remarkable, for here is made the

clearest and purest crystal glass
that one can imagine, and which

surpasses in beauty all other, in
England as well as in France’. Praise

indeed.

A glass bearing the

Verreville name but of
uncertain origin.

Jill

Turnbull

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

SCOTTISH GLASS

business and by 1812 its affairs were

in a mess; morale suffered, as did
production and the quality
of the glass. Matters
were made worse by
problems with the

excise and in 1832

flint glass production

stopped although the

works did not close

until 1874. The heyday of

the company was relatively

short, but the period 1785-1812

saw some very high quality cut

and engraved table glass produced

at Leith, some of which is, no

There is one set of glasses from

around 1810 which was almost
certainly made in Leith (fig. 2). The
Whin Club was established by II

young Edinburgh lawyers in 1797.

They obtained their wine decanters

and glasses in 1810, adding the

dram decanter’ and the silver
utensils hallmarked ‘Edinburgh’

in 1812. The box remains in the
possession of the family of one of

the founder members of the club,

together with archival material — a
rare and valuable survivor.
As so often happened, after

the death in 1809 of Archibald
Geddes, the very successful
manager and then owner of the

company, family troubles began

to affect the running of the

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doubt, attributed to Stourbridge.

The early history of the Alloa

glassworks has been completely
revised. Documentary sources

show that it was established in 1767
thanks to an eccentric inventor, not

in 1750 as previously published.

Flint glass was produced there

for five years before the business
returned to just bottle production,

and again, no examples are known.
Research into the history of the

company which is best known by

its post-1835 name of the Holyrood
Flint Glass Works illustrates

clearly the value of archives of all
types. The business was founded by

a short-lived partnership between

William Ford and one of the less
reliable members of the Geddes

dynasty in 1810 and continued until

a family dispute caused its closure
in 5904. Fortunately descendants

have preserved a wide range of

material, particularly a large

quantity of documents, including
recipe books, the contents of the

pots and other technical material,

design drawings (fig. 3), catalogues
(fig. 4), photographs, and letters, as

well as examples of their glass (fig.
5) — a treasure trove of information

now in the care of the Museum of

Edinburgh.
It is rare indeed to be able to read

critical comments about the results

of adding, for example, too much

RIGHT:

Fig. 2

The contents of the
Whin Club box.

BELOW:

Fig. 3
A loose drawing

of a bowl
in
the

Ford-Ranken archive

in the Museum of

Edinburgh.

BOTTOM LEFT:

Fig. 4
A page from the

Holyrood Flint Glass

Works catalogue.

BOTTOM RIGHT:
Fig. 5.

A jasper ware jug

made at the Holyrood

glassworks.

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

SCOTTISH GLASS

iron to the jasper mix in 1841, and
how often is there a contemporary

letter describing pressed glass

being made? In October 1849

young Edward Ford wrote to his
brother William: ‘The press is

going ahead, knocking off 2,400

a week. There are only tumbler
moulds at present, but there is a

sweetmeat and a salt mould to be
sent from Birmingham this week.
You will not have seen the press
yet. The tumblers are made at a

fine rate. The metal is put into
the mould, down and up goes

the lever and there is tumblers’.

Such first-hand accounts, and
other contemporary material like

newspaper reports or Government

enquiries into the 19th century

employment of children provide
valuable insights into the lives of

those working in the industry,

while interviews in 2004 with
employees at Edinburgh Crystal

bring the picture up to date.
The history of the Holyrood

glassworks occupies two chapters
of the book, the first covering

the early years of what was then

the Caledonian Glassworks,

initially on a site near Holyrood

palace, and from 1815 until its
demise in 1904, in South Back of

Canongate. The first covers the

death of William Ford in 1819,

the subsequent lease of the works

to William Bailey from North

Shields, his eventual partnership
with John Ford the founder’s
nephew, and their separation in

1835. William Bailey moved to a
branch they had established in

Portobello and John Ford took

over the original site. The second
chapter covers the expansion of the

company, graphically illustrated on
billheads and trade cards. The final

refurbishment of the façade in the

187os included stone carvings of a
cutter and engraver flanking the

royal coat of arms indicating that

Queen Victoria was a customer,

while stone decanters and wine

glasses decorated the roof line.

Throughout its existence
the company produced good

quality table and ornamental

glass, both clear and coloured,

cut and engraved, while much

of their pressed and moulded

glass was distinctive. A 3zo page
pattern book, now in the care of
the Corning Museum of Glass,

provides a valuable insight into the

designs produced (figs. 6 and 7). A
DVD of the entire pattern book

is included with
From Goblets to

Gaslights
so readers will be able to

examine it for themselves.

Lesser

known

factories,

especially those in Glasgow are

discussed in as much detail as

archives allow, including the
Forth Glassworks, the only one

specialising in pressed glass. Only

one of their designs appears to
have been registered, a beehive

shaped honeypot dated 1877 (fig.

8), but a report on their display at
the Cork International Exhibition

of 1883 lists ‘table glassware’ as the
first item in a range of products

including ships’ deck lights and

medical and dispensing bottles.

At that time they employed 27o

people. Founded in 1868, the

company was finally wound up in

1924.

The glassworks of James Couper

& Sons is inevitably connected to

the production of Clutha glass,

which is, of course, discussed.

Less well known is a legal battle

ABOVE:

Fig. 6

& LEFT:
Fig. 7

Two designs in the

Holyrood pattern

book.
Corning

Museum of Glass.

BELOW:
Fig. 8

Honey pots made

in the Forth Glass
Works, Glasgow.

Glass Cirde News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

SCOTTISH GLASS

which attracted considerable press

attention in
1879
when James

Couper Junior took one of his

former employees to court during

a dispute with the United Flint

Glass Cutters. The case epitomises

some of the conflicts within
the industry which eventually

contributed to its demise. In

common with all the other flint

glassworks, practical everyday
items were vital to Couper’s

economic survival, lighting being

particularly important. Papers still

in the family’s possession confirm
the range of wares the successful

company made during its sixty
years of existence, including

pressed, engraved and etched glass.
Discovering new material about

more recent companies is more

of a challenge, since there is often

literature about them already.
Edinburgh Crystal is an obvious

case in point. However the history

of the works has been brought up to
date thanks to permission to spend

time at the factory for six months

in
2004.
The ability to study the

13
pattern books, to get to know

and formally interview employees,

attend pot-settings, photograph
freely and explore subjects like the
use of auto-cutters, was invaluable.

The pattern books were working
tools, often in poor condition,

but they are a wonderful resource

enabling the identification of pre-

1900
wares, coloured glass, and

many designs which would not

otherwise be attributed to the
factory (fig.
9).

The history of Monart glass and

the Ysart family has been fully
recorded but valuable documents

are now in the Perth archives,

including a list of the second-

hand materials with which John

Moncrieff started in business.

His
1868
cash book lists old

wine barrels for ink storage and
expenditure of
LI
on ‘Patterns

for moulds’. Three years later he

employed three men and thirteen
boys and was described as a

glass and ink manufacturer’. The
company expanded to become

a major producer of industrial

glass before branching out into

collectable coloured vases and

lamps.
Caithness glass was also a

challenge until examination of

government papers revealed

fourteen years of unpublished

correspondence concerning its

foundation, including despairing

comments about the running of
the business such as ‘the glass

factory project is a stinker…: A

rare insight into the political and

financial implications of founding

a business for social reasons.
It is impossible to give more

than a brief glimpse of the range

of material in a book containing
575
illustrations and a large

amount of original research.

There is, of course, always more

to discover, but hopefully
From

Goblets to Gaslights, the Scottish

Glass Industry 1750
-2006
will
give

some insight into the complexities
of glass manufacture over the

centuries and draw attention to the

possibility that unidentified glass
might have been made in Scotland.

Jill Turnbull acquired an interest
in glass and archives while studying

for a degree at Stoke-on-Trent

Polytechnic, following which

she completed a doctorate at the
University of Edinburgh in
1999.

This sequel to her first book completes

the history of industrial flint glass

making in Scotland between
1610

and
2006.
From Goblets to

Gaslights
is published by the Society

of Antiquaries of Scotland and

contains
352
pages,
575
illustrations

and a DVD of over 300 designs in

a Holyrood pattern book owned by
Corning Museum of Glass. Price £50

with a
£5
discount to members who

order before 3o June
2017
It is published

in June. www.socantscot.org/

The co-hosts on
16

March were Anne

Towse and Robin Wilson.

RIGHT:

Fig. 9

An unusual cased vase

made at the Edinburgh

and Leith Flint Glass
Company, later

Edinburgh Crystal, in
the 1930s.

