The Glass Cone_No.111 Spring-Summer 2017

Contents

20th-century Diamond-Point Glass Engravers

5 90th Birthday Paperweights

6 Isle of Wight Glass Museum

A Delightful Story

Designing and Building the Naval Service Memorial

10 The Fascinating World of Japanese Cut Glass

11 Paul Ysart Snake Weight

12 Rock Pools

13 Cruising With Glass

14 Catherine Hough – Glass Artist

16 Bimini glass revealed

18 Pink Tons

19 The British Glass Foundation Fundraising Appeal

22 Paolo Venini and his Furnace

25 18th Century Reproduction Glass: Acceptable or Confusing

28 Glass Engraving as an Art

33 An Interesting Decorative Technique

34 Book Review

35 Member’s Query

36 What’s On

37 Members News

Chairman’s message

The Glass Cone

THE MAGAZINE OF THE GLASS ASSOCIATION
Issue No: 111 – Spring/Summer 2017

Editor: Brian Clarke [email protected]

Editorial Board
Brian Clarke, Bob Wilcock

Address for
Glass Cone

correspondence

E-mail [email protected]

or mail to Glass, 7 The Avenue, London N3 2LB
E-mail news & events to [email protected]

Articles and news items are welcome at any time,
but please bear in mind the copy dates if you have

an event you would like to be publicised.

The opinions expressed in the
Glass Cone
are those

of the contributors. The aim of the Editorial Board is

to cover a range of interests, ideas and opinions,

which are not necessarily their own. The decision of

the Editorial Board is final.

Copy dates

Spring: 15 February – publication 1 May

Summer: 15 June – publication 1 September
Winter: 1 October – publication 1 January

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Please contact [email protected]

Design by Mike Pearson

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Printed in the UK by Warners (Midlands) plc

Published by The Glass Association
ISSN No.0265 9654

The Glass Association
Registered as a Charity No.326602

Website: www.glassassociation.org.uk

Life President:
Charles Hajdamach

[email protected]

Chairman:
Dr Brian Clarke

[email protected]

Hon. Secretary:
Judith Gower

[email protected]

Membership Secretary

Maurice Wimpory,150 Braemar Road,

Sutton Goldfield, West Midlands, B73 6LZ

[email protected]

Committee
Nigel Benson; Paul Bishop (Vice-Chairman);

Christina Glover; Alan Gower; Mike Pearson; Bob

Wilcock;

David Willars (Vice-Chairman); Cordelia Jackson:
Maurice Wimpory (Treasurer)

Membership and subscriptions

UK: Individual: £25. Joint: £35.

Student with NUS card: £15. Institutions: £45.

Overseas: Individual or Joint £35. Institutions £55.

Life: £350.

Subscriptions due on 1 August (if joining May-July,

subscriptions valid until 31 July, the following year)

Cover illustrations

Front: A Kiku vase by Ermano Toso for Fratelli
Toso circa 1956. The body formed from

monochrome floral murrine.

Back: The Old Testament in glass. Adam & Eve,

the snake and apple. By Fritz Lampl.
This edition of The Glass Cone covers a

broad sweep of interest in glass from the

19th century to the present day. James

O’Fallon’s 1885 article on glass engraving
gives an in depth explanation of the

techniques then used while Bill Millar
completes his research into 20th century
diamond-point engraved glass. We then

look at differing opinions on the value of re-
creating the designs of 18th century English
drinking glasses. Shouldn’t we be delighted

with the ‘Golden Age’ of English glass and

not denied the pleasure of drinking out of

18th century copies which are pleasing to

the eye, affordable and comfortable to
hold? The article examines the question,
“how difficult is it to spot the difference”.

The cover picture of the Kiku vase by

Ermano Toso and the article on Paolo Venini

offer an insight into the Italian flair for
design, often using techniques handed

down from father to son. Looking at the

development of Catherine Hough’s work

opens a window onto the magic and

flexibility of glass that motivates a talented

individual to create glass forms that
continues to enchant and captivate

onlookers, collectors, artists and designers.

As Sam Herman would say, have an idea,
start heating and blowing, moulding and

turning and see where the idea takes you.
This year, we’ve been putting together

more events around the country — to give

everyone a chance to join in with fellow
glass enthusiasts without having to travel

too far. Later this year, I hope to see many of

you at our meeting at Christchurch Mansion
in Ipswich and then at our study day and

AGM in Ely (see the booking flyers in this

issue). We already have an outline of the

2018 programme; do consider putting time
aside for our trip to Italy and the South of

France. The next magazine, due at the end

of this year, will be a joint issue between

ourselves and the GC; this will further the
direction we’ve both already taken together,

in inviting the members of each association

to meetings. I will be standing down as the

Chairman of the Glass Association at this
coming AGM; steering the Association

through the last ten years has been
immensely gratifying even if at times
challenging. The opportunity to engage with

the glass community has made it an

outstanding journey for me. The committee

members, GA members and friends have all

helped to enrich my knowledge and

appreciation of glass. Thank you.

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

20th-century Diamond-Point Glass

Engravers

A SUBJECTIVE REVIEW – PART 2
Bill
Millar

fig.1: A

charming

engraving of

a blue tit on

a Dartington
posy bowl.

The
engraver

has

managed to

produce a

range of

textures to
good effect.

fig.2: Wee

Willie

Winkie
running

through the
`toon’, drill

engraved

with point

detail by

John

McLauchlin

Part 1 of this article introduced

diamond-point engraving from its

early days and described the work
of diamond-point engravers from

the beginning through to the third
quarter of the 20th century. Most

notably, the engravers Lawrence
Whistler and William Wilson

effectively reinvented the medium.

Together, they inspired and

continue to inspire new generations

of glass engravers: Whistler

through exhibitions of his books

and superb engraving on glass,
Wilson through his creation of

thousands of pieces of engraved
glass at accessible prices.

B
efore

examining

the

consequences of their

inspiration, two other factors which

influenced the development of line

engraving during the latter half of

the

century

must

acknowledged: these were
economic and technological
development. In 1957, commenting

on the post-war economic boom,

Prime Minister Harold Macmillan
said “most of our people have

never had it so good”. The buying
public increasingly had money to

spare for non-essentials and

increasing numbers of craft
studios, gift shops and craft fairs,

virtually unknown in 1950, offered

outlets for this type of work.

Increasing numbers of craft
workers were also able to make

some or all of their income from

engraving glass.
Diamond-point engraving has

little dependence on technology, so
the 1963 speech by Prime Minister
Harold Wilson concerning the white

heat of technological development

might not be considered
significant.

However,

the
development of tungsten-tipped

engraving tools reduced costs.

Hand held electric engraving
drills offered completely new

opportunities, as unlike David

Peace, not everyone has a
dentist who will let them borrow

their drill to engrave glass! The

hand-held drill can produce a
wider range of effects and a few

engravers

employ

both

techniques. Line engraving can
be likened to drawing with a 4H

pencil. A fine, hard line or dot is

the only product possible. A drill
can produce a variety of finishes

from deep cutting to soft

shading and even polishing.

Excluded from this article are
engravers who used a drill for
the decoration and point-

engraving for their signature.

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

been carried out

using a drill but
some of the detail

such as the
beams of light

around the candle

and the street
light, and the
window on the top

left,

point-

engraved. Even

his signature on

the base, “J

McLaughlin
1986”,

was

engraved

mechanically. In
addition to the
engraved
signature there is

a sticker on the
base

which

announces that
the glass was
“Hand engraved in

Scotland by John
McLaughlin”.

Other engravers

have

also

employed

avian theme. At fig

3 “Stu” has

engraved a wren
and a heron on
what are probably

1960s

tulip-

shaped

wine

glasses

and

signed his name

on the side of the
bowl. There are

three of each bird

making a set of 6
glasses.

Presumably the
link between the

two birds is that

they represent the
largest and the
smallest British
birds. His work

lacks the delicacy
of the bird at fig.1,
but the set of

glasses would

have made a
useful if not an

artistically refined

fig.3: Heron

and Wren

engraved
by “Stu”

fig.4:
Kestrel by

D Hurley.

The

engraver

has clearly

used some
force to

make the

lines, which

have
responded

with a

fractured

edge; this

suits the

subject.

The output of point-engraved

glass in the second half of the

century grew rapidly to encompass

a new category: namely the low-
cost, attractive gift or souvenir,
frequently of indifferent artistic

merit.
A technological development

which came too late to help with

this article is the internet and World

Wide Web which was invented in

1989. Today, this may be of use as
a marketing tool for engravers but
came too late to gather
biographical

information

engravers. Few of the engravers
discussed in this article are either

mentioned in glass publications or
have entries on the web. As a
result, while most of the illustrated
examples shown are signed,
biographical details are very limited

if not non-existent.
Most of my pieces were made

throughout the third quarter of the
century. This does not mean that

engraving diminished towards the
end of the century: rather, it means

that the people who either bought
engraved glass, or had pieces
given to them as presents are still

alive and enjoying them. They will,

inevitably, be recycled and

available to collectors in due
course.

