GLASS CIRCLE
NEWS
EDITORS
David Watts
27 Raydean Road
BARNET, Herts. EN51AN
John Towse
25-27 Curtain Road
London, EC2A 3PH.
No.
40
January
1988
50th ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE RECEPTIONS AND MEETINGS:
ANNIVERSARY LECTURE AND PRESENTATION TO ROBERT CHARLESTON
Over 120 members were graciously entertained by the chairman and directors of
Christie’s at their Grand Rooms in St James’s on Thursday 19th November.
The evening was one of the high points in our Jubilee Season – which included
the specially commissioned lecture by Professor Dr. Franz-Adrian Dreier, until
recently Director of the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin.
Professor Dreier’s
scholarly address entitled “Glass Imitating Rock Crystal and Precious Stone –
16th and 17th Century Wheel Engraving and Cold Ruby Class” was warmly
appreciated; it will be printed in full in Volume 6 of The Glass Circle, to be
published this summer.
We were delighted to have present Dwight Lanmon, Glass Circle member and
Director of the Corning Museum of Glass who, following the lecture, made our
Jubilee presentation to our President, Robert Charleston, a magnificent Goblet
designed and wheel-engraved by our member, Peter Dreiser.
This depicts
Whittington Court, the Charleston’s new home, and bears the inscription:
“To Robert and Joan Charleston – in appreciation of their devoted
contribution to the Glass Circle on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee.
1937-1987”
Creation of the.goblet was not without incident as.Peter was unexpectedly laid
flat
with
hack trouble and showed considerable devotion in completing it on
time.
We are deeply grateful and were most sad that he was not well enough
to accompany Mrs Dreiser at the presentation.
Peter will be contributing an
illustrated article to Glass Circle 6 recounting the stages in the design and
engraving of the presentation goLlet.
Due to the overwhelming response of our members, a cheque was also presented
to Mr Charleston.
Flowers were presented to Mrs Charleston
and
also to Miss
Worsley, the only surviving founder member and for many years Honorary
SeCtenar’y of the Circle.
The event also provided members with an opportunity
to
view a forthcoming
glass sale.
Our particular thanks for the success of the evening go to
Rachel Russell of Christie’s who so kindly and efficiently co-ordinated this
memorable milestone in the Circle’s history.
J.B.
OPENING OF THE WHITEFRIARS EXHIBITION
A large gathering of members filed into the Museum of London on Monday
7th
December to witness the long-awaited opening of the Whitefriars exhibition.
It was hack in 1980 that GC
News
was expressing sorrow over the news that
this
long-established firm was to close.
Swift action by the Museum of London
resulted in the rescue of many important legers, notebooks, cartoons for
stained glass windows and other documentary material as well as a
representative
collection of
the moveable objects to do with glass making.
>>> Page 2
2
The exhibition itself is thoroughly professional, as one would expect of a
major London museum, and does great credit to the determination, enterprise
and creativity of Wendy Evans in a period of considerable financial restraint.
The reception provided champagne, wine and a finger buffet and the air was
already distinctly mellow when Mr Robbins, Chairman of the Museum Board of
Governors, delivered his welcoming speech and recorded his appreciation of the
association between the Museum and the Glass Circle.
Mr Cyril Weedon
responded handsomely on behalf of the Glass Circle and the Exhibition was
declared open.
A few impromptu words of welcome and appreciation were added
by Dr Baker (nee Powell), last surviving member of the glassmaking family.
It was also nice to discover that among those present were old employees of
the firm who were clearly delighted to learn that they had secured a niche in
history.
Thi6 was indeed a nostalgic family gathering and a unique part of
our Jubilee celebrations that will long remain in our memories.
WHITEFRIARS: the Unique GLASSHOUSE
An Exhibition at The Museum of London until January 1st 1989
Many Glass Circle members will already have visited this exhibition, at or
since its opening last December.
As one who was unable to do so until early
this year, I would record that I rapidly decided that this is not an
exhibition to be visited only once, and noted with pleasure that it will
remain on view for the whole of this year.