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

THE BLASCHKA GLASS FLOWERS

-.aavown•
n
••••li

The Blaschkas and their glass plants

he Ware Collection

t
g•im’

of Blaschka Glass

Models of Plants,

popularly known

as the Glass Flowers, is the only
collection of its kind in the world.
Made by father and son glass

artists Leopold
(1822-1895)
and

Rudolf Blaschka
(1857-1939),

these scientifically accurate and
breathtakingly beautiful models

have delighted museum visitors,
educated students, and inspired

artistic and scholarly works for

over a century. Considered one

of Harvard University’s greatest
treasures, the Glass Flowers
remain the Harvard Museum of

Natural History’s most admired

exhibit. The collection comprises
nearly
4,300
individual glass

botanical models representing

780
species of plants, fungi, and

algae. Astonishingly realistic life-
size models appear as though they
were pulled from the ground or cut
from a branch, and detailed models
provide magnified views of plant
by

Jennifer
Brown

RIGHT:

Leopold (seated),

Caroline, and Rudolf

Blaschka in their
garden.

The Archives of

Rudolf and Leopold

Blaschka and the Ware
Collection of Blaschka

Glass Models of Plants,

Harvard University.

BELOW:
Plant

specimen of
Rhododendron

arborescens,
collected
in
1919.

Herbarium of the Arnold

Arboretum, Harvard
Clnive rsi

parts and anatomical sections.
The majority of the collection

represents systematic relationships

among flowering plants but three
other series illustrate life cycles of
cryptogams (ferns, mosses), insect

pollination processes, and fungal
diseases which affect rosaceous

fruits.
George Lincoln Goodale, the

first director of Harvard’s Botanical
Museum, commissioned the Glass
Flowers in
1886.
He envisioned a

permanent botanical exhibit that

would be useful for educational

purposes and attractive to the

public. Creating a vibrant display
presented a challenge. Plant

specimens are typically pressed
and dried, then mounted onto

paper herbarium sheets or they are

stored in liquid preservatives
(see

left). Both preservation methods

alter forms and allow colours to
fade. Scientific models were being
made from papier-mache and wax
but Goodale felt these materials
were not suitable for the exhibit he

wanted. He thought papier-mache

and wax models weren’t detailed

enough and these materials would
be susceptible to deterioration
over time. Even the most detailed

botanical illustrations were

inadequate because they were
two-dimensional representations.
Goodale saw remarkable models

of marine invertebrates made

out of glass in the Museum of

Comparative Zoology. Like
plants, these animals are difficult
to display because of their soft

body structures. In these glass

sea creatures, Goodale found a
medium from which plant models

could be made for the botanical
exhibit he envisioned.
Descended from a long line of

glassworkers, Leopold Blaschka

has been referred to as ‘the

founder of the art of representing
natural history objects in colored

glass:
1
In addition to learning

glassworking skills from his

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

LEFT:

Blaschka glass

model of
Brownea

rosa
–

de
–
monte

(Model 576),1896.

The Archives of Rudolf

and Leopold Blaschka

and the Ware Collection
of Blaschka Glass Models

of Plants, Harvard
University.

BELOW:
Blaschka glass

model of
Lathyrus

splendens
(Model

594), 1896.

The Archives of Rudolf

and Leopold Blaschka

and the Ware Collection
of Blaschka Glass Models

of Plants, Harvard
University.

THE BLASCHKA GLASS FLOWERS

father, Leopold gained experience

in the areas of jewellery making

and metalworking, often finding
inspiration in the natural world.

After joining the business in

1876,
Rudolf engaged in serious

zoological studies and later

approached botany with the same
dedication. By the time Goodale

visited their studio in Dresden,

Germany to ask if they might
consider making plant models

for Harvard, the Blaschkas had

already established a successful
business supplying educational

institutions around the world
with glass models of marine

invertebrates. They were reluctant

to take time away from their

lucrative production and an earlier
experience with a group of glass

plants hadn’t been forgotten. From

1860-186z,
Leopold made about

ioo tropical plants for his own

enjoyment and to demonstrate his

glassworking abilities. This body

of work received admiration and

attracted the interest of purchasers,
but a sale did not occur. A museum

in Belgium eventually acquired

the group but the transaction was

difficult to negotiate and Leopold

settled for a reduced payment. The

glass plants were later destroyed
in a fire at the museum. Although

this experience was disappointing,
Leopold gained exposure and

made contacts which resulted in
his first commission of marine

invertebrate models in
1863.

After much persuasion by

Goodale, the Blaschkas agreed

to make a few plant models for
Harvard. Unfortunately, the first

shipment arrived damaged after

travelling through customs in
New York but the broken models

showed great potential. Elizabeth
C. Ware and her daughter, Mary
Lee Ware, provided financial

support to continue work on the
project and remained devoted
benefactors for the duration of

the commission. The collection

was presented to the University

as a memorial to Charles Eliot

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

Asova:

Blaschke glass model of

Corynopuntia emoryi

(Model 591), 1896.

The Archives of

Rudolf and Leopold

Blaschka and the Ware

Collection of Blaschka
Glass Models of Plants,
Harvard University.

RIGHT:

Blaschka glass

model of

Nymphaea odorata
(Model 730), 1906.
The Archives of

Rudolf and Leopold

Blaschka and the Ware
Collection of Blaschka

Glass Models of Plants,
Harvard University.
THE BLASCHKA GLASS FLOWERS

Ware, Harvard Class of 1834.

With the support of the Wares,

an agreement was made which

allowed the Blaschkas to divide

their time between making models

of marine animals for other
institutions and plant models for

Harvard. Production continued

in this fashion for three years.
In 1890, the Blaschkas expressed
a desire to focus on one type of

work and a ten-year contract was

negotiated in which they would

exclusively manufacture glass
models of plants for Harvard, thus

ceasing the production of models
for other institutions. This work

was different from the marine

invertebrate model production;
each object was a completely new

study instead of duplicates ordered
from a catalogue. A hesitant

agreement to make a few models
turned into a fifty-year-long

endeavour, concluding with a final

shipment in 1936.
While it is known that the

Blaschkas used lampworking to
make the models, there is little

documentation further detailing

their techniques. The Blaschkas

stressed that there were no

secrets or tricks involved in their
production, but they were not
forthcoming with the details of
their creative process or willing

to have others watch them work.

Goodale and Mary Lee Ware were
two of the few people welcomed

into their studio. In an 1889 letter
to Elizabeth C. Ware, Goodale

recounted what Leopold said

during a visit:
The only way to become a glass modeler

of skill, I have often said to people, is to
get a good great-grandfather who loved

glass; then he is to have a son with like

tastes; he is to be your grandfather. He

in turn will have a son who must, as your
father, be passionately fond of glass. You,

as his son, can then try your hand, and it

is your own fault if you do not succeed.
But if you do not have such ancestors, it

is not your fault’

The models are made entirely

out of glass, but other materials

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

THE BLASCHKA GLASS FLOWERS

ABOVE:
The exhibit in 2016

following renovation.

The Ware Collection of
Blaschka Glass Models

of Plants on show in the

Harvard Museum of

Natural History, Harvard
University.

RIGHT:

The exhibit in 1931.
The Archives of Rudolf
and Leopold Blaschka

and the Ware Collection

of Blaschka Glass Models

of Plants, Harvard
University.

LEFT:
Blaschka glass model

of
Luffa cylindrica

(Model 272), 1892.

The Archives of Rudolf

and Leopold Blaschka

and the Ware Collection

of Blaschka Glass Models
of Plants, Harvard
University.
were used in their construction

including wire for internal support,

a variety of organic media, and
paint. Central stems and branches

were constructed by covering

wire armatures with tubes of

glass. Leaves, petals, and other
parts were then fused into place

or attached using animal glue.

Early models were mostly shaped

from clear glass and painted with
mineral pigments, a method
Rudolf referred to as cold painting.

Some coloured glass was used but

paint and organic materials were
relied on to get the desired surface

colours and textures. Following the

death of his father in
1895,
Rudolf

experimented with materials and

techniques. He made his own glass

and began using an enameling
process to colour the surfaces

of the models. Later fabrication
techniques involved a greater

degree of difficulty, but Rudolf

found he was able to achieve more

durable finishes. The Blaschkas’

productivity was so great that

approximately 7o% of the entire
collection was completed before
Leopold’s death.

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

white house cone
MUSEUM OF GLASS

The British Glass Foundation (BGF) has to raise a large pot of cash towards internal fit out
of the new museum and in a very short space of time. Our friends and supporters
understand our on-going need to continually raise funds and those efforts will continue.The

solution, at least in large part, is crowd funding. Here’s how it works: Allister Malcolm has

set up crowd funding facilities including a site with lots of imagery indicating the sort of
items we need, together with how you can donate. Take a look at the short video; it is

inspirational. Alongside this are details of differing levels of reward for donations from £6K

down to just a fiver. The highest donor will receive a limited edition piece made by Allister

and graciously donated by him.

The crowd funding page and video is: www.crowdfunder.co.uk

enter
White House Cone museum of glass
or use www.crowdfunder.co.uk/the-white-

house-cone-museum-of-glass

“Glass for Good” – Exciting developments & the task is to raise match funding for a

Heritage Lottery Funding application for the internal fit out of the new White House

Cone – museum of glass.

Stourbridge is to glass what Stoke-on-Trent is to pottery.