So much for social and

technological developments: what

about the glass? The little dish at

fig.1 is a simple engraving of a blue
tit (or another of the tit family). It is
charmingly executed and the
inverted posture of the bird is in
keeping with the overhang of the lip

of the dish. The engraver has not

signed the dish although it is
perfectly possible that it originally

had a pre-printed sticker with the

engraver’s details. All told, this little
dish represents all that is best in

gift glassware even if it has limited

artistic merit. It was no doubt
treasured for the memories it
evoked of a time, place or person.
A charming and humorous

engraving of Wee Willie Winkie,
which does have a name sticker,

was produced by John McLaughlin

on a rather ordinary tumbler at

fig.2. Most of the engraving has

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

fig.6: (above) Three airtwist glasses. From the left, a wild rose by Irene Roxburgh, drill

and point engraved. The centre glass is a simple but most effective cricket themed

engraving by A Basson. On the right is an armorial camel superbly point-engraved by
Jenny Hill-Norton.

fig.5: Badger

by Susan

Blow.

fig.7: Detail

from Irene

Roxburgh’s
glass in
fig.6,

showing the
different

effects of
drill and

point

engraving.

present.

At fig.4 a kestrel or other small

raptor is represented. The line,

when seen through a glass, is

jagged and has clearly been
created with a degree of force. The
anger represented by such a line

may be appropriate to a bird of
prey but need not be transmitted to

the stump on which the bird rests.

The glass is signed “DH” on the
bowl and “Dr Hurley 77” on the

underside of the foot.
A badger is the next member of

the natural world to make an

appearance at fig.5. The underside
of the foot is signed “Susan Blow

1977 No 83”. There is some stipple
engraving amongst the line work.

However, the badger lacks impact
and, for such a heavy creature, has
been suspended too high on the

side of the glass. No doubt it was

appreciated as a memento or
present but for me the glass would

be of greater value without the
decoration!
fig.6,

the

left-hand

glass

continues the nature theme with a

wild rose engraved by Irene

Roxburgh in 1979 (name and date

engraved on underside of foot).

She has used point engraving to
draw the fine line outlines of the

petals and a hand drill to create the
`fuzzy’ infill; the two techniques can

be seen quite clearly at fig.7. The
effect is most attractive, allowing

the piece to be valued as a high
quality item.
The right-hand glass at fig.6

could also be counted as a part of

the natural group. However, it will
be seen that the camel is actually

an heraldic crest for the Worshipful

Company of Grocers. It was stipple
engraved by Jenny Hill-Norton in

1981 and signed “AJH-N 1981” on

the underside of the foot. Other
glasses from the same set were not

signed. Jenny, a member of the

Guild of Glass Engravers, has
displayed considerable skill to
produce an item with great impact.
The central glass in fig.6 takes us

to the world of sport with a simple,

most effective design. The
underside of the foot is signed “A
Basson Glos 1988”.
I have not been able to find

biographical detail on any of the

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

fig.8: Two

commemorati

ve glasses by

Claire Rome.
One for the

Prince of
Wales

Investiture

and the other
for Apollo 11.

fig.9: (left) A

St John’s

Ambulance
presentation

glass,

superbly

engraved on

a Cumbria

Crystal blank

“Elmhurst”.

fig.10: (far

right) A Stuart

Ariel blank,

outstandingly

engraved by
Bernard York

for the

Queen’s

Silver

Wedding.

engravers mentioned above.

However, Claire Rome is listed as a

stipple engraver by Barbara
Norman in her book “Glass

Engraving”. In the two examples at

fig.8 Clare used both line and drill
engraving. The left-hand glass,
which commemorates the

investiture of the Prince of Wales in

1969, is the only royal

commemorative I have ever seen

which gives a sense of movement,
displayed by the way the plumes

have been depicted: the apparent

movement of the plumes
demonstrating how drill engraving

can produce a softer effect than

line engraving. The eagle on the

Apollo 11 glass is less successfully

drawn and looks as if it might have

trouble taking off, far less getting to

the moon and back! The Prince of
Wales goblet is signed “Clare

Rome 18” and the Apollo 11 glass
“Clare Rome No12”, both on the

underside of the foot.
Staying with commemoratives,

fig.9 is a handsome Cumbria

Crystal blank engraved as a
presentation piece for “TFB” for

service from 1971 to 1982. The

front of the bowl is decorated with

the badge of St John’s Ambulance
and the unicorns and lions have

been meticulously produced. The

glass is signed under the foot
“Elmhurst 1469 1982.” The figure

1469 would suggest Elmhurst was
a prolific engraver. The quality of
his workmanship would point,

hopefully, to a successful career.
A royal commemorative for The

Queen’s Silver Wedding in 1972 is
shown at fig.10. This large Stuart
goblet was engraved by a most

competent Bernard M York, 10

Tellisford Lane, Norton St Philip,
Bath BA3 6LL. His printed card
which accompanied this glass
points to a professional approach

to his work. The lightness of touch
displayed by Bernard York is such

that I am sure that William Wilson

himself would have complimented

him on his talent.

One category of point engraving

not illustrated here but occasionally
seen, is that of military badges

produced by nostalgic ex-

servicemen for their own use. All of

those I have seen look as if they
were engraved with a sharpened 6

inch nail on a factory produced
glass. Entirely without artistic merit,

these glasses represent something
much more important — the

memory of service in a military

force quite possibly on active
service.

Together, the glasses illustrated

in this article demonstrate the wide

range of diamond-point engraving
produced during the last half of the

20th century. They range from the

frankly indifferent to the extremely

good. The development of the

hand held drill has diverted many
engravers away from point
engraving and it is impossible to

guess what their output would have

been had they used point

engraving.

Point engraving is alive and

reasonably well, even if much of the
output is unlikely to be of interest to
collectors. Engravers with the skills

of Whistler and Wilson have yet to
present themselves. Ambitious

engravers may increasingly transfer

their skills to use a hand held drill

for the wider range of effects it
offers. It would be foolish to predict

how point engraving will develop in
the future but it is likely to be with

4
THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Queen Elizabeth II

90th Birthday Paperweights
Richard M Giles

fig.1: QE 11

90th Birthday

weight

fig.2:

Enlargement

showing 90

cane

fig.3:

Enlargement
showing ER

cane

I n Cone 109 I finished my article

on the paperweight issued to

mark Elizabeth II becoming the
longest-reigning British monarch

hinting

that

another

commemorative weight to mark her

90th birthday in 2016 might be
coming from Michael Hunter of

Twists Glass. After speaking to him
he revealed that he had been asked
to produce some further special
canes that if approved by Goviers

could be included in some weights

to mark the momentous occasion.
Having the advance information

meant that we could keep an eye
open for any brochure arriving

through the letter box and hopefully
get an order in quickly if, as

previously, the numbers of weights

were to be strictly limited. As it

turned out, there wouldn’t be
problem as the issue was to be

a maximum of thirty weights

and all would contain two
Goviers’ exclusive canes,

featured in the enlargements

fig.2 and fig.3. However, only
the first fourteen close-pack

millefiori weights that were

featured in the brochure also
contained one of the complex

crown canes used in the
Longest Reign weights plus

another five canes featuring a
corgi, dove, pansy and red and
white Clichy-style roses. Of the

fourteen close-packs, six would
be two and three-quarter inches

in diameter, four would be

magnums at three and three-
quarter inches and the final four
would be mushroom-shaped

weights where the white stave

canes that form the mushroom

stalk are carried up to form the

outer ring of canes around the
close-packed canes in the

centre of the mushroom-

shaped top.
Responding quickly did at

least enable us to have the

choice from the first fourteen

weights illustrated and after

much debate we went for one
of the six standard-sized
weights which is shown in fig.1.

The brochure stated that the
remaining sixteen weights
could be of different shapes

and with different canes but to
date we haven’t seen any

further information as to exactly
what was produced.

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Isle of Wight Glass Museum

Richard M Giles

o years after our visit to Isle Of

Wight Studio Glass in its new

location within the Arreton Barns

Craft Village, we returned in August
2016 to see the revised studio

layout that now incorporates the

Isle Of Wight Glass Museum.

Before I go any further, I should
point out that although the

museum is located alongside the
glass studio which has obviously

involved co-operation between the
parties, it has no direct association
with Isle of Wight Studio Glass. The

man behind the museum and
owner of most of the glass on
fig.1: The

entrance to
the Glass

Museum

fig.2: (far

right)
Michael

Harris

designs
from the

1950’s and

1960’s

fig.3: (left)

Small bowl
signed

‘Michael

Harris RCA
1967’ on
loan from

the Mark

Hill

collection
display is glass collector

Anton Doroszenko, with the
museum being set up to
display his vast collection of

studio glass, the majority of

which has been made on

the Isle of Wight over the

past forty-plus years, or in

some way has associations
with the island.

The

original

studio

building now has a two-

storey extension on one

side which has created a

new and larger ground floor

display area/shop that is

separate from the working

studio. Behind this new

shop area and accessed

through it is the Glass
Museum (fig.1), for which

there is a small admission

charge. On the first floor are some

further display cases plus an open
space which could be used to host

talks and workshops by visiting

artists or glass experts. As you

approach the museum area there is

a large black and photograph
showing the Isle of Wight Glass

team in the early days, which
includes both Timothy and
Jonathan Harris, then inside the

museum is a large panel detailing
the history of the company.

