~ GLASS CI CLE
ED TORS
NEWS
MEETING AT THE MUSEUM OF LONDON No. 10
Dav d Watts
27 Rayde n Ri:>ad
Barnet, Herts. EN51A
Gabriella Crc,s
9 Harman Drive
Londo’:1,
.w.~~. 2EB
The Mi1£•stone Hotel i.n Kensington, as a regular meeting place was orie
nostalgic staging post in the history of our Circle, the inevitabie cons<1quence of
an expanding
membership and the contracting size of our member's houses. A
business takeonr and an inevitable sharp increase in the rental forced us onto the
road
again, Since then we have been ever-grateful for the diversity of hospitali y
we have found els ·vhere, The Westminster Hospital, with its excellent combi 08 ttun
of lounge and lecture theatre, has proved particularly successful and many have
enjoyed the historical atmqsphere of the Artworkers Guild, And again, t'ae hosp
itality of the Glass Manufacturers Federation is always greatly appreciat~d.
During this period the Museum of London has opened the doors of its n w anu
magnificent permanent home and for some time your Committee has enjoyed h ving
its meetings there under the kind and efficient hospitality of
Wendy Evan. Thus
it was with a
keen ·sense of anticipation that on the 15th February a very goud
crowd flowed in through the doors well after closing time to experience or first
full meeting in its lecture theatre. This proved comfortable, not too 1
(there is a larger one as well) and the architecture predictably contempo ry with
exposed concrete beams -far removed from the chandeliered self-importance of the Miles tones.
Our lecturer, Michael Robinson$ also a museum man but from the Ulster
~u&eum
in Belfast treated us to a prima-donna performance in that easy extrovert tyle
that only the Irish and the Americans seem able to achieve. His
subject as Irish
Corrmemorative Glass One of the more obvious ideas to emerge
was that gl
conmemorating the Williamite cause has the same universal appeal as Coca C
Like the beverage they were made everywhere and production continues to th present
day. Other aspects of Irish history received their due and we hope to re rt more fully in the next issue of GC News.
After the ''official'' proceedingl had been brought to a close infonnal d scussion
continued over coffee in the Junior Dining Room nearby before we made our w y past
sleeping
showcases to retrieve our coats and face the harsh reality of a bl stery
winters night. Thanks to our hosts, Mr and Mrs Benson, Mrs Cadogan and Mr
Rothschild for an unforgettable evening and, again, Wendy Evans for her beh nd-the
scenes organization.
We hope this meeting will be the first of many.
OPTICAL GLASS -AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE By JACK STRING.ER
(Meeting at the Westminster Hospital
on Thursday March 15th 1979)
Glass used for optical purposes has a great antiquity. Lens-like objects date
froml200 -
1600 BC but were more probably used as jewels. The first specif c
mention of a magnifying lens is by Aristotle in 434 BC. and paved the way fo
f~ture developments. Descriptions of machines for the precision grinding of
however,
are of much later date, the earliest being by William Bourne in 1585
These became
progressively more complex leading up to systems for the simulta
grinding of
many lenses from 1744 onwards. Various media were used for grin
and polishing; graded broken sandstone, putty powder - a mixture of tin and 1
oxides and Tripoli powder - an abrasive earth similar to pumice. Slid sh
pictur~s of these early machines were then shown after which Mr Stringer w nt o;h:;
illu trate the development of spectacles and the various devices for,at~ch!~
to the face: earpieces were not the obvious answer they appear today. Y us
of a single lens became symbolic of the better off has never been adequately
explained. least 1282 when Cardinal Nicholas Boul is pictu d
Sp ctacl •••wHr,,~O probably came next in about 160~ and
dp q1r•1111~ ..... a iql day in 1609.).
th
1th r, i , 0 op , w ~ und tood i Xplott
mp ov chi olo 'Y of h 19 h C. Unt· l th
1 n instrum ts of Lo 1 hoek with th • 270-fold
th p o uc ion of comp und mi ro ·op of un u ...