For over 400 years state of the art glass in every

fashionable style has been made in the Stourbridge area

and Stourbridge glass is collected and admired world-wide.

Foremost amongst those collections is the outstanding

Stourbridge Glass Collection. The British Glass Foundation

(Reg. charity 1139252) is an entirely voluntary body, was

formed in 2010, to find and operate a permanent new home

for the Stourbridge Glass Collection, following Dudley

Metropolitan Borough Council’s announcement of its

intention to close the Collection’s then home at Broadfield

House.

The result is the nascent White House Cone – museum of glass,

housed in the Grade II listed former Stuart & Sons Glassworks, which has been creatively

and imaginatively adapted for the purpose. Combining both permanent and temporary
exhibition galleries, a hot glass making studio and a unique activities adventure space for

children and their families, the new museum will serve regional, national and international

audiences. The Stourbridge Glass Collection provides a tangible link between peoples

past and present and has the power to inspire creativity and motivate artistic expression.

Building conservation and other construction works of the new museum building
are nearing completion, ready for final fit out and occupation by the BGF.
heritage

lottery fund

LOTTERY FUNDED

BRUNTNELLIDASTLEY

www.brunlnell-astley.com
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kilcafsupplies

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The British Glass Foundation, which is an entirely voluntary body, was formed to find and

operate a permanent new home for the Dudley Glass Collection, following Dudley

Metropolitan Borough Council’s announcement of its intention to close the Collection’s

then home at Broadfield House. Subject to raising the remaining funding required and
completing final lease agreements with DMBC, The BGF anticipates formally opening
White House Autumn 2018.

Allister Malcolm – The Crowd Funder
(And Trustee of The British Glass Foundation).

some of the info on the crowd funding page

Examples of paperweights and
other rewards

(paperweights approximately 7cm in
diameter).

Glass Plaques

The picture below shows a finished
plaque. As the example shows the

supporters name is engraved on the

centre section. These plaques are to

be incorporated in a display here at

the White House Cone museum of

glass.

white house cone

4V1111/0 Of L,Si.

FESTIVAL
GLASS
STOURBRIDGE 2017

4,
nau

LOTTERY FUNDED

—
tBritish Glass Foundation
Allister Malcolm

“Celebrating 20 Years

As A Practising Glass Artist”

20 companies have been invited to mark the occasion
with an Exhibition Demonstrations and Lectures
details to be announced

A voucher to cast your hand in glass

Come and get you or your child’s hands cast in the finest Lead Crystal. Allister and his

team take impressions from both the young and old and then preserve them forever in
moments, pouring molten glass at over 1000 degrees. A booking service of 15min

intervals is being scheduled. Vouchers can be obtained with the right level of support –
and an appointment issued. Please arrive at least 15 minutes early so as not to miss your

session. Bring a camera too. The glass casts will need to cool in the kiln overnight before

they are then engraved. Collection next day is required. Alternatively if you are travelling a

distance and you would prefer for the items to be posted, an additional £12.00 will need

to be paid on the day. Delivery is not included with this product.

“Glass for Good” – lecture

Charles R. Hajdamach & Steven Piper Sat 26th August (evening)

The White house Cone – museum of glass, Vine St, Stourbridge, DY8 4FB

Charles and Steve intend to unlock some of the secrets of the production of engraved glass and

rock crystal. Charles will deliver a lecture with slides about the history of the process – who were

the legendary names behind some of the unrepeatable examples in the museum’s collection and
what inspired them? He will be asking Steve how he might approach different styles. Steve will be

then taking a reproduction (blank made by Allister Malcolm) and decorating a panel showing how

labour intensive the process actually was. In a great double act these two experts will compliment

each other’s presentation in an entertaining manner.

Charles R. Hajdamach is one of the top authorities on glass in the country. For 30 years he

was in charge of the glass collections at Broadfield House Glass Museum in Kingswinford which

opened in 1980 and quickly became one of the top glass museums in the world. Steve Piper
started working at Webb Corbett Glassworks which had at the time been acquired by Royal

Doulton. During his time at Webb Corbett he trained at Dudley College gaining a certificate (grade
“A”) in glass design and technology. After 13 years Steve left Royal Doulton to pursue a career as

a freelance engraver and has become one of the country’s most accomplished engravers of the
day.

Items that we need support for and their costs

Our fundraising, ie your contributions will go directly to help to pay towards some of the
following; (as you can see the list is extensive and itemises well over £20,000 of

expenses).

•
Window Solar Shields Price – £750

•
Security Door – Price £1000

•
Mobile Family Activity Cart (x 2) Price – £5000 each

•
80″ LCD screen with media player Price – £6000

•
AV – Projector For high level overhead projection within the introductory space.

(Scrolling images of historic locations of Stourbridge Glass Factories and their
owners). Price £6900

•
Glass blowing Chair Interactive

•
Includes the film of blowing glass whilst the visitors sits in the Chair and handles

the tools used in the making process £8000

•
Digital interactive with tactile glass.

•
The interactive focuses on 3 techniques of cameo glass, rock crystal and engraved

glass £12000

•
An introductory AV (audio visual display) with a map of Stourbridge giving an account

of the history of Stourbridge Glass with a focus on the quality of the art and design

of the glass but also of the people, past workers, owner families and the 19 factories
that produced Stourbridge Glass. £14000

•
Display Cases We are looking to purchase flexible modular display system – an

example of which may be seen in the ima•e below.

•
The price of a triple module unit is approximately £16,000 (we have plans that include 3

of these an an additional 3 double modular units and further single units)

•
Temporary Exhibition Space – Fit out of Front Gallery Space and purchase of

‘temporary’ partitions -225000

•
Glassblowing Studio Interpretation and fit out for public display. £35000

•
Education and Activity Room Fit Out including tables and chairs, fitted storage and

equipment £52000

•
Cataloguing, digitisation and display of archive material and display materials for

objects inside and outside showcases. £60000

If you would like to learn more about the British Glass Foundation then please use the
link www.britishglassfoundation.org.uk

THE BLASCHKA GLASS FLOWERS

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

THE BLASCHKA GLASS FLOWERS

Anova:

Design drawing
of
Calochortus

splendens.
BIB
132121, Collection

of the
Ralcow Research

Library, The Corning

Museum of Glass.

Harvard provided the Blaschkas
with materials to cultivate on their

property so they would have living

specimens for observation. The
Blaschkas were also welcomed

at nearby botanic gardens and

greenhouses. Rudolf embarked
on a field expedition in 1892

to study plants in Jamaica and

southwestern North America.
He observed plants in the field,
made numerous drawings, and

collected specimens. In the early

stages of the marine invertebrate
model production, illustrations

and written descriptions were
relied upon because zoological

specimens were not readily

available for observation. Through
contacts with biologists, the

Blaschkas were increasingly able

to work from direct observation

and their models showed greater
detail and scientific accuracy as a
result. By the time the Blaschkas

began work on the Glass Flowers,

their observational skills had been

finely honed and the models were

astonishingly accurate, even in
the finer details observable under

microscopic examination.

The packing and shipping of

the models has always been of

interest. How the models were

able to withstand the journey from

Germany and arrive with little
to no damage is remarkable. The

finished model group, consisting

of the life-size plant and its

details, was mounted on a sturdy

paper base before being put in a
custom, covered cardboard box.
Pieces of cork were glued around

the edges to secure the base and

soft tissue paper cushioned the

models. Several of these prepared

boxes were put in a wooden crate

and straw separated the individual
boxes from each other and from

the crate’s walls. The crate was

wrapped in more straw and,
finally, burlap before departing for
America. The Blaschkas’ packing

methods were so successful that

they continue to be an important
reference for transporting the
models, most notably when 22

collection objects travelled to
Avignon, France in
2000.

The Glass Flowers were used for

teaching, as they were intended.

New models were made available
for study before they were

added to the museum display.

Annual reports mention how the

collection was increasingly used for
botanical instruction, sometimes
referring to
specific courses in
which the models were used. The

models were also incorporated

into museum displays about

economic botany. Supplementing

such exhibits proved to be one

of the greatest advantages of the

glass models, allowing a life-like

representation of a plant with

magnified details to be displayed

alongside preserved specimens and
various plant products. The Glass
Flowers gave people
a
unique

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

THE BLASCHKA GLASS FLOWERS

opportunity to
see

uncommon

plants and, in some cases, how they

grow. While the plant models were

always intended for a permanent
museum exhibition, the marine

models were treated more like
regular specimens and stored

with departmental collections.

Several institutions have executed

projects to reorganise, clean, and
repair their Blaschka models,

including Harvard’s own Museum
of Comparative Zoology.