The museum area walls are lined

with display cases, with a central

island formed of back-to-back
display cases. As one would

expect from the name, the bulk of

the glass on display relates to the

Harris family and is laid out in
chronological order, starting with
Michael Harris designs from the

1950’s and 1960’s (fig.2). The small
bowl (fig.3) is a rare early piece by
Michael Harris, dating from the
genesis of studio glass in the UK.

Now on loan from Mark Hill, it
originally came from the collection

of Ronald Stennett-Willson; Mark
believes that Michael gave it to him

before he left for Malta in late 1967.

This is followed by examples of
Mdina Glass from 1968 to 1972

(fig’s.4 & 5) and then a couple of
cases showing the glass made on

the Isle of Wight in the 1970’s
following their arrival from Malta

(figs.6 & 7). General production
items made in the 1980’s fills the

next case, followed by two cases of

more special pieces of glass
designed by Michael and made by

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

fig.4: (left)

Mdina Glass

1968 to 1972.
Designed and

made

Michael Harris

fig.5: (left)

Mdina Glass

1968 to

1972.

Designed

and made by

Michael

Harris

Timothy Harris during the same

period. More glass from this

collaboration of designer/maker

made during the 1990’s fills the

next case and then finally there are
three cases full of glass made by

Timothy Harris since the start of the

21st century.
Other cases display some of the

glass made by Jonathan Harris
while working on the island and

then items made by him after his
departure from the family business

to set up his own studio in

Ironbridge where he could
concentrate on making the

wonderful hand-carved cameo
glass that you will see if you visit

the National Glass Fairs. The final
case associated with Isle of Wight

Studio Glass displays pieces of
glass made by people such as

Chris Lucas and Pippa d’Arcy.

Chris learnt his glassmaking skills
with the studio and later went on to
set up a short-lived enterprise

called Touch of Glass which I can

remember visiting during one of my

trips to visit relatives on the Isle of
Wight. Pippa d’Arcy worked as an
independent glassmaker on the

island.
The remaining displays cover the

early days of glassmaker Michael

Rayner when he traded as Island
Glass in Totland before relocating

to the Needles Pleasure Park and
changing the name to Alum Bay

Glass, this is where the company

still operates but under different
ownership. Also represented are

the glassmaking skills of Martin

Evans, who formed the Glory Art

Glass Studio in Sandown and
passed his skills and enthusiasm

for glass on to his son Ed who now

runs the studio with Martin in semi-

retirement. Last but by no means
least is a cabinet full of the clever

and exuberant molten glass
creations from Paul Critchley of

Diamond Isle Sculptured Glass
which can also be found within the

Arreton Barns Craft Village.
On the first floor are a few more

display cases containing examples

of continental studio glass from
well-known makers and this area is

obviously a work in progress with

room for expanding the exhibits.
Our overall impression was very

favourable: there was a helpful lady
on hand in the shop who, although

not a glass expert, could give more

information about the museum and

its contents. From a personal point
of view, the areas we found most

interesting and informative were

the displays of Isle of Wight Studio

Glass from the 1970’s to the

1990’s. Over our years of collecting
we have picked up various odd
pieces of good quality glass that

caught our attention but were

without any identifying marks or

labels and visiting the museum

helped identify several of those

pieces.
The Challenge of Setting up

a new Glass Museum

Anton Doroszenko, the creator of

the Isle of Wight Glass Museum,

has added a post-script to Richard

Giles’s article. He says that …
“Richard has highlighted the

growth of the museum in pointing
out that it is a ‘work in progress’. It

applies particularly to the first floor,
where we are building a wide

ranging collection of French,

German, British Art Deco and

Victorian glass.” The museum is
entirely funded by Anton, so he

needs to grow slowly, buying the
better quality items that he expects

to see in the museum. This is, as he

acknowledges, an expensive
endeavour.
The museum has three part-time

staff, two on the retail side to cover

seven day-a-week opening and

one managing the educational
programme. Though early days, the

enthusiasm of two students, taken
on for work experience has been

heartening.

The

remaining

management of the organisation –
obtaining new exhibits and sales
stock, building the museum web

site, organizing events, creating
publicity materials and dealing with

the accounts is totally administered
by Anton. He confesses ‘that it is

quite a challenge for me, since I

have a full-time day job on top of all
the museum work and I live in

Oxfordshire not on the Isle of

fig.6: Bon Bon ‘Candyfloss’ plate and

vase, both very rare, surrounded by
pieces of Firecracker glass

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

13.

‘c
Wight. It’s usual for me to be

working to midnight every day,

seven days a week!’
Considering that the I.O.W.

Glass Museum has only been
open since 19th March 2016, he

feels that the plans are well on
track, but it will take at least five

years to become properly

established and put onto the

tourist map. Watch his museum
web site for developments!

isleofwightglassmuseum.org.uk

The GA wishes him well.

fig.7: Glass designed by Michael
Harris and made by Timothy Harris,

1980’s and 1990’s

A Delightful Story

Dear Reader, as your new designer

I felt embarrassed at making a
‘schoolboy error’ in my first issue of

The Glass Cone. I make no

excuses, but wish to provide you
with the full transcript of the

documents that should have

appeared on page 18 and 19 of
issue 110. My report card would

read ‘could do better’ and I hope

this issue will be delivered without

errors. Mike Pearson

William Breese. 1866-1921

The following is a transcript of the
document outlining the Articles of

Apprenticeship entered into by

William Breese at the age of 19yrs
on 10th March 1885 with Mr Henry

Gething Richardson, Glass
Manufacturer, of Wordsley. The
document is signed by William

Breese, his father Thomas Breese

and by Henry Richardson.

This Indenture witnefseth that
William Breese of the age of

nineteen years, by, and with the
consent of his father Thomas

Breese, of Brettell Lane, in the

parish of Kingswinford and County

of Stafford, Glass Cutter, certified
by his executing these presents

doth put himself Apprentice to

Henry Gething Richardson of

Wordsley in the parish of
Kingswinford and County of

Stafford, Glass Manufacturer, to
learn the art of Glass footmaker
and with him after the manner of an

Apprentice to serve from the day of

the date hereof unto the full End and

Term of Two Year from thence next
following to be fully complete and

ending. During the Term the said

apprentice his master faithfully shall
serve, his secret keep, his lawful

commands everywhere gladly do.

He shall do no damage to his said
Master nor see to be done of others

but to his Power shall tell or forthwith

give warning to his said Master of

the same. He shall not waste the

Goods of his said Master nor lend

them unlawfully to any. He shall not

contract Matrimony within the said
Term nor play at any Cards or Dice

Tables or any other unlawful Games
whereby his said master may have

any loss with his own goods or
others. During the said Term without

Licence to his said Master he shall

neither buy nor sell, he shall not

haunt Taverns or Playhouses nor
absent himself from his Master’s

service day or night unlawfully But in

all things as a fretful Apprentice shall

he behave himself towards his
Master and all during the said Term.

And the said Henry Gething
Richardson shall teach and instruct

or cause to be taught and instructed

his said Apprentice in the Art of a
Glass footmaker which he useth by

the best means that he can, paying

to his said Apprentice the following
wage weekly and from the day of

the date hereof unto the tenth of

march one thousand eight hundred

and eighty six, ten shillings per
week and for the remainder of the

Term eleven shillings per week and

for overwork one shilling per more
over and all time lost from sickness

or any other cause, to be fetched

up or worked out by said

Apprentice. And for the true
performance of all and every

Covenants and Agreements either
of the said Parties bindeth himself

unto the other by these presents.

In Witnefs whereof the parties
above named to these Indentures

interchangeably have put their
Hands and Seals the tenth day of
March and in the forty eighth Year

of the Reign of our Sovereign Lady

Queen Victoria by the Grace of God

of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, Defender of the

Faith and in the Year of our Lord

One Thousand and Eight Hundred
and Eighty Five.

Signed … William Breese, Thomas
Breese. Henry G Richardson.

Witness H Billingham.

Written by hand at the bottom of
the document are the words

“Faithfully Served”

Signed … Henry G. Richardson

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Designing and building the

Naval Service Memorial
Graeme Mitcheson

Fig.1 Naval
Services
Memorial.