·om h , workshop of Hugh Pow 11 (1799 • 1883) w re arnong
i h h nd•ground compound lens with a p rformance t at reached
ibl optics ( ·egrettably not achieved ven today in our in-other.
icated inst~ ments). Powell took his secrets to the grave.
magic 1 ntern was late on the scene
(1702) but paved the way {or the
cam ra lucida and camera obscura and, of course, photography,
Mr Stringer con l~ded hiss 1rvey with a demonstration of instruments from his
own collection, enhanced by mic • , c pe slides displaying Victorian curiosities
uch as a picture mad up of butt.rfly scales and detailed photographs too small
to
b een with the naked eye, It was a mark of the quality of manufacture of these
old r instrumetlts that one of them had been stolen and spent
3 months onder a bush
without being optically the worse for its adventure! This unusual lecture was
wannly applauded by an appreciative audience. Our hosts for this meeting were
Mrs Gros, Miss Sampson and Miss Worsley.
-o-O-o-0-o-O-o-
THE SALE OF THE CENTURY .. , ..
"2000 years of ancient glass for sale .. ," .. "R«cords for glass will be smashed!" ..
"the most iblportant piece· of ancient glass to be offered for auction since since
the Portland Vase" in a no bids barred, all-action auction to be staged by (or
s~uld it be at?) , yes you.guessed, Sotheby's. This coup, as it must be describe~
does indeed bring 500 outst~nding items from the collection of Mr A.C. Maxwell, a
Scotsman who has been living mainly in Europe since the war and more recently in
Switzerland from whence the collection has been sent.
Star of the sale is a 3rd C. AD Diatretum or cage cup. It is the only on in
private hands and should fetch a six figure sum, Other outstanding pieces are • 0 Aristeas and an exceptionally fine 'Argonaut' vessel, but the collection, which
spans the art of glass-making allover the ancient world contains many examples of
great importance. There are many fine specimens of the best Roman glass which
forms the largest part of the collection. If you feel tempted to dip down your
stocking the dates to note are Monday and Tuesday, 4th and 5th of June. Mr
Maxwell,
who is a Glass Circle member, and his wife will be present at the sale. >
WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS
Professor V. Dubowitz
Mr duVal Radford
Mr G.B.D. Herbert
Mr J. St dman
Hr Ritsema van Eck, Golders
Green, London.
Bedford, Virginia, UoSoA
London, W.14
Newhaven, Sussex
Keeper of Glas, Rijksmuseum,
-3-
~ GLASS E G VING RESU GENT
·1d of Glass En rav sis om e four (
i 1
years old but has lr ad·y 450
r 1 a mode t mal domin nee nurn rically) as w ll 8 ~i h y uthful and useful enthusiasm, three annual exhibiti~~s 1
:~
moers
have so far been held; these were most st multi
for at east the rel tive newcomers to the craft At th in ngiexperience
President of.the Gu ld, Laurence Whistler, a six:week exhibit:o gnt on of the (
M h
12 l A • 1 22 d) n was rec ntJy aTc t1 – pri n staged in our oldest public museum, the Ashmol n
in Oxford, Work of 10%.of the_craft members was selected by authorities of
that museum and the 98 pieces f1naally chosen ~re quite ideally displ yd.
a sine qua 100 for fin~ly engraved glass, Four main techniques were repre
sented n this impressive show-room, namely: flexible drive (40i) diamond/
tungsten carbide point (25%}, a combination of those two techniqu;s (20%)
and wheel engraving (15%). As regards designs: imaginative concepts
represented about a quarter, objects from nature (perennially popular and of
necessity part of bread and butter work) another quarter, a third of what
remains was devoted to calligraphy (not invariably with the accent on kallos)
and two thirds to portrayal of inanimate objects. As we have seen before in
such exhibitions, variation abounds throuout, not only in the techniques
employed but also in the designs and, especially, in the type of glass blank
used. It is fortunate that
very rarely old glass has been used for present
day engraving; either, hopefully~ out of respect or probably for f~nancial reasons.
To single out work of particular engravers is not always easy because so
much depends on personal taste and understanding of what is involved_ However,
one may
name some ?f those who showed examples of flawless execution or
Paganinian virtuosity. For instance, Anne Cotton°s lettering
is truly superb
and so is Ann Todd’s; great stipplers are
Simon Whistler, Peter David and
Jennifer Conway;
exemplary drill work is that by Andrew and Philip Lawson
Johnston as
well as that from the hand and lively mind of Elly Eliades,
while truly masterly wheel engraving characterises Michael Fairbairn and our
members
Jane Webster and Peter Dreiser; among the three pieces shown by the
latter is a cleverly cameo-cut and meaningful Hadeland
overlay bowl (which
should have been standing on a wire tripod over a small mirror because –
like that of the Portland vase -the bottom is also beautifully sculpted.