An extensive renovation and

reinterpretation of the collection

was completed in May
2016
3

. The

Glass Flowers have been displayed

in the same third floor gallery since
the Botanical Museum opened. A

portion of the collection, located
on the landing outside the main

gallery, was removed in October

z000 because the highly-trafficked

area was susceptible to vibrations
and proximity to the building’s

entrance made climate control

difficult. These models were

put in storage. While significant
improvements have been made to

the exhibit over time, especially

as research about the models
materials

and

construction

informed preservation and display
practices, the logistics of moving

and storing such fragile objects

presented an obstacle to executing

a large-scale renovation project.
Maintaining the integrity,

character, and aesthetics of the
historic collection was a priority

while the space was changed and

improved. The exhibition closed
on
9
November
2015
and reopened

to the public on
21

May
2016.

A temporary display featuring

highlights from the collection

allowed visitors to experience the

Glass Flowers during this time.

The redesigned floor plan required
that the gallery be emptied of all

collection objects to accommodate

construction activities, including

the installation of a new climate

control unit and an updated

lighting system. The original

display cases, used since 1891,
were thoroughly restored by a

local furniture shop (Second Life

in Salem, MA). A new facility
with increased storage and a
conservation lab was instrumental

to the renovation project. Many

models were cleaned, repaired,

and remounted to prepare them

for display and a long-term

conservation program continues
following the renovation.
The collection was displayed

according to the Engler plant
classification system, which was

widely used in the early zoth
century, but has been rearranged
based on the Angiosperm

Phylogeny Group (APG III).

This updated arrangement
reflects current knowledge about

relationships among flowering

plants. All model labels were

redesigned to improve readability

and edited to include taxonomic

ABOVE:

Blaschka glass model

of
Salix cinerea

(Model 688), 1903.

The Archives of Rudolf

and Leopold Blaschke

and the Ware Collection
of Blaschka Glass Models

of Plants, Harvard
University.

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

THE BLASCHKA GLASS FLOWERS

changes, provide consistent

information, and use a streamlined
vocabulary. The old labels have
been digitised and are available

to view online. In addition to

sharing information about the

Blaschkas and the history of the

collection, interpretive text panels

address how the collection is
organised, the evolution of land
plants, and plant anatomy. The

updated arrangement reflecting

contemporary plant classification

and new interpretation improve

how visitors experience the gallery.
Before the renovation, models

from storage were rarely shown
because of limited available display

space and a lack of conservation
resources. Eight newly constructed

cases were incorporated into the

design for the purpose of changing

displays and the conservation

program supports curatorial

activities by preparing selected
models to view. Bringing collection

objects out of storage and

highlighting them in this fashion

adds dynamism to the display that

was never present before. In the
year before the final shipment of

models was received, the report of

the President of Harvard College

acknowledged:
The sustained interest of the public in

the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass

Models has been a matter for comment.

In the final analysis the models

constitute the best means we have to

attract and stimulate the attention of
the public and to awaken its substantial

interest in botanical science.
4

From local residents who

frequent the Harvard Museum of
Natural History to international

scholars engaged in various
fields of study, the Glass Flowers

continue to enchant and educate

visitors.

Jennifer Brown is the Collection
Manager of the Ware Collection of

Blaschka Glass Models of Plants at

Harvard University. The updated

exhibition is supported by a gift in
memory of Melvin R. Seiden and a

grant provided by the Massachusetts
Cultural Facilities Fund. The

conservation of the Glass Flowers
is supported by a gift from George
Putnam III and Kathy Putnam.

Endnotes

s. Ames, 0. (1957).
The Ware Collection

of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants
in

the Botanical Museum of Harvard

University.Cambridge, Massachusetts:

Botanical Museum of Harvard

University, p. [7].

z.Goodale, G.L. (1889, June 26). [Letter
to Elizabeth C. Ware]. Mary Lee Ware

Correspondence 1887-1894, The Archives
of Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka and

the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass
Models of Plants, Harvard University,

Cambridge, Massachusetts. Reference
URL: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-

3:FMUS.WARE:22853819?n=
59

3.
The updated exhibition is supported by

a gift in memory of Melvin R. Seiden,
Harvard Class of
’52,

LL.B.
’55,
and a

grant provided by the Massachusetts

Cultural Facilities Fund, a state program

administered through a collaborative

arrangement between MassDevelopment

and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The conservation of the Glass Flowers is

supported by a gift from George Putnam

III, Harvard Class of ’73, J.D.
’77,
M.B.A.

’77,
and Kathy Putnam.

4.
Harvard University (5936).

Issue

containing the report of the President
of Harvard College and reports of

departments for 1934-5935,
Harvard

University Archives, Harvard University,

Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 313314•

ABOVE:

Blaschka

glass models
in Ochna

multillora
group

(Model 783),
1923.

The Archives of Rudolf
and Leopold Blaschka

and the Ware Collection
of Blaschka Glass Models

of Plants, Harvard
University.

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

TIFFANY MOSAICS

Tiffany’s glass mosaics

together, and the exhibition

provides a unique opportunity to
take in the breadth of this aspect

of Tiffany’s work.
The Neustadt holds a premier

collection of Tiffany’s celebrated

lamps, windows, metalwork, and
rare archival materials, including
more than a quarter of a million

pieces of original Tiffany flat glass

and glass ‘jewels’ used to create
his iconic designs. Drawing on

The Neustadt’s unique archive of

Tiffany glass, objects on display
in this exhibition will also include

original examples of coloured
sheet glass, glass jewels, and

glass fragments made for specific
mosaics. About woo exceptional

examples, many newly discovered

by The Neustadt’s team, are being

loaned for the exhibition, including

glass related to high profile

commissions such as The Dream

Garden (fig. 2), the celebrated

mosaic mural based on Maxfield
Parrish’s painting by the same
name (the mosaic is owned by the

by Pennsylvania Academy
of the Fine Arts and

Kelly A.

installed in Philadelphia’s

Conway
Curtis Center). These

discoveries shed light on

details ranging from the

Lindsy
R.

innovative types of glass

he mention of

‘Tiffany

glass

conjures a certain

image in your

mind’s eye. It might be a beautiful

landscape scene in a leaded glass

window or a dragonfly on a
lampshade (fig.
I).
Such images

have something in common:

they are composed of intensely
colourful, carefully selected pieces

of innovative glass. But the term
`Tiffany glass’ also refers to the

radiant murals and objects of

luxury made in the technique
of mosaic that reflect Louis C.

Tiffany’s (American, 1848-1933)
most expressive mastery in the

medium of glass.
This summer, The Corning

Museum of Glass (CMoG)

showcases this extraordinary but
little-known aspect of the work of
Tiffany, and his team of talented
mosaic designers and artisans,

in a special exhibition, Tiffany’s
Glass Mosaics. Organised jointly

by CMoG and The Neustadt

Collection of Tiffany Glass,
Long Island, NY, the exhibition

combines works from both

institutions with important loans
from private and public collections.

Tiffany’s Glass Mosaics, and

the accompanying scholarly

publication, are the first ever to
focus exclusively on this aspect

of Tiffany’s extraordinary artistic
career. Both delve deeply into

the story of Tiffany’s passion for

colour and the innovations in glass
mosaic that his company created
ABOVE:

Fig. I

Dragonfly reading

lamp, about 1905.
Tiffany Studios,

Pierce Wolcott
Driscoll (American,

1861-1944). Leaded

glass with metal filigree;

bronze; glass mosaic.

BsLow:
Fig. 2

Mural, The Dream

Garden, 1916. The

Curtis Center &
Dream Garden; mural

in the collection of
Pennsylvania Academy
of Fine Arts.
for monumental architectural

decoration as well as domestic

goods such as inkwells, tea stands,
and lamp bases.
The exhibition features

nearly 5o works dating

from the 189os to the

192os, from intimately
scaled mosaic fancy goods

designed for use in the

of individual pieces of glass.
Examples of Tiffany mosaics of

such wide-ranging scope and scale

have never before been displayed
©
The
Neus
ta
dt
Co
llec
t
ion

o
f Ti
ffany
G
lass

home to large-scale mosaic

Parrott

Tiffany created for specific

panels and architectural

commissions to the

elements composed of thousands process of mosaic making.

The history of glass mosaics

extends back more than 3,000

years, and the permanent
collection at CMoG is the perfect

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1
23

TIFFANY MOSAICS

LEFT:
Fig. 3 Poppy

inkstand, about 1901; Pen

wiper, about 1902-1906;

and Swirl pen tray, about

1900-1905. Tiffany

Glass and Decorating

Company or Tiffany

Studios, designs attributed

to Clara Wolcott Driscoll

(American, 1861-1944).

Glass mosaic,
bronze,

pressed glass, horsehair.

BELOW
LEFT:
Fig.
4

Panel, Fathers of the

Church,
about 1892.

Tiffany Glass and

Decorating Company,

(American, b. Germany,

1855-1948).

BELOW: Fig. 5 Mosaic

sample panel for the

Citizens Savings and

Trust Company Building,

Cleveland, Ohio, about

1903. Tiffany Studios.
Haworth Art Gallery,

Accrington, United

Kingdom (HAG T67).
backdrop for contextualising the

work undertaken by Tiffany’s
firm to popularise this technique

in the United States. Tiffany’s

innovations in glass established a

bold new aesthetic for mosaics and

contributed a uniquely American

character to the centuries-old art
form (fig. 5).