3rd March
2015

Fig.2

navygirl

and sailor

in silent

memory

culptor Graeme Mitcheson,

living near Ashby de la Zouch in

Leicestershire, has designed the
Naval Service Memorial which was
erected at the National Memorial

Arboretum in Staffordshire in 2014. It
is made of vertical panels of
coloured glass and horizontal slabs

of Kilkenny Limestone. Graeme
says: “I was extremely honoured to

have been selected to create the

Naval Service Memorial and was
delighted to have the unanimous
backing of the RNA for the ambitious

design from the very start”.
I needed to design a memorial that

captured the work of the Navy
holistically, so I commissioned giant
sails of glass, their colours

representing all of the different
oceans around the world (fig.1). The
colours — Ultramarine for the Pacific,

turquoise for the Indian Ocean, white

for the Arctic and Southern Oceans
and steely grey with spume lines for

the Atlantic, would rise out of the
ground and project their coloured

shadows onto a white granite

terrace. The shadows change their

hues, their length and their alignment
with one another over the course of

a day and throughout the year. For a
couple of hours around midday on

sunny days, the negative shapes
created by the individual shadows of

the sails merge together to form the
outline of a battleship on the terrace
before the sun moves once more

and the shadows begin to disperse.
If you visit the memorial in summer

you’ll see the sun illuminating the

sails and creating short, strong,
colourful shadows. Attend the same

spot in the winter months and you
are invited to wade through the long,

blue, watery shadows, the colours of

the oceans that now stretch across

the entire granite terrace. Graeme

tells us that it’s best viewed in winter
when the low sun shines through

the glass.
Another key theme was “At the

going down of the sun, we will

remember them”. At one end of the
memorial, a carved stone sailor

stands alone, facing west, head
bowed in respect in front of a yellow
glass panel representing the

morning sun (fig.2). At the opposite
end, there’s a deep red panel –

representing sunset.
Inspiration for my work often

comes from unusual sources: none

more so than in this piece where the
idea to create the “shadow ship”

stemmed from observing the
outlines of shapes created by the
shadows of the washing on the lawn

at home as my wife pinned it out.
One of the challenges with this

memorial was to maintain the
simplicity of the design with so

much happening within it. This is
something that I was conscious of

throughout. The glass was precisely

cut, laminated, strengthened and

installed by Proto Glass in Pewsey,
while I carved the Kilkenny

limestone sailor myself: no rank, no
gender. Bell-bottomed trousers

and a cap behind his back was the

only detail required.

We were informed of this work by

Ian Turner, a past chairman of the
GA.

Graeme

would

appreciate

discussing his work with you:
www.chisel-it.co.uk

[email protected]

Unit 2, Hall Farm, Ashby Road,
Coleorton, Leicestershire, LE67 8FB
07901 791674

THE
GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

The Fascinating World of

Japanese Cut Glass

Brian Clarke

fig.1: A sample of Toru Horiguchi’s “Guinomi”

Cased lead glass.

O
n 16th September 2016 at the Art

Workers’ Guild in Bloomsbury,

London, an invitation evening was held
which proved interesting. It focussed

on modern Japanese cut glass and its

historical links with British and
European glassmaking. The Japan

Society, together with the Embassy of
Japan, invited Toru Horiguchi of Tokyo

and Sally Haden, our GA member with

a special interest in the glass link

between the UK and Japan, to present

the craft and history of Edo Kiriko

glassware.
Sally first met Toru in 2015 when she

went to Japan to give a lecture on how

four British glassmakers helped to
`kick-start’ Japan’s modern glass

industry in the 1870s-1880s at the

country’s first western-style glass

factory in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The
instruction which they gave covered all
types of industrial, domestic and fancy
glass. It was the teaching of cutting

and engraving on western-style

machinery at the factory which led to
the firm establishment of what is

known as “Edo Kiriko” today. “Kiriko”

means facet so this is deep-cut glass
and “Edo” was the name of Tokyo
before Japan was opened up by the

West. An opening video showed Toru
in his workshop

making his own
style of Edo Kiriko
but with many of

the patterns and

methods

that

were introduced

by the British

men.
One of the

factory’s British
instructors was a

Bohemian-born

or sake-cup glasses.
glass engraver

named Emanuel

Hauptmann who taught cutting and
engraving at Shinagawa in 1881-1882.

So it was a pleasure to meet three of

his direct descendants who’d come to
London especially to attend the
evening, bringing with them an array of

Hauptmann’s work. Through family,
Sally was also directly connected to
the factory: her great grandfather,

James Speed, was ‘chief of craftsmen’
at Shinagawa in 1879-1883
1
.

1.
A full account of the Shinagawa glass

factory’s role in the modernisation of

Japanese glassmaking can be found in

Sally Haden’s article in the Journal of the

Glass Association, 2014. An article about

Hauptmann, his Bohemian heritage, his
work in Japan and Edo Kiriko is due to

appear in the next edition of the Journal,

2018,
Sally explained that until Japan was

forcibly opened up to the rest of the

world in the 1850s, Japanese

glassmakers were largely unaware of

the advances Western glass had

made. Although small amounts of

European glass had trickled in for
centuries, it had no significant

equivalent in Japan in terms of
strength, usage or quantity; Japanese
glass remained delicate, decorative

and high-status. This changed with the
deliberate introduction of Western

methods into the Shinagawa
glassworks, part of the Meiji

government’s radical modernisation
programme which swept the country in

the 1870’s.
Two important exceptions to

traditional Japanese glass arose in the
decades 1830s-1860s, no doubt

inspired by admiration of a few

examples of fine European cut glass

that had been finding their way into the

country from Bohemia, England and

Ireland. In 1834 a workshop
established by Kyubei Kagaya in Edo

(old Tokyo) began to produce
imitations of such glass, and in the

1860s similar work started up in the

Satsuma province of Japan, each with
its own distinctive style and Japanese

flavour. The Edo style was taken

forward by about twenty Shinagawa

fig.2: The
Horiguchi
Kiriko

workshop in

Tokyo today

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Haden, Diane Irvine (great great grand-daughter of Emanuel

Hauptman), and two of Emanuel’s great grandchildren, Irene Wright

and Brian Mains.
original home of cut glass.

Toru spoke passionately

about his craft and the use of

glass as an art form as well as

for utility pieces for the home.

Mr Yoshinori Ishii, of Umu

restaurant in London, then
described

how

he’d

commissioned Toru to make

uniquely designed glass dishes

to display Japanese-style food,
so greatly enhancing the

experience of the eater. The

evening closed with an
invitation to see and handle

some of Toru’s small “Guinomi”
glasses – spotlighted in a

darkened area of the venue,

each item cut with a different
design: a fitting end to an

unusual glass evening.

Toru’s Edo Kiriko glass can be

seen at Native and Co. in

Notting Hill, London:

https://www.nativeandco.com.

fig.3: (Above) Toru Horiguchi,

(from left to right) Sally

centre,
with

trainees

when

several

workshops opened in Tokyo

after Hauptmann had left
Japan. Toru described how his

instruction lineage links back
directly to the factory through

his family. He is proud that
today he can offer his
glassware in Britain and

Europe, coming full circle to the
fig.4: Lidded bowl

engraved by Emanuel

Hauptmann. Early

20th century after his

return to England.

Paul Ysart Snake Weight
Richard M Giles

I have included this short article on the
green aventurine snake weight in the

photograph as it came into our possession

thanks to the articles on paperweights that I

have written for the
Glass Cone
over the

past few years. Even if you haven’t spotted

the PY signature cane that sits alongside the

snake, many of you will recognise that it was

made by master paperweight maker Paul
Ysart.

The chance to purchase the weight came

thanks to Alan Poole of Dan Klein

Associates who many of you will know either
personally or because of his regular
newsletters giving details of glass-related

events all over the world. He kindly passed

on a contact from a lady in Scotland that
came via the Scottish Glass Society with

regard to a snake weight that had been
bought directly from Paul Ysart by her father

back in 1975 and had spent most of the

intervening time boxed up in a wardrobe.

From my research it appears that there
aren’t a huge number of these snake

weights around and that they were made

around the time of its purchase when Paul

was working with William Manson at

Harland, near Wick, and making PY signed
weights for the American market.

Initially the request was for guidance on

the likely value of such an item, having
received an offer from a dealer which was

considered too low. A guide price had also
been obtained from an auction house in

Edinburgh. Although the weight was

unseen, therefore condition and verification

of the maker were unconfirmed, I was happy

to give a general price range for unsigned

and signed Paul Ysart weights assuming
that the information that I had been given

was correct. It later turned out that my

figures were more or less the same as the

auction house.
Much to my surprise, some photographs

arrived shortly afterwards along with a
statement that, because of the family

connection with the weight, the lady would

be happier if she knew that it was going to

someone who would really appreciate it

rather than to a dealer who would sell it on.

The photographs confirmed both the

condition and maker so that I felt that I was

in a position to make an offer which I am
pleased to say was accepted. A few days

later the weight arrived safely and I can say
without hesitation that we were not

disappointed.

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Rock Pools

Stephen Foster

M
y

present work, “Rock

Pools”, part of the “Aquatic

Themes”

series,

accumulation of knowledge and
events coming together at this

moment.