The story of one glasshouse, even when researched and presented with all the
resources of the Museum of London, might seem a slender theme for a major
exhibition; but this is very
–
far from the case.
The richness of the
Whitefriars glasshouses as a topic derives froM three sources: the
availability of documentary material from some of the glassmakers who have
used the site, and of authentic glass items from the more recent years; the
use of other documents; articles, maps and illustrations bearing on the
glasshouse site operations there and the sale and destiny of its output; and
the presentation of glass articles from the Museum and other collections,
including excavated items, to clothe out this story of glassmaking in London.
Perhaps most of the glasses on show were not, or were not known to have • been
made at Whitefriars.
It is a pleasure to be able to see them, as a
background to the main theme.
In the later parts of the history, what a
leading light this glasshouse was, and how versatile, how innovative!
Most
of us knew that the advancing technology of the mid-nineteenth century was
applied by the Powells of Whitefriars to the making of new table glass based
on the designs of Venice a few centuries earlier, perhaps that they pioneered
the development of colbured glass for church windows such as had not been
seen since. the fourteenth century.
But in addition to this, we find, they
were the firm of choice for the making of special scientific and medical
glass, and so were the obvious maker to be consulted by Dewar for his first
,
vacuum flasks!
In this century, Powells also made table glass of classical inspiration, as
well
as
items of a totally modern kind, both before and, until the last years
before the firm finally closed, after the second world war.
All this is to
be Seen, along with ornaments, chandeliers, decorative windows, mosaic panels
and a fine assembly of equipment and pictures of the productive processes.
There is also a very great deal to read, and this you have to do as you stand
in front of the cases.
It would be such a great advantage to have some of
this written material in take-away form, to study between visits and to keep
for the future.
But, at present, there is no catalogue, or book to save for
posterity the content of this extraordinarily interesting exhibition.
RW
ODITUARY.
It is with sadness that we have to report the death of
Mr. J. Bernard Ferret who passed away on 23rd December 1987 aged 89.
Until shortly before his death, he was senior partner of Delomosne &
Son Ltd.,
the glass and porcelain businesu which was started by his
mother in 1905,
and which he joined immediately after the 1914-18 War,
about the time that the firm moved to its present address in
Campden Hill Road, Kensington.
Bernard Ferret was active in public life and was President of
The British Antique Dealert’ Association in
1938
–
9.
He continued
to serve on the council of the Association and was awarded its medal
for Distinguished
Service in 1954
Only last year, he was made an
Honorary Member, an honour he viewed with great personal pleasure.
He also served with great distinction on the Executive Committee
of the Antique Dealers’ Fair. His firm
having exhibited from the
outset in 1934, he himself was instrumental in reviving this prestige
event as soon as possible alter the last War,
in
1947.
He served as
Chairman from 1954-8, and continued on the committee until 1975.
Married in 1926, he lived in the same house in Kensington from then to
the day of his death. His first wife, Marcia, died in 1977 and after
a few years he married a second time, Betty. Meanwhile, Delomosne’s
continues in the hands of Martin Mortimer. and Tim Osborne, who will
no doubt, fill the vacuum with distinction, serving and supporting all
glass collectors.
J.T.
ITELLIIISMLIAV. •
Following the report on the Reception and Private View of Lalique glass’
and prints prior to the sale in October by Bonham of Knightsbridge,’
we now give you a summary of the sale itself. The items offered .
produced lively bidding at this fourth annual
auction-dedicated to
French
art nouveau. Bids came fast from a company of predominantly.
French and American collectors and dealers. At the first Lalique sale
four years ago Bonhama produced a total of f66,500. At thin last one
the final figure cansto £314,000 against the pre-sale estimate of
£240,000, most times selling Tar,
above their estimate’s with only 7%
remaining unsold.
Two vases fetched top prices (one bought by the
Gallerie Moderne of London for .016,060 against an estimate of £8,000
to £12,000).