Dazzling showroom,
bustling workrooms

Tiffany’s Glass Mosaics also
highlights the role of Tiffany’s turn-
of-the-loth-century showrooms,

where he presented the finest

examples of his completed work
for his clients and the public.
Photographs of the various

workrooms were part of Tiffany’s

marketing efforts and were

used in his marketing materials.
©
The
Neu
s
ta
dt
Co
llec
t
ion
o
f
Ti
ffany
G
lass,
Queen
s,

Ne
w

Yo
r
k

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

U
TIFFANY MOSAICS

These ‘behind-the-scenes’ photos
emphasised that each object made

at Tiffany’s firm was handcrafted,

as opposed to mass produced.
Tiffany’s successful combina-

tion of art and business coincid-

ed with the rapid development of

consumer culture in the United

States. His impressive New York
City showroom and gorgeous dis-
plays of the company’s mosaics at

world’s fairs sparked consumer in-

terest and drove demand for high-

priced luxury objects for the home.
The exhibition reveals the

process of creating a mosaic at

Tiffany’s studios — from detailed

watercolour studies and drawings

to surviving glass sample panels

and examples of completed work.
It also highlights the labour-

intensive processes, including the

selection of individual pieces of
glass, which played a vital role in

the overall aesthetic of the final

product.
Tiffany in situ

Many of Tiffany’s glass mosaics

are located in their original

architectural

settings

and

cannot be removed to loan to an
exhibition, creating a challenge

for the curators and exhibition

designer.
However, this challenge pre-

sented an opportunity to capture
brand-new digital imagery of mo-

saics in situ. Detailed photography
and better lighting were critical

aspects to better understanding

the mosaic making process and

scholarly analysis of the mosaics.
Much of the existing published

photography of glass mosaics was

in need of updating, and sever-

al important mosaics have nev-
er been published in detail. The

photography also allows CMoG
to represent these key art works

in the exhibition, which cannot be

de-installed, through compelling

digital displays designed for the
exhibition gallery.

Museum visitors, scholars, and

glass artists will walk away with

an enhanced appreciation for the

innovative designs, glass materials
and techniques, and artistry
employed in the fabrication of

Tiffany’s glass mosaics. The

exhibition is an ideal opportunity

to see these mosaics in a way that

you might not be able to appreciate
even if you were standing in front

of them on site because they are

located out of reach, behind altars

or up high on walls and ceilings.
Capturing and interpreting this
new imagery digitally will cause

Tiffany appreciators to see his

glass mosaics in a new light.
In order to achieve this lofty

challenge, CMoG’s photography

team visited more than a dozen

locations in New York State, Phil-

adelphia, Baltimore, and Chicago
over a four-month period to cap-

ture Tiffany’s architectural mosaic

BELOW:

Fig. 6 Detail of

reredos with cross,
after

1910. Tiffany Studios.
Glass mosaic with glass

jewels.
Christ
Episcopal

Church, Corning, New

York.

Tiffany’s role

revealed

It was well known during Tiffany’s lifetime

that he was not responsible for creating each

work of art that bore his or his company’s
name. Indeed, the names of his firm always

indicated a joint effort by a large staff: Louis

C. Tiffany & Co., Associated Artists; Tiffany
Glass Company; Tiffany Glass and Decorating

Company; Tiffany Studios. Period newspaper

accounts and magazine articles, many of

which printed announcements about new

Tiffany commissions directly from press
releases issued by Tiffany’s firm, described

these art works as ‘made under the personal

supervision of Louis C. Tiffany’. Even company

letterhead listed Louis C. Tiffany as ‘Artistic

Director,’ and at least one version included

this description: ‘Designers and contractors

for all kinds of interior work and decorations,

makers of indoor and outdoor memorials of

every description’.

While no one at the turn of the loth

century seems to have been confused about

Tiffany’s role as the artistic fountainhead
from which inspiration flowed at his firm,

today’s audiences are often surprised to
learn that Tiffany himself did not blow each

vase or design and fabricate each window
and mosaic. The origin of this misconception

seems to be rooted in the 1957 exhibition

‘Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933Y, organised
by the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in

New York City. The first major exhibition

devoted to Tiffany’s work since his death in

1933, it served – along with the accompanying
catalogue – to reacquaint the public with

his art work. It presented Tiffany as one of

America’s early modern craftsmen, working
in a wide variety of media. Today, curators

and historians know better. We work
diligently to undo this mythology of Tiffany

as a lone artist by discussing the complexity
of his businesses and workforce, and giving
credit to Tiffany’s designers and artisans

whenever they are known. Redefining this
narrative is one of the goals of the exhibition

and catalogue of Tiffany’s Glass Mosaics.

Lindsy R. Parrott

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

26
TIFFANY MOSAICS

TIFFANY MOSAICS

commissions in stunning detail.
Among the New York churches
they visited were First Presbyteri-

an Church in Bath and St Paul’s
Episcopal Church in Troy — both

Tiffany-decorated interiors that

include windows, lighting fixtures,

and stenciling — as well as Christ
Episcopal Church in Corning and

St Michael’s Episcopal Church

in New York City. The team also

photographed public murals, in-

cluding the Curtis Center and
Dream Garden in Philadelphia,

Alexander Hall at Princeton Uni-

versity in New Jersey, and Macy’s

(formerly Marshall Field & Com-

pany) in Chicago.
Many of Tiffany’s most

innovative glass mosaics are

located throughout New York
State, particularly around Corning.

They beautifully represent a range
of mosaic designs, making the

exhibition provide a jumping-off

point to explore mosaics in the
Finger Lakes region and beyond.

To accompany the exhibition,

CMoG is publishing a new

catalogue that presents the most

comprehensive documentation and

analysis of Tiffany’s glass mosaics
to date. Produced over more than

3o years, these glass mosaics were

created for private residences,

houses of worship, and other

public buildings, with subjects

ornamental and representational,

sacred and secular. The art works

range from small decorative

objects, known as ‘fancy goods’, to
immense panels and architectural

elements composed of hundreds of

thousands of individual pieces of

glass. Although they were widely
acclaimed during Tiffany’s lifetime,
the mosaics designed and executed
under his personal supervision are

less well known today. This volume

shines a light on this understudied
aspect of Tiffany’s work by
exploring the materials, makers,

and marketing of his mosaics.
Tiffany’s Glass Mosaics,
is edit-

ed by Conway and Parrott, and

features essays by noted scholars
and curators. The book is richly

illustrated with objects and ar-

chival photographs from major
museums, libraries, and private

collections in the United States

and Europe. New photography of

many of Tiffany’s celebrated mo-

saic commissions, including
The

Dream Garden
in the Curtis Center

in Philadelphia
andJacques Marque-

tte’s Expedition (fig.
9) in Chicago’s

Marquette Building, are highlight-

ed in vivid detail. The book also in-

cludes a comprehensive appendix of

all of Tiffany’s known public, eccle-
siastical, and residential glass mosa-

ic commissions. This meticulously
researched guide serves both as a

reference for researchers and for

anyone interested in visiting extant
Tiffany mosaics.

Kelly A. Conway is curator of

American glass at The Corning
Museum of Glass, and Lindsy
R.

Parrott is director and curator of The
Neustadt. They are joint curators

of the exhibition. Tiffany’s Glass
Mosaics is on view at CMoG from

20
May 2017 to 7
January
2018.

TOP OPPOSITE:

Fig. 7

Reredos, 1891. Tiffany

Glass Company

or Tiffany Glass
and Decorating

Company, designed
by Jacob Adolphus

Holzer (American,

b. Switzerland,

1858-1938). Glass

mosaic with glass

jewels; marble mosaic.

St. Paul’s Episcopal

Church, Troy, New
York.

BOTTOM OPPOSITE:

Fig. 8 Detail of interior

of First Presbyterian

Church, Bath, New
York, 1895–1897.

Tiffany Glass
and

Decorating Company.

TOP RIGHT:
Fig. 9

Detail of frieze,

Jacques Marquette’s

Expedition, 1895.

Tiffany Glass and

Decorating Company,

(American, b.

Switzerland, 1858—

1938). Glass mosaic.

Marquette Building,

Chicago, Illinois.
The stole on one

cartouche includes

mother-of-pearl.
On

the other cartouche,
large pieces of

variegated glass are
used to represent a

wooden canoe paddle
and an animal hide
bag.

RIGHT
Fig 10:

Variety of iridescent

glass used for mosaics

from
Tiffany Furnaces,

Corona, New York.

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

ABOVE:

Fig. 1 A single lit

candle

BeLow:
Fig.
2

A typical French

18th-century

chandelier
18TH CENTURY LIGHTING

Lighting for the English country house

in the 18th century

tg
—t was in the

18th century
that country

houses became

comfortable. In the 17th

century houses were rather

sparsely furnished, with

simple oak furniture,

family portraits in

oils, and, if you were

really grand, gilt-

wood furniture and
tapestries.