In 2001 I worked for Richard

Golding for a couple of months
before taking up my scholarship at
Broadfield House. It was only for a

period of two months but it was the

steepest learning curve of any
course I’ve attended. Richard’s

technical knowledge about glass is
vast; along with this he is a
complete gentleman and very
giving of his knowledge. I have

always wanted to use the
iridescent technique I learnt from
Richard but obviously not to
directly plagiarise the maestro. It

was not until I tried to emulate the

mother-of-pearl of shells that the
process began to have relevance

and I could make it my own.
Since 2002 I have worked at the

International Glass Centre, Dudley
College as technician / tutor where
within my own work I relentlessly

explored and experimented with

many glassmaking techniques,
some Italian techniques such as
cane work, murrine, rollups,

reticello, etc and also cup casing
originally learned from Stourbridge

maestro Malcolm Andrews and

myriad

hot-worked

surface

techniques all coming together in

my present work.
A year or so ago I went to a

lecture of young fine artists at the
Eastside Projects in Digbeth,
Birmingham. One artist had dug

out random-shaped holes a few
centimetres deep in the gallery

floor and then filled the holes with
coloured fluids and various

artefacts; each one was quite
beautiful and I noted that almost

everyone really liked and related to
the work. In describing her work

she used many adjectives but I
struggled to relate her work to her
words. My interpretation of why her

work was a success to others and

myself was that the work had some
essence of rock pools, touching a
joyous nostalgic childhood chord

of investigating on the beach. As

my work had already taken an

aquatic-themed

direction

seemed a natural progression to

move towards my interpretation /
twist on rock pools.

All my work has a truth to the

material, exploring and exploiting
the inherent qualities of glass,

trying to draw the onlookers into

my work to examine the changing
shifts of perspective that occurs as

light reflects and refracts across its
surface and through its inner world
where secrets are revealed.
In conclusion, my “Rock Pools”

series taps into nostalgic times on

the beach, an energized sense of

calm and a timeless natural

rhythm, a place where your mind

runs quiet, in depths and the space
between.
A member of The Glass Association

for many years, Stephen last

exhibited his work at Knebworth

Glass Fair in September 2016. His

work shone out from the stand and

he agreed to write and introduce

himself to you all. His website is at:

www.stephenfosterglass.com

The ‘Rock Pools’ pieces are

approximately 18cm wide and

8cm deep.

The photographs were created

and are presented by Simon
Bruntnell.

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Cruising with Glass

Judith and Alan Gower

The gaffer
on the Hot

Glass chair

This fish
was made

while we

looked on

hen we first decided to go on

a cruise we looked at a variety

of cruise lines and ships. However,

the choice became very easy when
we realised that one cruise line had

three ships that had a hot glass

studio on board.

Celebrity X Cruises have Hot

Glass Shows provided by the

Corning Museum of Glass (CMOG)

on three of their ships, with three
glassblowers on each ship. We

have now been on two cruises, one
to the Mediterranean and the other

to the Baltic and St Petersburg. On
each cruise they have one
glassblower who comes from

CMOG and two international

glassblowers who have proved
they are able to work at sea. This

idea for hot glass working on board

ship came from a Director of

Celebrity X Cruises who himself is a
keen glass collector.
The hot glass shows were held

on Deck 15, the top deck, and the

number of times a day varied

according to whether it was a sea

day or one that included a shore

visit. As you can imagine we spent

a lot of free time there, though we

did also find time to visit St

Petersburg and many other

fascinating places.

There was all the usual

equipment in the glass studio, such

as a glass melting furnace, pipe
warmer, colour box, annealer, glory

hole, crucible and pickup box,

along with a complete set of tools.

However the difference was that

there was no gas allowed for ship
safety reasons — everything was

electric. This of course meant that

the glassblowers had to get used

to the different ways of working;

they all said it was very different.

The glassmaking studio had

sides and a roof but was totally

open on the side where the visitors
sat, apart from waist-high clear

glass panels. The glassblowers had

freedom to make whatever they

wanted, and so made all sorts of

things including vases, bowls,
animals, jugs and drinking vessels.

They also brought to life drawings
made by children on the ship. As
you can imagine, some things

worked better than others!
The

glassblowers

could

experiment as much as they liked

as Celebrity X Cruises paid for all

the glass, colours and tools.
Paradise indeed, and a lot more red

and other expensive colours were

used than in their day-to-day work.

There were a few limitations to the

pieces that could be made, due for

example to the annealing time not

fitting in with the show timetable;

additionally, no open flames were

allowed, so flame-working was out,

and the only implements for any
cold work were files to round off

any sharp pieces and a drill for
signing their names.
We were lucky that the weather

was mostly good on both our trips

so the captain didn’t close off Deck

15. The downside for the

glassblowers was that they had to
work with the ship’s movement and

also if there was any wind or rain.

The latter can give an interesting
effect to glass but not necessarily
one that is desired!

At the start of the cruise there

would only be glass lovers

watching the show but by the end

there was standing room only, the
audience drawn by the fascination
of seeing what would be made. It

was also fascinating to see the

children becoming so engrossed

and in fact the children’s club paid
regular visits. The makers would

ask questions of the audience,

which we refrained from answering

unless no one else could.
There was also an evening of

`meet the makers’ on the second

cruise, where we could talk to the

three of them and look at other
work they had done. None of the

pieces made were available for sale

but some pieces were raffled by

means of free tickets at the shows.

We were successful on several
occasions.

Finally, on the last day there was

a raffle in the main body of the ship

of one piece made by each maker,

with the money going to the CMOG

scholarship fund. Allister Malcolm

and Helen Millard are two recent

British recipients of this money.

Another piece of glass was
made and auctioned at the
same event with the money
going to Celebrity’s charity

of choice. We were outbid

in the auction on a piece
we wanted but on the two

cruises

overall

managed to acquire three
pieces of glass which we

have on display.
We look forward to our

next cruise with Celebrity X

Cruises.

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Catherine Hough – Glass Artist

A serendipitous route to becoming a well-known studio glass-maker

C
atherine Hough was brought

up in Somerset and then

studied teacher training and

sociology in Cardiff, receiving her
first degree. Her parents had some
interesting glass pieces in their

home and she joined her mother’s
evening classes, where she learnt

how to ‘make things’. Catherine’s
interest in the arts was kindled.

Leaving the West Country in the
early 1970’s, the next stop was

London for her first teaching job. In
the evenings, she enrolled in

metalwork classes. Catherine
would often queue early at Covent

Garden Opera House for a standing
ticket.. To get there, she passed by

The Glasshouse in Neal Street,
started up in the early ’70’s.

Fascination with the glass objects

and their making took her inside.

Among others, she met Annette
Meech, Steven Newell, Jane Bruce,

Fleur Tookey and David Taylor. This
was an exciting time for the

creation of studio glass, so

Catherine enrolled in their glass
evening classes and then heard

about the degree course at

Stourbridge College of Art –
focussed on glass and ceramics.
Her life direction was now ‘on a

roll’; having been accepted for a
glassmaking place at Orrefors, she
had to decline the offer, so as to be

close to her parents in Cheshire.

This meant that enrolling for the
course at Stourbridge, under the
guidance of Keith Cummings, was

the next obvious move – both

fulfilling her family commitments
and her love of glass. Catherine

with other Stourbridge students

also had extra tuition at the

Apprentice School at Brierley Hill,
where she additionally learnt Glass

Technology and Glass Cutting from
an expert. A retired glassmaker

from the industry came into the

Stourbridge College once a week
The studio production is of individual

pieces in glass and silver designed and made by

Catherine Hough.
Her aim is to produce pieces of contemporary

design combining the traditional crafts of the

glass blower and the silversmith, and by exper-

imenting with decorative techniques both old

and new.
The combination of metal and glass forms an

integral part of her work and two decorative
techniques, both with origins in the past,

predominate.
One involves blowing the glass into a metal

to teach and demonstrate glass
blowing. During her time at the

College from 1975 to ’78, she met

David Williams-Thomas at Royal

Brierley, who became interested in

her work and offered her a position
at Royal Brierley from 1978 to ’80

(figs.1a&b). Then in 1980 Catherine
accepted an invitation to join The

Glasshouse team in London, which

had by then moved to Long Acre,
close by her beloved Opera House.

She remained there until 1985,

continuing to develop her own style
of blown glass enhanced by a

variety of cold working techniques,

and then with Simon Moore and

Steven Newell set up Glassworks

London Ltd, a new studio glass
business. Steven wrote
‘During this

period, glass, as a creative

material, went from a poor relative
CRYSTAL STUDIO

case with a cut-out pattern through which the
glass projects.

The other is a revival of the process of elearo-

plating silver on to glass used by Royal Brierley
in the late 19th Century.
Because each piece is hand-made and therefore

demands a high degree c>f skill, it can take anything

up to a week for Miss Hough to perfect each

item. It is this dedication to achieving such a high

standard which makes each piece truly unique.
After studying glass and metal work at

Stourbridge College of
Art,
Catherine Hough

joined Royal Brierley in 1978.

of ceramics to a key player in the
world craft stage. It was extremely

exciting to be involved in The
Glasshouse right from the
beginning.’
The story continues following my

meeting with Catherine at an
evening at Peter Layton’s London
Glassblowing studio in February

this year. Catherine now works

from her studio in Camden, N.
London (fig.2). I then arranged a
visit to Catherine’s studio in March,

to see if she’d consider repairing a
piece, a scent bottle (fig.3), bought

at auction in 1998, purchased from
the Sotheby’s sale of the
Honeybourne collection of Stevens
& Williams / Royal Brierley, which I
learnt she’d made while at Royal

Brierley. Catherine writes:
‘Looking

at the photos of your bottle it looks

fig.

la & lb: Face of advertising pamphlet

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

fig.2: Work in progress on Catherine’s studio bench

as if the glue that fixed the glass to

the silver mount has given way.