The other, a large frosted vase with dahlia designs,
estimated at £5,000 to £7,000 fetching £11,550. An American collector,
Mr. M. Kagan paid £8,140 for a figure of
.a shapely glass maiden.
A most successful sale well attended by a chic and fashionably turned
out crowd. One wonders what
the results would have been with
“Black Monday” proceeding this sale.
J.T.
4
►
•
GLASS OF THE CAESARS
An Exhibition at the British Museum until March 6th 1988
Admission to this exhibition is £1 50 (50p concessionary) and the
gallery closes approximatply 30 minutes before the main
.
museum.
CATALOGUE: 111950 (museum);
£25 00 (bookshops)
For background information, we reproduce below an account
–
of the
exhibition from the Museum’s press statement:
This exhibition of glass from the Roman Imperial Age (late 1st. century BC
to mid-Gth century AD) is the first ever major international event devoted
to Roman glass. Already described in the *United .States where it has been
showing at the Corning Museum as ‘the art show of this half-century’, the
exhibition-
,
combines no less than fifty of are best Roman glasses from each
of three leading . collections, those of the British . Museum., the Corning
Museum of Glass and the RiimIsch-Germanisches Museum In Cologne. The Italian
Museum authorities have also lent outstanding glasses which have never •
previously been seen outside Italy. Presented by Olivetti, the exhibition
has been designed by Alan Irvine and incorporates many advanced features
particularly in the design of the showcases which use _the latest
developments in glass technology, including non-reflective glass. The
showcase lighting system has been specially developed, . for the exhibits.
The Romans were the most accomplished glass-makers of the ancient world.
Although they had inherited a tradition of luxury glass-making from the
cast Mediterranean, they transformed the art from about 5013C by the
discovery that glass could be blown. This enormous advance meant that for
the first time glass could be produced quickly and cheaply. Even so the
Romans did not confine themselves to making glass for everyday purposes
decorated luxury glasses for wealthy patrons were produced by artist-
craftsmen to a standard which, after
.
the collapse of the Roman Empire, was
not to be equalled for over 1000 years.
Particularly notable in the exhibition arc the cameo-glasses and cage-cups.
The early imperial cameo-glasses were Inspired by the tradition of relief-
cutting banded semi-precious stones. The Portland Vase, one , of the British
Museum’s most famous treasures, will be seen for the first and only time
side by side with the beautiful Blue. Vase from Pompeii, the sole comparable
surviving cameo-vessel. The cage-cups arc cups and bowls enclosed in an
open-work net, cut with fantastic intricacy from a single piece of glass.
These include not only the supreme Lycurgus Cup but also the magnificent
Cologne and Trlvulzio cage-cups.
In addition the exhibition shows many of the best examples of. the Roman
glass-makers’ art in arr astonishing variety of forms. Whether Made by
casting or blowing, a wide range -.of techniques was employed in their
decoration, such as trailing, cutting, engraving or gilding. Fragile,
almost miraculous survivors from antiquity, they all bear testimony to the
skill and inventiveness of their creators.
5
GLASS CIRCLE GOLDEN JUBILEE SEASON
RECEPTION
AT “G L A S S OF THE CAESAR S”
On Tuesday, 15th December, 1987, by kind invitation of the British
Museum and the Society of Antiquaries, members of the Glass Circle
joined glass
historians for a special reception at the exhibition.
All who attended were most appreciative of this special opportunity
to view an exhibition of outstanding interest, staged to make a
brilliant impact on all who enter Room 49.
The exhibits are
luminous
not only in fame and historic significance but are also
possessed of a physical luminosity that enchants the senses.
The
captions are magnificently presented, adding even more interest to
every aspect of the exhibition.
We should like to reiterate the thanks of the Glass Circle for the
opportunity to share the privilege of a unique
viewing.
CATALOGUE
“Glass of the Caesars” by Donald B. Harden
The “Book of the Exhibition” is not actually called a
catalogue, probably because it is this and so much
more.