Dining-

rooms as we know

them today did not exist and

it was not until the second
half of the 18th century that

furniture moved away from

the wall.

Throughout most of the

i8th century after dark the

only form of lighting, apart
from firelight, was the candle,

beeswax for the rich, tallow
for the poor (fig
1).
In the

17th century light fitting were
usually made of metal, brass

or iron, and, if they were to
be elaborate, they were metal

structures decorated with
rock crystal or glass drops.

Such chandeliers were rare in
England, a little more common

on the continent, and this

form remained the standard

on the Continent

throughout

most

of the i8th and i9th
centuries. Figure
2

illustrates a typical
French example from

the i8th century. In

the i8th century the English

did things differently.
Up until towards the end

of the 17th century very little
vessel glass was produced in

England. (It is a pity that in

English the word ‘glass’ has

so many different meanings.
When we talk about ‘the

glass industry’ the layman
thinks of drinking vessels, the

glass historian of windows
and bottles.) Vessel glass
largely imported from
Venice. However following

the development of lead-glass

in the last quarter of the 17th

century all this changed. An
increasingly large number of

items were made out of glass,

including light fittings.
The first item of lighting

to be produced in glass in

reasonable quantities was the

candlestick, which before was

only made in silver, brass, and

sometimes in wood or pottery.

Glass was not expensive,
did not need polishing and

was attractive. The viscous
properties of early lead

glass, and hence the need to
manufacture stout, thick,

objects suited candlesticks

very well as they need to be

robust. Figure 3 illustrates

a four-branch candlestick

which could also be used as
a single candlestick, dated

around 1700, with a stem
form that is related to baluster

wine glasses of the period.

John P.

Smith

LEFT:

Fig. 3
A four-branch

candlestick
(V&A c.
521A-1931)

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

Anove:

Fig. 4
Chandelier in

Wren’s Emmanuel

College chapel

Cambridge

—TT
metal

receiver

ABOVE:

Figs. 6a and 6b

Construction of an
English chandelier

Ma
lle

tt
a
n
d Sons
(
Ant
iq
ues
)
Lt
d

This candlestick is on display

in the Victoria and Albert

Museum, not in the
g

lass

department, but in the British

g
alleries, (several of the most

important items of En
g
lish

g
lass are to be found in these

g
alleries, and the student of

g
lass who only
g
oes to the

g
lass
g
allery will miss them).

Chandeliers in
g
lass were

not produced at all in En
g
land

until the mid
1
7
2os and one of

the earliest known, desi
g
ned

by Sir Christopher Wren,

still han
g
s in the Emmanuel

Colle
g
e chapel Cambrid
g
e,

where it has been ever since
it was
g
iven to the colle
g
e by

Edward Hulse in 5732 (fig.
4
).

As can be seen this is not based

on the continental model,

no metal is visible, but it is

based on the desi
g
n of brass

chandeliers of the period, (fi
g

5
) often to be seen han

g
in
g
in

an ecclesiastical settin
g
. These

early chandeliers were not

hun
g
with drops and the arms

were made all in one piece

with the drip pan part of the

arm. As its name su
gg
ests,

the drip pan was to stop
drops of wax fallin
g
into the

hair of the fashionable ladies

standin
g
below. These drip

pans were difficult to clean

and their cleansin
g
could

cause brakea
g
e of the whole

arm, so by the
1
75
os loose drip

pans were used, and by then

sconces were often of
g
lass

rather than metal.
En
g
lish chandeliers of this

period were built around

a central metal rod. Fig. 6a

shows the layout of the early

Emmanuel Colle
g
e type,

plain with the arm all of one

piece. Fi
g

. 6b shows how the

whole was held to
g
ether via

the central receiver plate,

with each metal cap bein
g

numbered and havin
g
its

own uni
q

ue numbered hole,

BELOW:

Fig. 5

English brass

18th-century

chandelier

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1
29

drip

Pan

18TH CENTURY LIGHTING

•
canopy

4
9

114′

•

balusterilt

sconce

ABOVE:
Fig. 6c

Construction

of
an
English

chandelier

Right: Fig. 7

A chandelier

hanging in the

V&A glass gallery.

(V&A c.5:1-1931)

BELOW:
Fig. 8

English drops
made of glass as a

replacement for the
dcult to source

rock crystal.

BOTTOM RIGHT:
Fig. 9

Pair of facet-cut

candlesticks
these were not, and could

not easily at this time, be

made with such precision as

to be interchangeable, and at

exactly the same angle, but

this did not matter as each
arm was cemented while the

chandelier was suspended in
front of a grid, and held in

exactly the correct position

until the cement had dried.

Very rapidly setting plaster of
Paris was used for this. Then

on to the next one. The same
method is used to this day.
Fig. 6c shows a chandelier

similar to fig.
7,
with separate

drip pans and sconces, and

the use of drops and festoons.
About this time ornamental

drops became popular,
copying the rock crystal

drops that had been used on

the continent. (Britain has
virtually no mines yielding

quartz, rock crystal, which
is very hard and difficult to

work). The illustration, (fig. 8)

is taken from
The English Glass

Chandelier
written by our

member Martin Mortimer in

z000, and from whose pages
I have learned most of what I
know about chandeliers in the
i8th century. Fig. 7 illustrates

a chandelier of this period
hanging in the Victoria and
Albert Museum glass gallery.

These drops, some inspired
by rock crystal originals,

give extra body and sparkle

to a chandelier and were
usually made by specialist

outworkers. In 1807 Thomas

Osler started his business,

which was to become the

largest manufacturer of
chandeliers in Britain, as a

small drop maker on the edge

of Birmingham.
Only the minority of

rooms were lit from the

centre by chandeliers, as

they were expensive to light
and too far away for reading.

The candlestick, as we have

seen earlier, was much more

usual, and throughout the
i8th century followed the

same fashion as tableware
and other glass objects. By

the 177os when waterpower

was used for cutting, soon to

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

18TH CENTURY LIGHTING

be followed by steam power,
facet-cutting was popular (fig.

9 opposite)
In the summer people rose

when it was light and went to

bed when it became dark, so

artificial light was not much
needed. In winter the main

light would be firelight; all

inhabited rooms would have

had open fires in Britain,

unlike the continent where

endosed stoves were common,
(and much more efficient

in using fuel for heating).
However some more light was
required for eating, sewing,

reading, playing cards and

other activities so candlesticks

were needed. As were
chamber sticks to light the

way through dark corridors

to closets and bedrooms,

although they were usually
not in glass, and needed a

glass chimney shade to stop

the flame being extinguished

when walking. The quotes
below emphasise the cost of

good candles: Mary Delany

1700-1788, writing to her
friend Mrs Frances Hamilton,

discussed candlelight
The Earl reportedly sat

with his wife discussing the

painting of the room they
usually sit in…. ‘my Lord

was for having an ash or olive

colour as being cheaper and
more durable. But my Lady

objected that, although more
expensive, the fashionable
French white would be

cheaper in the end, since it

enabled the room to be lit

with two candles rather than four’. (Author’s note. French

white was made from basic
carbonate of lead, whose use

would now be illegal.) ref

follows
‘Mrs Delany, the indefatigable Irish

lady who went everywhere and
reported everything, reported that

when she visited Holkham Hall
in Norfolk, ‘My Lady Leicester
worked at a tent-stich frame

every night by one candle that she

sets upon it, and no spectacles’.
Later Mrs Delany referred to a

visit of King George III to the

Dowager Duchess of Portland at

Bulstrode, Buckinghamshire, in

1799, when she noted,
‘Her
Grace

had the house lighted up in the
most magnificent manner, the

chandelier in the great hall was not
lighted before for twenty years:

Torcheres and girandoles

were commonly used in
larger rooms. Indeed the four

branch candelabra illustrated

earlier was probably used

on a tall wooden stand as a

torchere, which gave light at

a convenient height and could
be moved around. Girandoles

were usually used on mantle-
pieces and side tables, (fig.

1o) as they faced forward
and were not designed to be
viewed from the rear. As with

torcheres they were often
place before mirrors to double
the light. Wall mirrors during

the 18th century had candle-
holders attached to the,

often gilt, wood, for the same
reason. The Irish sometimes

hung a demi-chandelier in

front of an oval mirror — the

V&A has a particularly fine

example (fig. 11 next page). It

is thought to have been made

in Dublin c.1785 when Dublin

was the second largest city in
the British Empire.
The last third of the 18th

century saw increasing com-

plexity and grandeur in English
chandeliers and they were often

embellished with finely chased

ormolu fittings All great halls

and assembly rooms had them,

some with well-over 3o candle-

holders, which tended to make
ABOVE:

Fig.10
Pair of ornate

single light

candelabra

c.1770

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

18TH CENTURY LIGHTING

cleaned carefully by men on
ladders.
The very end of the 18th

century saw the advent of

oil lamps, particularly those
based in the invention of M.

Argand, but this, and the

introduction of gas, and then

electricity, in the 19th century,

is the subject of a subsequent

paper.

