GLASS CIRCLE
NEWS
EDITORS
David Watts
27 Rayd a Ro d
Barnt, H rts. ENSlAN
Gabriella
Gros
9 Harman Drive
Londo~, N.W.2. iEB
No•
11 “August 1979
SPECIAL EDITION FOR THE
8th CONGRESS OF THE
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF THE HISTORY OF GLASS
Welcome to Britain to all the
participants
at the 8th Congress from The
Glass Circle. The Glass Circle was
founded as a result of the enthusiasm for
old glass of
Mr John M. Bacon, great-great
grandson of the famous sculptor and modeller of pottery figures, John . aeon,
R.A. These were the h~ady days when the giant collectors of the past were
able to form outstanding representative collections of (mostly) Englis’
glass with a worthy provenance for all the important pieces. It was their
perception and generosity that laid the foundation for many of the impprtant
museum collections that will be on show during the Congress. On the ~7th
May 1937 nine enthusiasts gathered at Mr Bacon’s house in Greenwich and “The
Circle of Glass Collectors”, as it was then calle~was formed. Rules were
drawn up and
Mr .W.A. Thorpe of the Victoria and Albert Museum was mad,
President and
Mr Bacon Secretary. Rule 1 said that The Society shall
consist of bona fide amateur collectors, students and lovers of glass being
the glass from 1550 to 1800 (the recognised collectors period). This rule
has been our main guiding principle ever since although as the members ip
expanded to over 300 and became worldwide the recognised collectors pe iod
has expanded in both directions to keep pace with growing interests. Our
recent meeting on Pt:essed Glass, reported in this issue, represents the latest
level of emancepation that would have horrified our founders and still offers’
little attraction for some of the purists among us. Nevertheless it represents
a positive phase.in the history of the growth and development
of the gl
industry
and, as such,is recognized by a session at the Congress. Its
teclmical, historical and artistic, though lacking the freehand skill
glassblower, has long been recognized on the other side of the A~lanti
call on the depth of the collector’s pocket testifies. British colle
in the main, follow the trend set by our founders and seek out the bes
lead crystal given to the world by George Ravenscroft.
His patent for a glass of lead was registered on the
16th May 1674
and paved the way for a new era of
vessels of all kinds reflecting the beauty and clarity
of this dense, lustrous metal. New shapes in bold,
heavy designs displaced the frail delicacy of the
Murano products, and in time attracted the attention of
engravers and cutters to provide a unique tradition in
recording history through
glass. Such was the success
of Ravenscroft’s discovery that after the turn of the
century when his patent had run out the composition
of lead glass stabized to 112:3 parts by weight (approx) for saltpetre
lead and sand giving a metal with a density of approx. 3.1 and a lead
of 301.. This 30% lead has become the byword for British crys~al whic
eµdured to the present day -at least, almost~
Oui governments recen Trade
Description Act has brought about a subtle change. The composition a
described gave a glass that sometimes had more and sometimes less than the
• proscribed 301. according to the furnace conditions at the time of manu acture.
To market a
metal with less than the stated’ amount of lead was to inv te
prosecution. Thus we find that some glasshouses now describe their wa es
AS containing not less than (usually) 26% lead while others have adjus ed
the composition upwards to retain the proud boast and legal safety.
hiatory of glassi~, indeed a living subject an~ through this Congres~
w continue to promote its understandin& and also its appreciation.
GL SIN PARIS
Th re is no collec ion in Paris comparabl o that in our Victoria and
Alb rt Museum, so it must be looked for, and when found, th craftsmanship
and design are amongst the best to be seen anywhere.
The great Louvre collection has some very fine pieces amongst the 8th
and 19
th
c. furniture rooms. , Many of them are, unfortunately, not labelled
and, as far as
I know, no published catalogue exists.
In order to see the best glass in Paris one must go to the Musee des
Techniques, where amongst
all the machinery, there are several gift collect
ions, presented by nearly all the great French glass makers. These include
Clichy, St. Louis, Baccarat and others, the most remarkable being a Galle
display in a special Galle-made marquetery showc·ase -a work of art in its~~lf.