It .has a large page size (gins X 10.25ins),
over 300 pages, nearly 200 colour plates, showing every
item, some from several angles, and a large number of
line drawincls which immensely help in understanding the
details of construction and decoration.
The text of the book, written by Donald B. Harden and
.three co-authors, contains
riches equal to those of
the
illustrations.
Each item is described and comented
upon, and each group of objects has its introduction,
discussing both facts and hypotheses about many
relevant matters, including dates, techniques of
manufacture and owners and their lives.
The whole represents an unsurpassed treasury of
scholarship on Roman glass, which most glass lovers
will want to possess. Even at the bookshop price
(E25) this
book is
outstanding value for money.
If
you go to’the British Museum to see the exhibition
again (and who could stay away!) you can buy “GlaSs of
the Caesars” at the special price of E19 50, and so
preserve the clearest possible memory of thiS
epoch-making exhibition
RW
BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES IN GLASS.
Whilst museums and collectors approach the subject of glass mainly from
the historical or artistic angle, the
fascination of this translucent,
transparent, reflective and refractive substance is gradually transformirg
our cities in its novel and varied uses by
architects and builders.
Adding to my own
very limited
knowledge of the subject I have exteneively
drawn on, and am quoting from, an
article in Vision by Marina Vaizey.
The following brief summary is meant to be a footbridge into a field not
normally entered by the average lover or collector of glass. It is
obviously a territory reserved for the creative architect, builder and
town planner, yet of interest to all lovers of glass.
By
the first century A.D., small glass window panes existed in Italy.
Glass making expanded with the extension of the Roman Empire, coming
north west through Germany, France and Britain and west as far as Spain.
The characteristic high aet form for glass in the Middle Ages was stained
glass. Small pieces of highly coloured translucent glass set in metal strips
was made into windows and found in the great cathedrals of the Middle
Ages
and the early Renaissance.
Some of the moat beautiful ones are to be found
in Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, the cathedrals of Chartree and Le :lens,
Canterbury and York. The oldest are probably the eleventh century windows
in Augsberg. Mirrors made of silvered glass were a much later development,
made by a secret process by the highly skilled gJass-makers of sixteenth
century Venice. Mirrors
and windows made by various
methods have become
identified with
modernity.
The glass
building itself is a product of
twentieth century
high technology, created from the best quality thick
sheet glass. As the phrase suggests, sheet glass as made mostly in huge
flat sheets by various processes. The moat amazing one was invented by
Pilkington Brothers less than 30 ysare ago and is best known as
float glass.
Architects of this century and the last have
been absolutely fascinated
by the use of glass as a building material. The Victorian architect most
closely identified with the idea of building glean houses was Sir Joseph Paxton,
(1803-1865). He invented the “ridge and furrow” roof for greenhouses using
this method for the construction of the Great Conservatory and the Lily House
at Chatsworth for the Duke of Devonehire. The Crystal Palace, erected in
Hyde Park in
1851 for the Great Exhibition, was at the time the largest
building in
i
any material ever built. Incidentally, it was visited by over
six million people. (No traffic Jame?). Iron-framed, flat-roofed, it was
made from pre-fabricated parts and it is thought the building contained
something over 300,000 panes of glass. Victorian railway stations
characteristically had great roofs of glass, as did Victorian art galleries
with their typically top lit glass rocs.,
In our century glass in identified with city skyscrapers, the art gallery
and the domestic house; yes, people are building glass houses to be lived in.
Like stone, wood and brick, glass has become a building material in its own
right. Curiously enough, city centres in particular are places of
shifting reflections which we identify with the idea of shopping. The
department stores, with their huge plate glass windows have accuotomed us
to enormous expanses of glass, which in turn have beoome associated
with luxury and opulence.
Paris, for example, is
currently going through a
Government-sponsored
cultural renaissance, identified in many instances with new buildings
for cultural institutions. Prime among
these new
artifacts is a gigantic
pyramid, designed by the Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei. Controversial,
exciting, it will provide en entirely new approach system for the Louvre.