This article is a summary of a

talk the author gave to the Glass
Circle on so November 2o16.

The co-hosts were Maurice

and Margaret McLain, David
Giles and Lawrence Trickey.

The talk also discussed Irish

chandeliers, and whether they

existed, however this is such a

contentious subject that it will
be discussed at a later date.
Chandeliers were certainly

assembled in Ireland, how
many of the component pairs

were made in Ireland is more

debatable. The original talk

used 72 illustrations, and lasted

75
minutes, obviously impossible
to reproduce in full here.
&cow:

Fig
12

Adam chandelier

c.1770 Note ormolu
decoration.

the rooms extremely warm (fig.

1z).

The most spectacular

chandeliers at this period were
made for Bath, its Assembly,

and other Rooms. Jonathan
Collett of London supplied
five very large chandeliers

for the Ballroom, much

larger than had been made
previously. Unfortunately the

arms tended to snap off,
the great length giving too

much leverage near the stem.

William Parker, chandelier
maker of London, discovered

that if the arms were tapered

towards the end there was less

strain on the junction with
the body of the chandelier

and he was asked to provide
replacements. Collett was

allowed to use parts of his

now useless chandeliers to

make one large chandelier for

the Octagon Room, where it

still hangs.

Cleaning chandeliers has

always been a problem. Large
ones were often hung on
cables that could be winched

down to ground level for

cleaning and lighting. Smaller

ones, such as the chandelier in

the Emmanuel College chapel

were lit by tapers on long
poles, extinguished by candle

snuffs, also on long poles, and

ABOVE:

Fig. 11

Demi-chandelier

in front of
an oval
mirror

(V
&A c.6-

1974)

32
Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

REPORTS

Glass Circle meetings

13 December 2016
Suzanne Higgott

E.W. Cooke (1811-1880),

English marine artist,

diarist and collector: the
formation and dispersion

of his Venetian glass
collection

I n this lecture, Suzanne

I Higgott, Curator of
Glass, Limoges Painted
Enamels, Earthenware

and Renaissance
Furniture at the Wallace

Collection, introduced us
to the congenial figure of

the 19th-century artist/

collector Edward Cooke.

A name new to most,

if not all those present,

Cooke clearly deserves

to be better known, not

least because a group of
his glasses is now in the

British Museum (BM).

The chance survival

of Cooke’s diaries has

allowed an insight into

just how and where
this Victorian collector

acquired his glass. To
illustrate the rarity of this

opportunity, Suzanne

referenced Felix Slade

(179o-1868), whose

magnificent collection

of over a thousand items
unpublished material

still in the hands of his

descendants to extract

fascinating details of this

antiquarian’s collecting

activities during the third
quarter of the century.
2

Cooke acquired glass by

purchase from dealers,

at auction, by gift and on
occasion by exchanging

his own artwork for

items. His passion for

glass endured throughout

his life but reached its

peak during the period

1864-1865.
Cooke first visited

Venice in 185o and
returned on nine further

occasions up to 1877.
He was well acquainted

with the upper echelons

of British society that
made the city their

winter home around this
time: e.g. Sir Charles

Eastlake (Director of

the National Gallery),

art critic John Ruskin,

archaeologist and art

lover Austen Layard and

medievalist and collector

Thomas Gambier Parry,

among others. Ruskin

and Cooke visited

Murano together in 1851

and Cooke would no
doubt have been aware

of Ruskin’s appreciation

of the innate qualities of
Venetian glass
3
Later,

during the 186os the

artist’s Venetian sojourns
coincided with new

developments in the

revival of the Murano

glass industry. Abbot
Vincenzo Zanetti

helped establish a glass
museum and school of

design to stimulate the

revival of the industry

there, while Antonio

Salviati’s employment of

local craftsmen to create
traditional-style glass

breathed new life into the

industry.
Suzanne’s research

yielded many interesting

BELOW:

Fig. 2

E. W Cooke,

The Church
of the Salute,

the Dogana

etc. Oil on
canvas, 1851.

London,

Royal Ocean

Racing Club
Collection
constitutes the bulk of

the BM’s holding of

Venetian glass today.
Despite a published

catalogue of 1871′, the

source of Slade’s glass
went mostly unrecorded,

with the exception

of a few items whose

provenance is given, or

when pieces can be linked

to Slade in annotated sale

catalogues.
Cooke had the good

fortune to hail from a
comfortable background

and receive a good
education, advantages

he consolidated through

his own polymathic

interests, innate artistic

talent and subsequent

professional success.
He travelled widely and

collected a broad range

of objects throughout

his life. Using published

extracts from Cooke’s

diaries as her starting

point, Suzanne mined
LEFT:

Fig.
1

John Watkins,

Carte de visite

photograph of

E. W. Cooke,

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

REPORTS
©

he
Tru
s
tee
s
o
f t
he
Br
it
is
h M

ABOVE:

Fig. 3

Vase, Venice,

17th century,
London,

British

Museum,

1880,0617.8.

BELOW:
Fig. 4 Ewer,
Barcelona,

1550-1600,
London,

British

Museum,

1880,0617.12.

details of the mechanics

of glass consumption in
la Serenissima: Cooke

secured the services of his

own gondolier (Vicenzo)

and was ferried to and
from dealers’ shops; his

purchases were then

packed in cases and

loaded onto a waiting

transport ship. When the

cases arrived in London,

the artist suffered

agonizing anticipation

during the unpacking
process as it was not

uncommon for items

to arrive damaged or
entirely broken. After any

necessary repairs, Cooke’s

sister Mary was enlisted

to wash the glasses while

Cooke himself drew and

arranged them.
Cooke frequented

all the major London
dealers in ‘curiosities such

as the Falckes and the
Durlachers, as well as

some lesser-known ones

such as Attenborough,

Jacobs, Myers, Wareham,
Neill, and Wright. He
also knew and visited

other collectors in the
metropolis, taking part

in gatherings (termed

conversazione)
at the

Fine Arts Club. Like

many private collectors

(of both ceramics and

glass), Cooke discussed
his collection on occasion

with Augustus Wollaston
Franks, Keeper of British

and Medieval Antiquities

and Ethnography at the
British Museum. Just

prior to his move to

Groombridge (Sussex) in

1868,
Cooke lent over five

hundred of his glasses to
the South Kensington

Museum (later the

V&A). While Franks
bought
14
glasses from

the collection in
1873
for

the BM, the majority

remained on display in

South Kensington until
the posthumous sale
engaged with the subject

on an intellectual level,
studying Venetian

glass in museums and
private collections, as

well as being drawn to
the aesthetic qualities

of individual pieces.

Indeed, we know from
his diaries that he made

drawings of his own

glasses, compiling them

in two albums. Suzanne

concluded her lecture
with a plea to members

to look out for this
valuable archive, as the

whereabouts of these
albums is now unknown.
Susan Newell

This lecture derived
from

a paper of the same title

given at a conference in
the series Study Days on

Venetian Glass, “The Birth

of the Great Museum: the

Glassworks Collections
between the Renaissance

and the Revival’, Venice,

11-14 March,
2015,

published in Atti, Istituto
Veneto di Scienze,

Lettere ed Arti, 174-1,

2016, 87-118. Members
who would like to receive

a pdf of Suzanne’s full

article (available by

email only), please apply

to Susan Newell at

secretaryglasscircle@gmail.

corn

This meeting was

generously hosted by

Chris Fish.

Footnotes

1. Augustus Wollaston
Franks, Catalogue of the

collection of glass formed
by Felix Slade F.S.A.

and bequeathed by him

to the British Museum,
London: printed for

private distribution, ed.

1871.

z. John Munday, Edward

William Cooke, R.A.,
F.R.S., F.S.A., F.L.S.,

F.Z.S., F.G.S., 1811-188o:

a Man of his Time,
Woodbridge, Suffolk:

Antique Collectors’

Club,
1996.
Access to the

unpublished material was

provided by the Martyn

Gregory Gallery, London.

3.
John Ruskin, The Stones

of Venice, London, 1851-

1853, 2, 1853.

4.
Christie’s, London, 15-16

June, 1880.

13Apri1
2017

Michael Noble

The invention of flint

glass and other patents

T
he aim of the talk was

to give the reasons

why I came to the

conclusion that George
Ravenscroft’s
1674
patent

for making’glass in

imitation of rock crystal’

was based on the use of

flints and not lead as has

generally been the tradi-

tional view, flints being

a source of good quality

silica, the basic material

of any glass. I initially

proposed this idea in the
Glass Circle News
Issue

no. 129 ( July zoiz) with

a further, more detailed,
paper in the Journal of

Glass Studies published
by the Corning Glass

Museum in 2016.
Asked the question

‘what does flint glass

mean to you, was it lead

crystal or an ordinary

soda/lime/silica glass?’
the audience responded,

rather surprisingly, with

a 50-5o split. In fact the

use of the term’flint glass
changed nomenclature

from one to the other

sometime in the mid

19th century, the earlier

glass being synonymous
with lead crystal, while
modern glassmakers refer

to a soda/lime glass as

flint glass.
As a modern

glassmaker myself I
always thought that

the term flint glass had
originated from ancient

of Cooke’s collection in

1880.4
Franks was then

able to acquire a further

44
items for the BM.