There are few examples of English glass, but there is an exceptional
Apsley Pellatt sulphide presented many years ago by
an English lady resident
in Paris. Before leaving the museum take a look at the section on early
glass pressing techniques and also a model of a factory to make glass dome .
These bygones were made by first blowing the cylinders, cutting the heated
end so that it could then be cut and reheated and then pressed to make the
rounded top.
One should also visit the Baccarat private collection which ajoins thejr
central Paris showrooms, near the Grand Boulevards. Thi~
is mostly cut gliass
of superb workmanship, but also includes some coloured glass and, of course,
paperweights.
To conclude, there are quite a number of interesting pieces at the Muse~~
National·des Arts et Traditions in the Bois de Boulogne. Here is the glas
of everyday usage, very little known outside France, and there is something of
everything of common use in the past.
I especially remember an exhibit of
six different deception glasses, with thick bottoms to make the drinks look
larger, something not totally unknown overheret
SUClmN LASI
G. Miller
-oOo-
Suomen Lasi means Finnish Glass and is the title of an exhibition recent y
on show at the Sunderland Arts Centre and now touring Eire and Britain.
The Scandanavian Studio Glass movement differs from its British or Ameri an
counterpart in one important aspect in that the majority of glass _artists
in
Scandinavia function within the structur6 of the factory, working in close
collaboration with a team of glassmakers, whilst very few actually handle the
medium themselves in their own studios. There are exceptions, and two of th~
most notable are included in this survey exhibition, Miko Merikallit who show
large pieces in which the swirling colour taken directly from the furnace
is
a feature and·Heikki Kallio in some of whose pieces I found the use of deli –
ate colou; most pleasing. Both craftsmen operate their own workshops.
The
‘factory’ work falls into two major categories, unique pieces and work design
ed for mass-production. Of the latter there are fine examples of design forn
glus by Timo Sarpaneva and Tapio Wirkkala who with the utmost economy of mea
wholly exploit the qualities of light and texture in clear glass. 1 Amongst the unique pieces I particularly liked the work of Heikki ~vo 8
and Bjorn Weckstrom both exploring the use of strong colours and us!::ments
surfaces, Kaj Franck -the grand old man of Finnish glass, ~ho~:o::r
and Oiva
with induced air bubbles to create visual texture were inspbr~cks wi~h fanta t
Toikka who showed aculptural pieces comprising large clear
ically shaped incluaiona • .. .J …. a.”– op- ….. • of the exhibition w .. • w nd i i,IIOiMI• ……. waw WN … __ -~w.n h orktoa • • on
(th Y
‘I
-3-
SUOMEN LASI -dates for the tour are 25th August – ·15th Se t t Kilk
Eire; 25th Sept -28th Oct at the Ulster Museum, ·Belfast;
~thaJan _ 2:~n~ Ca 5t le
at
the British Crafts Centre, London; 11th Feb -8th March at th Ci eb 1980
Stoke on Trent; 22nd Apr~l – 24th May at the Bolon Museum and ~t G!ii~~s:um,
9th August -7th Sept at the National Museum of Wales Cardiff and 15th SY,
Oct at the Dundee
Museum and Art Gallery. ‘ ept -11th
-o-o-0-O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- -0-0-0-
IRISH COMMEMORATIVE GLASS
Most glass collectors at some time have met rhe ubiquitous Williamite glass
with
its toast to the ‘Glorious and lnrnortal Mem ry of King William III’ in one
of
its many forms. The earliest such glass tha we know to be Irish, dates
from around 1715, and they seem to have been produced ever since. The
range
of types is tremendous, as throughout the 8th and 19th c. changes in
style and decoration altered th~ appearance of tie items whilst maintaining the
essential message. More confusing are the piec s made in earlier styles, and
in considerable numbers, seemingly to satisfy th more conservative Williamite,
loyalist and Orange Societ{es, although no doubt effort has also been made to
supply unwary collectors; The Irish Glass lndu try must have produced consider
able quantities of these glasses but they were a so made in factories in
Czechoslovakia and France as well as England.
The history of these early Williamite clubs • hich privately celebrated his
victories is complex as they were mostly secret r very restrictive in their
membership. One such club admitted into
its m st only descendants of Officers
who had fought at the Boyne, others were purely army societies, and
it wasn’t
’till the formation of the Orange Order in 1795 ith its organized lodges that
a clearer picture of the movement emerges.