Unfortunately it is not the first time
this has happened. The glue I used

seems to only have a life span of

around 35 to 40 years! I can
certainly try to repair it. It is very

interesting to see your photos of a
piece I made so long ago. I actually

made it between 1978 and 1980
while working as an artist in

residence at Royal Brierley Crystal.

I have attached a copy of a leaflet

they produced at the time. It all

came about as they became aware

of my work while I was a student

studying glass at Stourbridge
college of Art from 1975 to 78. I had
previously done metal work and

incorporated it into some of my

glass pieces and I was also very
interested in cutting and other cold

working techniques. The glass

melted at the college was not

always of a very good quality and
would not stand up to deep cutting

as on your piece. To overcome this,
Keith Cummings contacted Royal

Brierley and arranged for me to go
to the factory on a Saturday
morning from 6am.to 9am, when

they did an overtime shift and had

some spare benches. The men
thought it very strange to see a

woman working at the furnace but
the factory’s full lead crystal glass

enabled me to make progress with

my ideas and research. It was
through this contact that the

management became interested in

my work and offered me the artist
in residence opportunity when I
completed my course. I

accepted it gladly and
spent a fascinating and
productive couple of years

there. They provided me
with a small studio in

Honeybourne which was
housed on the edge of the
factory that also held the
collection you refer to. A number of

pieces that I made while at the
factory became part of the

collection.’
Catherine agreed to call this

piece ‘a Scent Bottle’ and said that

when she made it at Royal Brierley,

it was an experimental design and

the ‘crinkled’ shoulders were
created by firing tiny crystals of

glass at over 500 degrees
centigrade to fuse them to the base

of the shoulder. The silver mount

and dropper had separated from

the glass section of the stopper

(fig.4) – I’ve now heard that the

repair is completed and will look

forward to seeing the bottle again.

Catherine Hough can be contacted
at: [email protected]

fig.3 (left):

The scent

bottle as

made

fig.4

(right):

The scent
bottle

with

separated

stopper

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Bimini glass revealed

F
ollowing the historical research

and discussion on the

production of Bimini and Orplid

glass by Fritz Lampl, presented by

his nephew Raymond Berger in The

Glass Cone 108, glass collector
and dealer Danny Walker came

forward over a year ago with a
recently purchased, unique
collection of Fritz Lampl’s glass.

Within a few weeks he was hoping

to see the lady again who’d sold
him the pieces, she’d said she

might have another devil
somewhere and a couple of other
pieces. Being aware that other

pieces still remained in the
collection, he’s been waiting to

purchase them before offering

them for publishing. Out of sight
and hiding somewhere at the

moment, Danny believes he also
has a large glass sweet and a good
opalescent vase by Lampl.

Danny was told that the owner of

these pieces had them handed
down in her family from her

grandmother, who, it is said,
bought them directly from Fritz
Lampl in Hampstead. As far as

Danny is aware these are the only
complete examples known, which

he has owned since 2016. As he
says “it would be nice if some

others had survived”.
fig.1: Showing the

delicacy and

miniaturisation of these
glass figures

fig.2: The black devil

catching up with the
naked damsel

fig.3 (right): The

damsel, now in the

Devil’s arms and

caressing him

fig.4 (left): Four angels

defending life and food

against three dragons

fig.5 (right): Adam &

Eve, the snake and the

apple, under the apple
tree

fig.6 (left): Two

kangaroos and a bear

in front of holly arches

with berries

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Early this year in the glass fair at

Knebworth, Danny showed me the

additional examples of Fritz
Lampl’s lamp-worked figures that

had come from the same source,

44
,
44—tivetoriew

though no contacts with the seller
were forthcoming. He was told that
`some were bought directly from

the man himself’, (presumably
Lampl) and a few ‘were bought
from the shop “GAY GIFTS” that
was on Kings Road, London in the

1930’s’.

Apparently,

Lampl

abandoned making the miniatures

as his drinking made it impossible

for him to work on such a small

scale by the late 30’s. The Aquarius

figure was one of his later larger
pieces. Well, nearly two years later

and here is the collection.
The entire collection now

belongs to collector and dealer,

Andrew Lineham. We arranged to
photograph these very delicate

pieces earlier this year; they are

presented here with his kind

permission.

Text and photos by Brian Clarke.
If more pieces exist in other

collections, we’d all be delighted to
see them and with permission,

publish them.
fig.7: Aquarius

pouring water from

a green jug

fig.8 (left): Seated

figure with a cane,

dragons looking on

fig.9: Two fish

feeding on weed,

forming a heart (or

a devil’s head)

fig.10: Probably

two herons (with
flamingo colours)

fig.11 (right): Eight

piece devil

orchestra

fig.12 (left): Sweep

and £1 coin

fig.13: Spiders
webs

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Franz Sedlacek

FRANR. S
ED.AcE

19 3
7 •

‘4
–

u fri
ii

T
here is a painting by Franz

Sedlacek entitled “TRAUM” and

dated Vienna 1932, which shows a
volcanic scene at night with a quarter

moon. It is lovely, but with some

strange figures in the foreground.
These weird figures seem to be

replicated by Fritz Lampl in his lamp

work figures from the early 30’s,

illustrated in the Bimini collection

(above) with Biblical, racy and
whimsical people and creatures.
At the same time in Vienna, ‘cold

painted’ bronzes were also produced

and a little devil or imp band is shown

in the Bimini collection , with a random

chimney sweep . It seems that in

Vienna during the 1930’s that these
type of characters were popular in Art

and Applied Arts.

Pink Tons

C
reated by the American sculptor Roni

Horn and acquired by Tate Modern in

2016. This sculpture was purchased at the
price of £961,538, funded amongst others,

by the Art Fund, Tate Americas

Foundation, Tate Members and Patrons.

The first version of Pink Tons actually
broke in its making! It was then shown at

Tate in 2009. This massive tuboid’ is on
display in the new Tate section.
Roni Horn is fascinated by ambiguity

and processes of change. Appearing to be

a cube, it measures 120cm deep and
wide, but only 110cm high. The pink

colour suggests ‘femininity’, though its

solidity says ‘masculinity’. Pink Tons is an
imposing presence in the gallery and may

be the largest and is certainly the heaviest

piece of art glass ever made, weighing in
at five tonnes! Its appearance is

continually changing as the natural light
passing through it varies in intensity at
different times of day. The sides are

opaque and rough edged, having been in
contact with the surface of the mould. By

contrast the top surface is highly

reflective, transparent and translucent, as

this side of the glass has only been in
contact with air during the casting
process.

Your Chairman’s Note.

On a visit to Tate and viewing the Pink

Tons tuboid’, I passed by the Tate
collection boxes — also tuboid’ though in
black and only 81cm square and 84cm

high.
I
couldn’t resist the comparison. Up

to you, the reader, to decide who followed
who!

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

heritage

lottery fun

LOTTERY FUME

white house cone
MUSEUM OF GLASS

The British Glass Foundation

—
he British Glass Foundation (Registered Charity

1139252) 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 home at Broadfield House. Subject to
raising the remaining funding required and
completing final lease agreements with DMBC, the
BGF anticipates formally opening the WHC-mog in

autumn 2018.

www.britishglassfoundation.org.uk

The result is the new born 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.
The BGF needs to raise a large amount of funding

towards the 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

£6000 down to just £5. 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

then enter White House Cone museum of glass, or

use:

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/the-white-house-cone-

museum-of-glass

To see the building of the furnace and the creation

of the hot glass studio including the lighting of the

furnace – please take a look at this YouTube link:

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Our fundraising: i.e. your contributions will go

directly to help to pay towards some of the following:

Window Solar Shields £750
Security Door £1000
Mobile Family Activity Cart (x 2) £5000 each

80″ LCD screen with media player £6000

AV Projector for high level overhead projection,
scrolling images of historic locations of Stourbridge
Glass Factories and their owners £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 three techniques; cameo glass, rock
crystal and engraved glass £12000

An introductory AV 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 a flexible

modular display system (as in the picture)

The price of a triple module unit is approximately
£16,000. Our plans include three of these, an

additional three double modular units and further
single units. Total cost could be over £100,000

Temporary Exhibition Space – fit out of Front Gallery
Space £25000
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
Examples of paperweights –

these paperweights

are approximately 7cm in diameter and attract a
donation of £20 each

Glass Plaques

The pictures below show a plaque being cast and the
same plaque finished. As the example shows, the

supporters name is engraved on the centre section.

These plaques are to be incorporated in a wall
display, at the White House Cone-museum of glass.

The making of a plaque requires the donation of £100
or £125, depending on complexity.