The Louvre is, of courses
not just a museum, but it is the former Royal
Palace and a potent symbol for
Paris. The glass pyramid, scheduled
for
completion within two years, will be a symbol for the bicentenary of the
French Revolution.
Equally potent in its way is Pei’s great use of huge sheets of glass in roofs,
in walls and entrances and with interesting comparatively miniature pyramids
in the vast soaring atrium of the East Building (1978)
of Washiegton’e
National Gallery.
On a much more modest scale is the
four-storey glass wall of Cesar Pelli’s
new extension (1984)
for New York’s Museum of Modern Art, which faces on
to the
museum’s sculpture garden.
Cultural institutions are often flag carriers. It was a symbol of West
Berlin’s
regeneration that it built an enormous glass pavillion (1.968) as its New
National Gallery (functionally it is understood not to be very successful
in terms of its purpose as a museum). It was built by Mies
van der
Rohe,
who is more than most others, Identified with the glass skyscraper.
Incidentally,
it was a glass skyscraper building designed by
him for
the Mansion House Square in the City of Landon, which has recently been
the subject of years of controversy before its final failure to gain planning
permission.
This failure, however, must not obscure
the
success of a true
glass
masterpiece, the bronzed classical Seagram Building in New York, which
was built by him in collaboration with the
American architect Philip Johnson.
Whilst Johnson has built many skyscrapers, his most famous creation is his
very own glass house. It is one of the most photographed glass houses
anywhere
and is his “country house” in New Canaan in Connecticut.
London now has a
futuristic glass tower, the new Lloyd’s building, completed
in 1986 by Richard Rogers. It was imagined as a sparkling glass house,
reflecting and refracting light through its semi-opaque textured bottle glass
with a vast atrium and
walls of glass throughout, except
for the six aluminium
towers. Other creations by Rogers include the Centre Pompidou (1977),
better
known as Deaubourg, probably the most famous building in Paris with more
visitors than the Eiffel Tower. It is a five-storey building, entirely
of glass, so much so that internal walls have had to be built to accommodate
the National Museum of Modern Art within. He also built a house designed
by Pierre Chareau almost entirely of glass bricks.
Mention must be made of Norman Foster, currently of international fame, for
using glass with great
imagination and creativity. His Willis Faber building
(1975)
in Ipswich is a free form in glass on its own island site. Lit at night
it is like a great incandescent jewel.
Similarly impressive is
the Sainsbury
Centre at the Unieersity of EaEA Anglia (1978),
a vast silvery metal construction
with huge glans walls. The Renault Centre in Swindon (1983), considered by
Foster
to be
the most sculpturally expressive of his buildings, using glass
and vast yellow metal struts.
Whilst glans and its technology have made possible an astonishing variety
of buildings, hand-made stained and decorative glass has continued its rapid
advance in new directions. Victorian and Edwardian
stained glass, a legacy
8
of William Morris and his ideals of craftsmanship, was allied to Art Nouveau
stained glass and finally to Art Deco glass. The pressure group Art and
Architecture is continually seeking new partnerships between artists and
architects and the use of decorated and decorative glass seems one of the most
fruitful areas for further development.
For all the monuments of and in glass
around us, its use will continue to be pioneered in new and unexpected ways.
We can expect to see many more glowing, flashing light-filled glass structures
in the future.
NEW BOOK
PERFUME AND POMANDERS By Edmund Launert
This lavishly illustrated book by a distinguished Glass Circle member has been
translated from the German and published in English by Potterton Books.
It
relates the story of the use of perfumes for personal, religious and medicinal
purposes throughout the centuries.
As well as dealing with flacons, the book
describes brule-parfums, scented gloves, pomanders, etuis, necessaires and all
the other paraphernalia of perfumery.
The carrying of scent bottles became fashionable during the Renaissance and the
great glass houses of Venice enriched this fashion with their designs.
In the
18th and 19th centuries porcelain came into use and, with mass production,
designs became more mundane.