Whilst Williamite forms the bulk of Irish c mmemorative glass,
the political,
social and military events of the period inspired many more. The Volunteer
movement, the Masons, the Act of Union, the mor general ‘success to trade’
i.e. linen, and to cities, and causes associate with individuals such as Swift,
Goldsmith, Leinster, etc. all produced a most
i .tteresting range of pieces•
It’s a thoroughly absorbing field with suff cient material extant covering
such a long period, and of such complexity to
k 1ep the collector and student of
glass and of its social context happily absorbe land confused for generations.
Having been absorbed and confused by
it for qui e some time I would be most happy
to hear from &ny sympathetic reader 1who possess s or knows of the existence of
any piece of Irish Commemorative Glass.
please write directly to Michael obinson, Assistant Keeper, Art,
Ulster M seum, Belfast, N. Ireland.
GLASS CIRCLE NEWS
WELCOME TO NEW
MEMBERS
Mrs Nonnie Freylinghuysen,
Mr F .s. Prior,
Miss M. Thunder,
Hrs M. Brasier-Creagh,
Mr P. Kaellgren,
Mr
H. Langton,
Metropol· tan Museum of Art, New York.
, Glos.
idge, Sussex.
Surrey.
ario Museum, Toronto.
West Wye
Salisbur , Wilts.
Lee-on-~ e-Solent, ·Han ts.
————~-~-4-
ENGLAND
by R .J • Charles ton of -‘ondon)
GLASS IN MEDIEVAL
1979 at the Museum ,..
(m ting on Tuesday 24th
April_, ‘ di
al glass· of high qualit . i g that any me ev y .. r Charleston began by stress n <·olours or with sophisticated
cl ar and colourlesst in delib9rate~y opaqu~i~d coloured threading -found in
d coration such as enamelling, gild ngi :pp 'A few specimens of pre-conquest
England, is likely to be of foreign or g n ~arneilled and gilt fragments of
13th
date are Islamic, and a few Near East
ernlement an intact glass such ~s the
14th
c. date have been found
: th
ese com~ e in England since medieval times
"Luck of Edenhall", which has probably eend
11rce of fine-quality glass ft~m
db it
lather case The secon so~
preserve Y s e • . A nul:nber of fragmentary glasses of
the 13th C. onwards was proba~ly ltalr,• b
0n excavated in recent years
fine and virtually colourless crystal have e~ ification to be in some inst-
from controlled digs• and can be shown by strai d t d with blue
ances of 13th.
c. date• These glasses are usu,~lly ecor~e~n ob lets with
(sometimes manganese-purple) threading, the matn shapes g g d
shallow hemispherical bowls, long thin stems ( 1ften with a central ecora
t
•
ive "knop"), and remarkably wide, sometimes do ed, feet; low bowls of double
ogee profile, standing on a frilled applied fo t-ring; beakers of roughly
cylindrical shape, flaring slight1y at the rim. Sometimes glasses of a
fine greenish ";ri~tal" are found with blue threa, ing, and are probably also of
Italian ori
0
_d, as are one or two mould-blown gasses of the same material.
Some of the blue-threaded glasses are to be fou din a distinctly yellow,
almost fluorescent glass and in this material are two goblets with tall
• ' ' h 1 pedestal stem, one found at Old Sarum, the other at Knaresboroug Caste,
Yorks., both in contexts of about 1400.
Parallel to the Islamic series run two types of enamelled or gilt glass
probably made in the West -coloured glasses wi gilt decoration, possibly
of Byzantine origin and"Syro-Frankish"beakers with enamelling on both sides
of the glass, late 13th-14th
c. in date and incr asingly regarded as Venetian
made. Vessels of similar date made entirely fr1om opaqur.-red glass are
known, and were no doubt imported, while some ve sels are decorated with
"sealing-wax" red threading on the greenish body glass. A cobalt-blue
handled jug of the mid-14th
c. has been found in Corn~all.