Please email [email protected]
or call 01384 239 019 for full information

Tess Evolution

Cabinets at

Colchester

Museum
Glass

plaque

casting for

Finland

Completed
glass
plaque for

Finland

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Scarlett Malcolm’s hands
‘Glass for Good’ – lecture

Sat 26th August at the White House Cone-mog, Vine Street,
Stourbridge. DY8 4FB

6:30pm Wine and nibbles. 7pm Lecture (approx. 2 hours)

Charles R. Hajdamach and Steven
Piper 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 complement 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. Charles has lectured on
glass in America, Canada,

Australia, New Zealand, Spain,
South Africa, Ireland, Belgium and
Germany. He also writes

extensively on the subject from

antique to contemporary glass. His

two books, ‘British Glass 1800-
1914′ published in 1991, and ’20th

Century British Glass’ from 2009,
remain the standard works on the
subject. In 2000 he was elected a
Fellow of the Society of Glass

Technology for services to glass
and glassmaking and in 2009 he

was elected as Life-President of
the Glass Association of which he

was a founder member.
Charles Hajdamach

Steve Piper

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.

Cast Your Hand

in Glass

Come and get you or your child’s

hands cast in the finest Lead
Crystal. Donation £25. 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 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.

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

fig.4: A Puntini murrine Venini canoe

Paolo Venini and his Furnace

Geoff Lawson

fig.1: Paolo

Venini at an

exhibition in

1957

fig.2:

Diamante
vases 1934

– 36

fig.3:

Mosaico
multicolore

1954

major exhibition was mounted

r
i
kin Autumn 2016 at Le Stanze

del Vetro (The Glass Rooms) of the

Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice.
The foundation is on the island of
St Giorgio Maggiore, a canal width
away from La Giudecca, facing the

Doge’s Palace and Piazzeta in

Venice.

The exhibition was supported by

many world museums not least the

Venini Museum and archive, and
several major private collections

and has been an opportunity to see

many pieces close up and many
design drawings from the Venini

archive, all of which are rarely seen
in public.

Paolo Venini who originally

trained as a lawyer was above all a
businessman, showman and a

cultured entrepreneur (fig.1).
From 1925 as the majority owner

his

glassworks,

commissioned work from many

talented designers. But Venini was

far more than just the Director in
the boardroom. A major part of his
skill was to promote and direct the
genius of his designers, he also

turned his hand to glass design.
The exhibition showed that from

the 1930’s to the 1950’s Venini

made a significant contribution to
glass design, reviving many old

techniques in new ways. He was

active in designing right up to his
untimely death in 1959 at the age of

64.

The exhibition and excellent

catalogue documented some of the

many series of glass pieces
initiated by him, such as Diamante

in the 1930’s (fig. 2), innovative re-

interpretations

Zanfirico,

Mosaico Zanfirico and Mosaico

Muticolore
(fig.3). Also a series of

Murrine including
A dame

(chequerboard)
(fig. 5),
a puntini

(pointillist) murrine
canoe (fig.4) and

transparent murrine (fig.6).
These

refinements of old

techniques were

followed in the

latter half of the

1950’s by the
inciso
series in
which

sommerso

objects were

engraved to give a blurred effect.

It was highly successful at the
time (fig.7). In the 1950’s Venini
produced a series of multi-

coloured bottles and obelisks as

well as abstract stained glass for

architectural uses several large
panels of which were included in

the exhibition (fig.8).

The exhibition also contained

the designs of those who worked
with Venini. Among them was Gio

Ponti the architect, publisher,
friend and collaborator of many

years who produced among many

things some very fancy bottles

(fig.9).

A room was filled with Tyra

Lundgren’s birds, fish, leaves and

snakes (figs.10 and 11), followed
by showcases full of Ken Scott’s

exotic and colourful

fish designed for an
exhibition at Macy’s

New York in 1951

(fig.12) and Riccardo
Licata’s incalmo vases

with

murrine

decoration (fig.13).
There were
occhi

and
battuto
pieces by

Tobia Scarpa;
(his father Carlo was

the subject of an entire exhibition 4

years ago).
Amongst many others

there was lighting by Massimo

Vignelli, table services by Piero

Fornasetti, table decorations by

Eugene Berman and Charles Lin

Tissot and glass jewellery by Grete
Korsmo; all designed for Venini and
produced at his glassworks.

The exhibition included well over

300 glass pieces and numerous

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Photo credits

The photos are offered by
courtesy of:

Venini Museum and archive:
fig 1 and catalogue cover

Le Stanza del Vetro and
Collection Bischofberger:
figs 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13

(8 & 9 by Enrico Fiorese)
Collection Losch Germany:
figs 4, 5, 10, 11
G P Lawson: figs 12, 13

fig.5: ‘A

Dame’
murrine
vase

fig.6 (right):

Transparent
murrine

dishes,1957

fig.7 (left): lncisi

vases
1956 – 1957

fig.8 (right):

Stained glass
panel and

Vignelli lighting

fig.9 (left): Venini

and Gio Ponti

bottles

fig.10 (right):

Tyra Lundgrens
birds

fig.11 (left): Tyra

Lundgren’s large
striped fish

………41114M101600110111111111

annotated original drawings and

sketches.

These

were

accompanied by two videos of

glass in production and interviews
with illuminati, among them

Howard Lockwood
(editor of the

USA magazine `Vetri’ from the USA)

and Marika Bogren from the
National Museum Stockholm who

had a fascinating insight into the
life and times of Tyra Lundgren.
I would like to thank the Stanze

del Vetro for their assistance in

preparing this report.
It is well worth keeping an eye on

LE STANZA DEL VETRO, as they

regularly hold exhibitions on
European glass with a major annual

exhibition running from September
through the autumn.

fig.12 (right):
Ken Scott’s

exotic fish
AIM*

–

4.4

fig.13 (left):

Riccardo Licata’s
incalmo vases

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

fig.3 (above): A representative selection of series’ of glass

produced by Venini in the latter half of the 1950’s. Cold-

finished with slight grinding and closely packed horizontal

engraved lines

fig.5 (left): Obelisks by

Venini, 1948 to ’59.

Proposed in the 1930’s
by Tomasso Buzzi and

to be used as table

centre pieces.

fig.6 (right): L’Arte del

Vetro a Murano, a book
by Attilia Dorigato, co-

ordinator of the Venice
Museums and for

many years, director of
the Murano Museum of

Glass. Containing a

breadth of knowledge

on Murano glass.

Le Stanze del Vetro, Fondazione

Georgio Cini

Addendum from the editor

fig.1 (left):

Exhibitions of

some of the

artists for

Veninifig

Following the presentation of

this article on Paolo Venini, your

editor visited Le Stanza del

Vetro in Venice, to view the
exhibition at first hand, viewing

the building and rooms of the
Foundation for the first time.

The Cini Foundation has been
exceptional in its exhibiting and

cataloguing of 20th century
glass from Murano and makes

no charge to visit the glass
rooms. The Stanze del Vetro

(glass rooms or galleries) have
been designed to guide you in

sequence through the story of

the particular exhibition. The
project was envisaged from the

beginning as an organic series

of monographic exhibitions
dedicated to the individual

artists and architects who
designed and planned for

Venini. The catalogues together
with one of their glass designs,

of the famous names who’ve
been shown since 2012 can be

seen in fig.1. I was too taken by

the variety of glass on display,

to have let this chance fly away
of just showing a few pieces

(other than those in Geoff

Lawson’s

article)

which

particularly engaged my

attention.

All pictures courtesy the Editor
fig.2: A table service

with canes in six

colours: red,
greenish, mole-grey,

sapphire, amethyst

and straw coloured.

Designed and made
by Gio Ponti with

Paolo Venini in 1946

to 47.

fig.4 (right): A stained

glass panel (the size of a

large door), on display

during my visit, 1957. The

colours of the small

mosaic glass canes of
fiery reds through to pale

yellows assembled to

appear like material

(tessuto), almost a wall

hung carpet

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

fig.1: A group of reproduction glasses from the Georgian Glassmakers

18th Century Reproduction Glass:

Acceptable or Confusing?

Collowing our entertaining visits to

I watch and listen to Mark Taylor

and David Hill, the Georgian

Glassmakers, sharing with us their

well-researched, tried and tested

techniques of glassmaking from the

18th century, a question was asked.
Are the glasses made for us to

admire and enjoy a previous era, or

are they made to confuse the
collector into believing they are
genuine antiques, (fig.1). An emailed
discussion followed, including a

deeply felt response from Mark &

David. These thoughts are

presented to you as they were
written. Fig.no’s 3, 4, 5 and 6 show

original 18th century glasses on the

left and Mark & David’s glasses on
the right, theirs are all just under

19cm in height and have bowl sizes
useful enough for drinking today.

The initial query from Chris Smith
I enjoyed the meeting you

arranged about the making of 18th

Century drinking Glasses and learnt

a lot. Thank you for organising it.
I am concerned, though, about

the very extensive production of

replica 18th Century glass by Mark

and David. As a beginner in this field
I could easily be fooled by some of
these glasses. I appreciate that they
do not have the wear to the foot that

a genuine old glass usually has but
otherwise some of them are

remarkably similar. I am concerned
that people buying these modern

replicas could fairly easily pass them
off on resale as originals worth

several times the price and my
guess is that some of the buyers

almost certainly do. To prevent this it

would seem a pretty simple thing to

mark the glasses in some small way
under the foot so as to differentiate

them from 18th century glasses and
it seems irresponsible not to do so.

What does the Glass Association
think? – I should be interested to

hear.
Kind regards, Chris Smith

The reply from Brian Clarke
Dear Chris, it was a pleasure

meeting you and Judith before I had
to leave the workshop at Quarley.