It was not until the Art Nouveau and Art Deco
periods that designers such as Rene Lalique and Maurice Marinot began to create
scent bottles that were also works of art in glass.
The book, size 8.25×8.5 inches, is lavishly illustrated with examples taken
from the comprehensive Sehwarzkopf Collection in Steinhorst and the Museum fur
Kunst and Gewerbe in Hamburg as well as from private collections.
The price
is £29.95, available from Potterton Books, The Old Rectory, Sessay, Nr. ThirsK,
North Yorks., Y07 3LZ
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Mr and Mrs C.J. Brain of Salisbury write to say that they have for some time
been collating information on excavated fragments of English seventeenth
century drinking glasses, in an attempt to understand the history of glass of
this period. They would be pleased to hear from anyone who has or knows of
such fragments.
They would also like to hear views on why there appears to be a strong Dutch
connection in both extant and excavated lead glass material of the late
seventeenth century.
Though it is difficult to arrive at a clear picture of
what material has been excavated in Holland, they say, it does appear that
some of the lead-glass finds can be matched exactly with British finds, whilst
others match extant glasses , but have no parallel from British excavations.
Their address is: 10, College Street,
SALISBURY,
Wilts. SP13AL.
STRANGE AND RARE at St Helens
After its highly successful “run” at Broadfield House
ended in December, our Golden Jubilee Exhibition took to
the road and headed north.
On Friday, January 8th, four
members of the Glass Circle joined Ian Burgoyne and his
team at the Pilkington Glass Museum to help settle it into
its new quarters.
It was very interesting for us to see how the exhibition,
which we had all admired in its Broadfield House format,
could take on another life within the quite different
display facilities in the Lecture Room at Pilkingtons.
Most of the cabinets are set against the wall, so a new
kind of relationship is possible between the items on the
shelves and behind them.
The lighting is most excellent.
Besides the glass paintings and posters (that members will
have seen before) on these walls, the exhibition has been
enriched by two items from the Pilkington collections.
There is a leaded glass window showing the coat of arms of
the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Glass painters,
presented to celebrate a visit in 1981, and – a veritable
Royal Connection – a mirror silvered by Caroline of
Brunswick, during a visit to the glass factory in 1805,
when she was Princess of Wales!
Also, alongside the
exhibition, a series of five fascinating prints of the
interior of the Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition of
1851 is on show.
A few items are no longer included. The Saxon bucket and
the Babylonian clay tablet have returned to their lenders,
although a Pilkington-owned clay tablet is on show to
replace it.
The Glass Circle memorabilia form a smaller
group than before, and items 16, 90, 94, 186, 216 and
254-259 have been withdrawn.
RW
SEE THE EXHIBITION at ST HELENS until APRIL 5th
Weekends and Bank Holidays: 2 00 to 4 30 p.m.
Weekdays: 10 00 a.m. to 5 00 p.m.
OPEN THROUGH EASTER
TEXT OF THE BABYLONIAL CLAY TABLET c. 1400 BC
(British Museum loan)
The earliest and most complete account of a glassmaking
process – the manufacture of red glass.
Members may like to know that the text, simplified from
the translation by A. Leo Oppenheim, reads:
To make Assyrian red-stone glass add to each mina of primary glass 10
shekels of lead, 15 shekels of copper, 1 shekel of anzahhu glass and
half shekel of antimony.
To make Akkadian red-stone glass add to each mina of primary glass one
sixth shekel of lead, 10 shekels of copper, 1 shekel of antimony and 1
shekel of anzahhu glass.
While each batch is melting remove it twice from the immediate heat of
the furnace; the third time remove it completely and add ‘bashaltu’.
Bring it to the boil again in another crucible and if it looks like
‘parutu-stone’ do not worry.
Fuse together the Assyrian and Akkadian red-stone glasses and add to
each mina of the hot mass 1.5 shekels of primary glass, 7.5 shekels of
anzahhu glass, 7.5 shekels of copper and 7.5 shekels of lead all
ground finely in one operation.