To some extent echo-ing the shapes of the gla .. ses t'.lready mentioned is a
aeries of glasses made in good quality green gla ,s, nutably tall thin-stemmed
aobleta with ribbed bowls and wide feet. These too may have been imports,
from northern Europe. In England itself tlass s almost certainly being
made from before the middle of the 13th
c., if pr duction had not indeed b~en
continuous aince the Dark Ages. The glass made, however, was of an impure
areen colour, and was very prone to deep pitted w athering, with a brown and
aometimea black crust of decomposition products. The commonest forms were
lampa with cup-tnps· and tapering stems, the ponti -mark on the base; urinals
of two shapes, the pontil-mark again being on the outside of the thick convex
baaeJ bottles, often with (wrythen) ribbed neck a \d slightly •kicked" base;
chemical equipment, notably alembics, receivers, oucurbits and tubing; and
"alick-stonea" or linen-smoothers.
The lecture waa illustrated with an extensive eries of slides.
The hosts on this occasion were Mr and Mrs Charles on, Mr Fox, Miss Heywood
and Mias Toynbee Clark.
ASPECTS OF ENGLISH PRESSED GLASS by
(me ting on Thursday 17th May,
1979, in ara
Morris
l Room, Guy's Hospital
Medic4l School)
1
•
-5-
It may be said st
ra1ght away that so far as the Glass- CiTcle is conce~d Mrs
Mor~i~ went a long was to ~edress the balance.
~
The main theme concerned the development. -of artfstic pressed glass h h
Sowerby Ellison Glass Works Ltd. of Gateshead with passing reference to ~h!1;
generally less skillful English contemporaries. Founded in about 1763 by
George Sowerby as the New Stourbridge Glassworks the firm was joined in about
1820 by his son, John. Following a transition period in partnership with
John Neville, during which a vast range of tableware of all sorts was produced
and still more imported from Belgium for decoration by cutting and engraving
(much to the disgust of the craftsmen who called them brickbats~), John Sowerby
took sole coumand in 1872 as Sowerby~ Co., becoming the limited company already
mentioned in 1882. By 1880 the works had expanded to 8 furnaces covering an
area of a quarter oJ a square mile and by 1882 close on 1000 people were empl•
oyed there -tlie,:.largest pressed glass manufacturers in the world producing
150 tons a week of finnished glass goods and with a thriving export trade.
One category
of pressed glass stands apart from this mountainous output, the
artistic or aesthetic pressed glass introduced by J.G. Sowerby, grandson of the
founder, and made in various colours officially called Vitro-Porcelain but more
generally known aa slag, and ~ater produced in imitation crearrMare known as
Patent Queen's Ivory
Ware. At about this time, 1876, the peacock's head trade
mark was also adopted. This was. at the height of the aesthetic movement and
the peacock's head was a favorite motif as were others (sunflowers, daisies,
swans etc.) used by Sowerby for their products.
Particularly attractive are the nursery rhyme designs and Mrs Morris had
discovered the source of some of these. At least six designs (Little Bo Peep,
Ye frog and Ye Crow, Oranges and Lemons, Jack and Jill, Jack Horner and Lavender's
Blue) were copied from illustrations in Walter Cranets famous nursery book, Baby's
Opera, published in 1887. The Swan, Rush and Iris wallpaper dado designed by
Walter Crane may also have been the inspiration for Sowerb's Swan vase.
J.G. Sowerby, himself a talented·artist, almost certainly new Crane and cooperated
with his elder brother to produce an illustrated book, At Home, showing little
children in sunbonnets and all the aesthetic motifs. A review of Sowerby's
child pictures said that "Miss (Kate) Greenaway
.is beaten very easily at her own
game ••• There is nothing half so sweet in life as the yo·ung folk whom Mr Sowerby
pictures".
And, indeed, his child designs seem to have been used for a vase
(No.
1269) produced both in clear glass and Vitro Porcelain. •
Sowerby also produced a range of ,andlestick.s both elegant, such as the •
"Queen Anne" exclusively for J. Mortlock l Co. of Oxford Street, and eccentric,
perhaps lea~ing to the exhibition promoted by Dr Christopher DTesser in Bond St.
There can be little doubt of the popularity of Sowerby's aesthetic pressed glass.