This lecture allowed

us a fascinating glimpse

into the world of a

discerning elite collector

of glass. While today

some of Cooke’s glasses
in the BM are thought

to be Tacon de Venise

i.e. made in other
European centres rather

than Venice itself, the

authenticity of his

items is generally not

in question. Cooke

Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

ABOVE:

Ravenscroft’s

Patent Roll of

invention

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<';`,"1 . ‘":l • REPORTS ivalCeS tCwr Semss g;A• tie sotAt , of , iva ow tV sNAA“ , / tc, , f ada c AptA..1BWWV.C.4;4 agoiSv• ke:AL A$uttemaxf o t ki Cuvarev p! r e..b:t LA ,DS,:64*: 211 A4Azo .AA.,1,11- 11 t.A.• 2 4 4 atvviAse.t ko AQ , ,A‘ AtA.+4, 1 41 S....A eqcSVAtf w e• OC1C.6suCCA.1, 1 i tori .1114.11Atti . mot e z a:feo tua s Ssuter ,ft. Cv • Ci‘ , Sitakt; \I;mif& CwttiA n A•s , S o c. ;,A,i3y04.;.: n tile' Sstme• eke, 14T1; n kr Qt. Are to 41 SA n wii• Sot-4 1.saikatVdtut 0 41-Ccka u.4 eni •C A c i t6y Fr o r l ougl i st... , And ? Meta,. atvzthAosie 4 4d-t4 tfAc i tfozo po.et ro5 tr $,Atut 6Ani &Arg.,,rore, 64 'Semi t..W-ttti‘t i°,?: tie iyAt i cS 1;,3:q o... ClAr(e• Afie. re- 4./ trirol-W , e.t 6r *lie act w - „ 6e 4 , z ,,ktioust.Z tv v i o...44414 n WCP.149e B•d:* ,h , 2) guAtim times when English glassmakers used flints either instead of or to supplement the use of sand. However during the course of researching my book Eighteenth Century English Glass and its Antecedents' I came across a Law Suit of 16o8 in which the question was actually asked:' What stuff do they principally use in making glasses in the said furnace in Southwark?' to which the answer was soad [sic] wherewith they mingle sand and to give him colour safra and manganese, i.e. to make good quality crystal glass they used sand as the source of silica, a soda based flux, and cobalt and manganese based decolourisers, but no flints. Images of these documents together with their transcriptions were shown during the presentation, and a review of the earliest glass patents was also given. Following the restitution of the monarchy it was the Duke of Buckingham who became the prime figure in glassmaking, and although he himself never obtained a patent, his agents Martin Clifford and Thomas Paulden did obtain one in 166a for making `Christall Glasse ... as good if not better than any comes from Venice' which was superseded in 1663 when Thomas Tilson obtained a patent modified to include the manufacture of looking- glass plates. The first mention of the potential use of flints in England seems to be when Bryan Leigh applied for a patent for extracting out of flint all sort of looking glasses, plates both crystal and ordinary, and all manner of Christall glasse' in 1663. This however, seems to have been rejected out of hand because, so the document stated, `something of this nature to be already passed to his Grace the Duke of Buckingham'. In 1674 George Ravenscroft did manage to obtain a patent for the 'sole use and benefit of the said manufacture of Cristaline Glasse for drinking glasses, all plates for Looking Glasses & such wares already Patented to be excepted a glass furnace having been constructed in the Savoy sometime during 1673. Images of all the documents relating to this were shown, as were other documents indicating that the government at the time was concerned with imports of manufactured goods in general, with the likelihood of imposing a ban on these, or at the very least applying a tax. This was possibly the reason why Ravenscroft, who was an importer of goods from the Continent and Near East, decided to go into glass manufacture, perhaps using his oversees connections to supply the necessary skills and knowhow. Unfortunately none of the documents indicate what Ravenscroft's newly invented glass was composed of, but at the time it was referred to as flint glass, indicating, at least to me, that flints were the most likely new ingredient in the glass, the vocabulary of the time being particularly literal in its use. Contemporary, albeit anecdotal, evidence also underpins this idea, that of Dr Hooke's diary and Plott's Natural History of Oxfordshire, as well as a glass seller's bill for'fine flint crystaline glasses: Using flints, obtainable in England, would emulate as closely as possible the use of the white pebbles employed in Murano. George Ravenscroft, however, had moved to the Vauxhall Glasshouse by 1675, as indicated by many Chancery law suits. One interesting point that emerged while preparing for this talk was the fact that another patent was applied for and apparently granted to Sir Philip Lloyd, Richard Hunt, and John Odacio Formica, for making a similar glass in Ireland. This document, now in the British Library Manuscript Department, states that it was for 'the sole power of using the invention of making Christall in Glasse in Ireland: The talk finished by presenting images of several other later documents, such as a lease taken out by George's brother Francis for part of the Savoy 'formerly in the occupation of Hauley Bisshoppe and various agreements with the Company of Glass Sellers including their co- partnership with Hawley Bishopp in which they ran the Savoy Glasshouse in 1681/2. The final question posed was 'what was flint glass; the answer, as far as I am concerned, is 'glass made of flint; of course!' Mike Noble BELOW: 1663 Bryan Leigh patent application Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1 35 Thursday 9 November Annual General Meeting DIARY AND REPORTS Diary dates Circle meetings Held at the Art Workers' Guild. 6 Queen Square, WCIN 3AT 7.15. Sandwiches from 6.3o p.m. Guests are welcome (there is a charge of fao for members, £52 for members of related societies and £55 for guests). Tuesday 27 June Simon Wain-Hobson: Cordial glasses and all that Thursday 12 October John P. Smith: Country house lighting in the 19th century, the age of oil, gas and electricity. Thursday 7 December Andy McConnell: The scent bottle: the jewel of the glass crown Other events From now to April 2018 Art Nouveau glass from the Frua-Valsecchi Collection Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge The Circle is hoping to arrange a visit to see this and other glass, including the Bachelor Bequest in April 2018. Details to be circulated. zo May to 7 January 2018 Tiffany's Glass Mosaics Corning Museum of Glass See article on page 23 I a 24-28 July The 9th International Conference on Borate Glasses, Crystals and Melts and the 2nd International Conference on Phosphate Materials St Anne's College, Oxford See http://wvvw. boratephosphate.sgt.org/ Pages/REG.html 16 September Glass Association visit to Christchurch Mansion An opportunity for Circle members to join the GA for a meeting focussing on i8th and 19th century glassware and to discuss around 570 glasses on display. Reports November 2016 Glass Circle visit to the City of London We had a very suc- cessful, V and fully subscribed, visit to the City of London. First we visited the Museum of London in the Barbican, where we saw glass with a London interest from the Roman occupation to the present day. There was Roman glass aplenty excavated in London, and a certain amount of Anglo-Saxon glass, displayed with related ceramic and metallic items. A little Venetian glass was on display and also the famous Parr Pot, a silver gilt mounted tankard bearing the arms of Lord Parr and hallmarked :546/7. The flu laticino glass is now thought to be a replacement, possibly from the i8th or 19th centuries. The museum ' s large collection of English i8th century glass, the Garton collection, is mainly in store at Sir Mortimer Wheeler house, north London, but the museum has some fine glass on display, (see illustration), including a Ravenscroft claret jug and posset pot, and an enormous engraved decanter. There is, of course, a great emphasis on London ' s Whitefriars Glass Company with a shop setting to show a very large number of their products, particularly but not exclusively from the 19th century, together with archives, patterns and a fine mosaic panel. Some loth century glass was also on display, including glass made for The Festival of Britain. After lunch, we repaired to the Grocers Company Hall. As two previous Masters had been keen glass collectors, and other members of the livery have shown an interest, the Company has an admirable, and extensive, collection of mainly 18th century glass, by far the best of any livery company. The collection of candle-sticks is particularly fine. I was the only person allowed by the Company to handle the glass but I could taken items out of the showcases for members to view close up. The collection includes the 'Chasdeton decanters and wine glasses of assured Jacobite significance whose provenance reaches back to the i8th century. Possibly the most interesting item is the goblet illustrated by a line drawing in Hartshorne's book of 1897. This goblet was first published as a photograph in 1913 by Daisy Wilmer, when it was already broken, as it is today. It is likely that when Hartshorne saw it was already broken, with a part missing, but with a line drawing Hartshorne was able show it perfect. Interestingly at the time Hartshorne thought it was of Venetian manufacture, but we now believe it to be English, late 17th century, also Hartshorne described it as a posset pot, which it cannot be as it has no spout. The company have recently published, for members, a history of the artefacts of the company, but there is no publically available catalogue. John P. Smith 36 Glass Circle News Issue 143 Vol. 40 No. 1

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Glass Circle News_No.143, Jun 2017

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