The President, in his Introduction to “Glass Engraving Resurgent”, a
well-produced brochure published on the occasion of the Ashmolean.Exhibition,
remarks that the resurgence of glass engraving is “a purely British phenomenon
of the mid-twentieth Century, with
no equivalent abroad”. A phenomenon we
mainly owe to his own great and stimulating example
(there simply is no
contemporary equivalent of
L0W0 abroad) and as purely British indeed as the
Glass Circle! Great vigilance
may now be required to see that the glass
bubble will not burst and flatten out
into a largeness of mediocrity with only
a bull’s eye of finest quality.
Frans Smit
NATIONAL EARLY AMERICAN GLASS CLUB
The National Early American Glass Club writes to say that they would
welcome Circle members to
their monthly meetings in Boston,Massachusetts.
If you happen to
be passing that way contact Joel P. Davis, PoO. Box G. Osterveille, Mass. 02655.
GLASS CIRCLE LIBRARY
The Reverend Humphreys made a truly pennanent legacy wh.n he endowed his
books to start the Glass Circle Library. This has attracted other b nef ctions,
among them ‘The
Dictionary of British Antigue Glass’ given by th author,
Douglas Aah. The National Early American Glass Club ha donat d th 1 t 10
r ar’a 1• u • of The Glaaa Club Bulletin and, in r tum, wear s nding th m
l of
th Cl aa Circle, Thus our library grows and th rat rnity
A 11 to cc 1aion to th libr ry
-4-
NEW BOOKS
J
“Art, Fe t. and Myst ry .. The story of Thomas Webb & Sons, Glassmakers
by H W. Woodw r. Published by Mark+ Moody, Stourbridge, 61 pages
with
nu. 1erous figures mostly in colour. Price £4. 75.
Herbert Woodward, long established member of the Glass Circle and,
until 1966, Librarian anJ Curator at Brierly
Hill, and later Keeper of
~Glass and Fine Arts for the reorganized Dudley County Borough, has a
lifelong e,perience of the Stourbridge glass trade. No more suitable
person
to•trace the history of Thomas Webb & Sons, the epitomy of all
that is best in British glassmaking, can be imagined. This he does
with a simple directness and clarity, drawing on the works of other
Stourbridge historians and by reference to the original records.
This
economy of style packs much information into a small but exquisitely
produced volume that takes us from the founder of the firm,which still
bears his name,to the present day amalgamation with Dema Glass Co. Ltd.
with benifits, among others ••• “to improve the somewhat Dickensian work
ing conditions which were apparent in
1964”. Grand Prix and Gold Medals
seemed to be theirs for the-taking and representative illustrations of
many of their products tell their own story of why this was so. By
present day standards
this is not an expensive book but it is a jewel
to set off any glass-lovers book case.
Beakers, Tankards, Goblets, by Fritz Kampfer (translated from the Gennan by
Alisa Jaffa). Published by George Prior
1978. 188 pages, 148 plates
mostly in
colour and numerous line engravings in the text. Price £12.50
This
is another luxury production in large format size about a
Germanic
view of the history and evolution of drinking vessels by an
author who revels in his subject. It is unusual that it transgresses
the usual limitations of the material of manufacture, taking in pewter,
pottery, silver
and so on in following up the trail to sublime
inhibition, from Roman ware to a 1923 cocoa jug! A certain bias is
manifest by an almost total absence of English drinking glasses among
the illustrations but English drinking habits are considered such as
the advent of the coffee house as a>possible counter to alcoholism.
But it is in the little asides that that that this work is most endear
ing …. “For drinking (between Meals), our lady wife shall be served with
as much wine a~d beer as she may desire; for countesses and other noble•
women,
however, four measures of beer.” and makes it as refreshing to
read as a 40od cup
of tea ….. if you see what I mean! o D.C. Watts
GOI GS-ON AT DUDLEY
e learn that the plans for a new joint museum to house the Stourbridge
and Brierly Hill collections are well under way and we hope to bring you
further details as soon as definite information becomes available. In th e
meantime an
exhibition of £riggers is planned to run at the Dudley museum
from28th April to 6th June. Some 60 1 tema wil 1 be on show with some from
the Ste na and Uliama and the Webb-Corbett collections as well •• fr:tb
private collectiou.
The Webb-Corbett model of a &laaabou e, comp~e 1 aaf.lllal• bl era
in action, 11 be OD ah ell u a whole aaerie of au eru drop••
and 11 tl vbJlNi cb bf.bl t U’Sli.-… ;,., .. -… Pr pe