Remove this batch only once from the
immediate heat of the furnace and then take it out and allow it to
cool completely.
During this proceedure the fire should be strong
and the smoke
and clear.
Pour the mixture into another
crucible and scatter on it ‘Cumin-seed’ stone and
Test the
viscosity of the molten glass with the tip of the tongs and lower or
raise the crucible as necessary.
Allow the glass to cool.
If the
‘dipu’-holes show ‘parutu’-texture do not worry because inside the
clay cover is indeed red-stone glass.
If the red-stone glass exudes copper and copper dust mix into it, for
each mina, 10 shekels of primary glass, one twelfth shekel each of
copper, lead and ‘anzahhu’-glass, but no antimony and then inspect it.
During the mixing you
and then remove it.
According to Lee-kali SAZU, son of Ussur
–
an-Marduk,
scribe of Marduk, a native of Babylon.
Month AB.E, 24th day in the year after Gulkisar
became king.
CATALOGUE UPDATE ON “STRANGE AND RARE”
January 1988
Our Exhibition and catalogue have excited a number of
comments, mostly of a complimentary nature!
A few errors
have come to light, and additional information on some of
the exhibits.
The single exhibit which seems to have attracted most
attention is No. 13, the Victorian Collector’s Cabinet of
Roman glass fragments, remarkable in that the collection
has remained vi-rtually intact for well over 100 years.
The date of the collection can now be inferred from the
information that the gold-faced tape surrounding some of
the fragments is of a type used in Venice, for only a
short period in the 1860
9
s, to enhance saleability at a
time when a large quantity of fragments came onto the
market.
It is always dangerous to suggest that any piece of
glassware is unique.
The description of the baluster
ale flute, No. 35, as the only recorded glass of this
configuration has stimulated a letter drawing attention to
an excavated fragment of a similar glass in-the London
Museum (No. A28267), together with another with similar
stem and round-funnel bowl.
More predictable is the discovery of a second example of
the amber pressed plate, No 179, in the West Midlands, in
the private’Collection of a friend of a friend that I was
invited to view as .a result of the exhibition.
Our member Peter. Elliman has confirmed that No. 219 is
indeed a lamp-base.
Basildon House, the National Trust
property at Pangbourne, near Reading, has twq-lamp-bases
of this pattern.
The printmaker after whom the scene was
drawn is called Aiken, not Aitken, as printed.
We have printed these notes in a format
that
will fit
into the catalogUe when folded.
The four-sided facet-stem wine, No. 69, presents an
interesting problem.
This design might represent part of
the initial diversity found in the early phase of cut
stems, or it might be a late example of after-cutting a
plain stem.
The after-cut stems usually look noticeably
thin, unlike the known four-sided examples, one of, which
is in the Nottingham Castle Museum.
The wheel-engraved
design on our specimen is more commonly associated with
air-twist stems and, for this reason, the earlier date of
1745 was attributed. Surprisingly, when I went to collect
exhibits from one of our members, another four-sided facet
peered out at me from his cabinet!
However, it is not
clear whether this increases the number of known examples
to five, or whether it was one sold not long ago at
auction and already counted.
The owner of the Steuben frog, which we faithfully
researched in the definitive work on this firm, tells us
that this one is actually a pre-production model,
differing from the normal design on the underside, and
dates from the 1950’s rather than 1974.
The description of No. 199 tells us that aventurine
contains “glittering spangles of gold”.
The spangles
are, of course, copper, although the appearence is golden.
There is no gold in aventurine.
Finally, as a footnote to the historical introduction in
the catalogue, our Hon. Secretary has received a letter
from Mr J. Malcolm Graham of Torquay, in which he says:
“I am not quite a founder member, as John
(Bacon) had gone to Pooley Bridge after his
flat in Earls Court had been damaged by the
London bombing.
The Circle was then
suspended when I spoke to him at that time.
“I shall be 81 at Christmas, and I am
wondering if I am the oldest member now
D.C.W.