Queen Victoria made several purchases and it was featured again at the 1884
Internation~l Health Exhibition as artistically appealing, conducive to both
health and cleanU.n~ss.
Other Sowerby items were then illustrated and.compared.with other manufact·
urers
to reveal diversity of form and colour, including ruby and straw opaline.
In all these one fin~the blend of talents of designer, mouldmaker and glass
manufacturer that =enders Sowerby glass among the most attractive and collectible
of this branch of the art.
A display showing the diversity of Sowerby pressed glass was organized by
Dr and Mrs Watts who were the hosts at this meeting.
Recent Books
READINGS IN GLASS HISTORY by Anita Engle (Phoenix ~blications, Jerusalem
P.O.B. 8190, Jerusalem, Israel)
We have been informed that No 10 in this series, which is an illustrated comp
anion volume to the whole series, is now available at a cost of
J 20.00. The
i•
Ancient Glass in its Context, 96 pages, 70 photographs, 77 line draw
It i• written by the Editor of the Series, our member, Anita
Jatea and discusses vessels from the Roman period and
alo1ue of the Constable- Maxwell Collection.
I
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H
Lot l,
.£50 000 l'.m bid
to tart,
t60 000
£80 000
LlOO 000
£120 000
£140 000
£160 000
£180 000
£200 000
£220 000
£240 000
£260 000
l.280 000
• £300 000
£320 000
£340 000
£360 000
£380 000
£400 000
t420 000
£440 .ooo
£460 000
148() 000
coo 000
t520 000
Roman c on
Gt in fir (inc you h ppen to be· ov rlook din
th cite~ nt) and simply stay in
seems o hav be n
th philosophy of Mr Robin Sym s, the London de ler •
The small consideration of the 101. buy r's pr mium
brought the total cost to
£572 000 in little more than
one minute's bidding -certainly not time enough. to
become bored.
This world record for a single piece of glass easily
tops that of £75 000 paid for a Verzelini goblet at
Christie's last year and brings the blue ribband of
the glass auctioneering world to Sotheby's, at least
for the time being. Where the Diatretum came from
has not been revealed, although apparently not found in
a hat box! its destination also remains a matter for
speculation at the moment.
THE NATIONAL EARLY AMERICAN GLASS CLUB
As mentioned in the last issue of GC News we have estab
lished friendly contact with the NEAGC and the Club's
bulletins, exchanged for our own Journal, are now available
i our library at the London Museum. The NEAGC was estab-
11shed on January 18th, 11933 at Boston for the purpose of
p:omoting
the study, appreciation and research of Early
Glass and the assoc! tion of people with these mutual
interests. It has more than 14 000 members from nearly
every State in the Union. There are
33 Regional Groups.
The~~•rent Group holds regular monthly meetings in the Hall
of Park Street Church in Boston, Mass. Information about
the Club may be obtained from;-
Miss Nancy
o. Merrill, President, c/o The Chrysler
Museum at Norfolk, Olney Road and Mowbray Arch, Norfolk,
Virginia 23150. Or from:-
Mrs· Jam.es A. Collins, Corresponding Secretary
195, Fo~len
Road, Lexington, MA 02173.
New ~vening Course -HISTORY AND APPRECIATION OF GLASS
at Edge Hill Coliege of Higher Education, St. Helens Road, Or.-1.:!::c.ir.k, Lancashire. .
j Th·::; ctJ·~ ·r-e, covc:::bg over 4 000 years of glassmaking
I • ?., L :o-:-~· Y :~t.t & "\.L'! d at g Lring the beginner an all-round
:r.,1 ••• :.-; .•.tl:.,n to the subject and should enhance any collector
c' :-1 h;., :J·:ian' s appreciation of this fascinating craft.
Th~ rat·•;•,-:- of glass, hints for collecto·rs, the archaeology
of glassmaking and industrial monuments which still remain
will also be described.
The Tutor will be Mrs Ruth Hurst
Vose, B.A., A.M.A. and the
course
will start on October 4th and each following Thursday
from 7.30 -9.00 p.m.
for 10 sessions and conclude with a
visit to the Pilkin&ton Glaaa Museum.
Cou~•• f • ia C4.50 vitb r duced rat•• or penaioaer• etc.