Good to hear that you learned much

from their making.
The concerns you have expressed

below are a problem, especially for

the newer collector. I have talked

this through with Mark and David on
several occasions, but have not

managed to persuade them to do

fig.2: Mark’s signature on the punty
scar ‘Mark Taylor 2014’
anything more than the lightly

engraved signature under the foot of

the glasses – which could be ground
out and polished, (fig.2). I had
suggested a coloured inclusion

under the foot – but this was not

taken up. Most of the glasses will
not even begin to be passed off as

18th century, due to weight, colour
and execution – though they are
very good replicas. If on Saturday

Mark made one of the John Greene

designs from Murano, when

compared to the original, it would

not even mislead a beginner – I

handled a real John Greene glass
last Sunday at Knebworth – the
differences are great. However, as

you say, for the novice collector and
if buying ‘unseen’, especially online,

mistakes will occur – though
perhaps not once the glass is

handled.

It would be helpful, if you could

consider writing a small article with

these concerns, for publishing in

The Glass Cone. Comments from

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

someone other than myself would

perhaps make a change in Mark &

David’s thinking.

The following responses then arrived
From Nigel Benson
I have long said that people who

are making legitimate copies should
do more than just inscribe a mark to

the item, since it is all too easy to
have that polished away.
I prefer the idea that a cane, or

colour is fused into the base (usually

that would be the obvious position),

so that this could not just be
polished away.
The same has happened with the

early copies of the Whitefriars

Drunken Brick vase, where the
name was inscribed to the base –
well you get the rest. Subsequently

other, much poorer copies have
come along which are recognizable
from the incorrect colouring –
believed to be Chinese in origin. A

good idea that this should be
discussed with Mark and David.

From Bob Wilcock
I agree this is an important issue. I

thought Mark & David were clearly

marking their glasses, but obviously
it is not enough.
I think though that before we

publicise the issue in the Cone it

needs to be put to M & D that

evidence is emerging of their
glasses being passed off as C18 at

high prices. They may be flattered,
but hopefully are concerned. Are

they able to more clearly mark their
glasses (the coloured inclusion

sounds ideal) so that collectors may

more easily identify their work, and
not be taken in by unscrupulous or
unknowing dealers? We have been
asked to put something in the Cone

and their assurance will be

important. They will no doubt realise
the effect of adverse publicity.

It’s such a shame.

From Charles Hajdamach
I was very interested in the

comments made by Chris and the
potential problems with the Quarley

glasses. In fact this difficulty is

already appearing at antique fairs. In

my role as Chair of the glass vetting
team at the Antiques for Everyone
Fair at the National Exhibition
Centre, in the last three fairs we have
fig.3: Acorn Knop. 18th century on left

fig.4: Drop Knop. 18th century on left

already seen about three glasses
which must be the Quarley products
but were being sold as 18th century.

I hasten to add that the glasses were
not being sold by specialist glass
dealers but by general dealers who

had fallen into the trap which Chris

has raised.
Mark and David seem to be

creating, unwittingly I appreciate, a

situation similar to that created by

Elizabeth Graydon-Stannus in the
1920s and 1930s with her ‘fakes’ of

English 18th and 19th century
glasses, although her intention

seems to have been to deliberately

confuse the situation.
I totally agree with Chris therefore

that something should be written
about this and that the glasses

should be marked
in
some way, or if

the situation became really serious
perhaps they should stop making

them.

Mark and David then replied as
follows

Dear Brian, attached is our

response to the correspondence
you forwarded to us.
To make our point, I have

addressed all the major concerns
that have been raised and a few

others that your correspondents did

not think of. I also think I have been
very restrained, considering how
upset and angry this nonsense has

made us.
If you choose to print our reply in

the magazine, and I hope that you

do, we insist that you print the entire
thing, with no changes or edits.

Yours, David

We were both surprised and

disheartened by the negative

reaction of some Glass Association

members towards our work. As our

friend Peter Adamson (who has
given us permission to quote here),

says: “Anyone who cannot

distinguish between a genuine

antique glass and a Taylor and Hill
reproduction should not be in the
business of either dealing or

collecting”.
Ultimately,

the

onus

responsibility for determining
whether or not a glass is genuine

when considering purchasing lies

with the purchaser. It is the buyer’s

responsibility to acquire those skills

necessary to discriminate between a
genuine antique glass and a

reproduction. That surely is the
satisfaction and entire point of
collecting and fancying. If one does

not wish to acquire those skills, or is

nervous about buying something,
then only ever buying from or
through a reputable dealer is
obviously the very best advice. But
by far the best approach for any

collector is to educate themselves to

the level where any reproduction,
including ours, is immediately

obvious to the naked eye, let alone
closer inspection. This is what

everyone we know who is serious

about 18th century glass has always

THE
GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

fig.6: Mushroom Knop. 18th century on left

expected to do as part of their

collecting – taking responsibility for

their own expertise or seeking
advice.
Our glasses are all, without

exception, clearly signed by Mark on

the punty scar. If any vessels appear
on the market with this signature
ground away and re-polished, it will
be obvious to the potential collector

that a dishonest dealer has, at some

time, deliberately done this,
because the scar will show signs of

the removal – excavation of 1/32nd
of an inch of glass, leaving a

depression which is no longer
`clean’. Any reproduction glass that

may have been deliberately set up to
deceive the less-experienced

collector would also need to feature

faked wear marks under the foot,
the edge of the foot, and the almost-
invisible-to-the-naked-eye

tooth

chips at the rim. These are just some

of the basic examination points the

informed collector should perform,

and reputable dealers will only
welcome and encourage such strict

scrutiny.
It is well known (though some do

not appear to be aware of this fact)
that glasses of the 18th century

have been reproduced in vast
numbers throughout the 19th and

20thcenturies. We are by no means

the first to make such reproductions

– merely the latest, so it is a fact that

there are already countless
examples of such vessels out there.

These far outnumber our output,
because there is over 150 years of

such reproduction to take into

account, and there can be few
dealers or collectors who have never

encountered one before. Colin Brain

has recently shown us a catalogue

from the second quarter of the 20th
century which features ‘Fine Crystal

and Reproductions of the Antique’.
On page 21 of this catalogue are
shown air twist stem trumpet bowl

glasses and several other twist

glasses with engraving, including a
`Fiat’ Jacobite glass. The catalogue

notes that ‘these goods are

particularly suitable for the Antique

Reproduction Trade’, (my italics).

That is just one catalogue from one
fig.5: Cylinder Knop. 18th century on left

year, offering glasses that were

traded throughout the Empire, but

add to that the many reproductions
of British glass made elsewhere in

the world over the years, and, as

Colin remarks, such catalogues
show us just the tip of the iceberg.
The suggestion that we include

some form of ‘coloured inclusion’ to
distinguish our glasses has not been

considered properly. There are now

thousands of examples of our glass
in existence. If we began to include
some obvious coloured mark, this

would reflect optically throughout

the glass, disfiguring it, but more
importantly, one can easily imagine
a future scenario where, if we were

to adopt this, a dealer or collector

would be able to use this to his

advantage by claiming: “This
reproduction example includes the

Taylor and Hill coloured inclusion,
but this one does not, therefore, this

identical second glass must be a
genuine antique”. Any inclusion

would therefore be counter-

productive, and could even be used

by some dealers as “evidence of

authenticity”, undermining the
concept entirely, once again proving

that the onus is always upon
collectors or dealers to educate

themselves

discriminating

between reproductions and

antiques – to ‘get their eye in’. This is

really not difficult to do – you only
have to hold a genuine example in
one hand and one of ours or another

firm’s reproduction in the other, and
the difference is obvious. And if in
doubt, a buyer can always ask us. If

you still cannot tell the difference
between a reproduction and a

genuine glass, as Peter Adamson

says, you should perhaps ask

yourself whether antique glass

collecting is really for you. The use of

the `coloured inclusions’ would
probably also have the effect of

making our glasses less saleable, as
it could be viewed as a ‘disfiguring’

mark.
Over the past five years, as well as

articles that were intended to be
particularly helpful and informative

to collectors and dealers, that were
published in this magazine, we have

hosted

popular

all-day

demonstrations of many of the

glassmaking techniques by which

these glasses were made. We
always hoped that these were

helpful to collectors and dealers,

helping spread knowledge about
this fascinating era of glassmaking,

and (ironically, in the light of the
present criticism), we imagined

being particularly helpful in enabling

attendees acquire more knowledge

towards evaluating the authenticity
of vessels.
You can reach Mark Taylor and

David Hill at:

[email protected]

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER
2017

Fig 1 and 1A – Cin

Messrs. Thos. Webb
que-cento

and Sons
Water-set.

Fig 2 – Claret Jug, Japanese
Style. Messrs. Thos. Webb

and Sons

Glass Engraving as an Art

Editor’s Notes
This is the second article in the series by J.M.O’Fallon on

Glass Cutting, Engraving and Carving, all three originally

published in the Art Journal in 1885. Written with such an all-
encompassing explanation of the processes, their re-

printing here in The Glass Cone has been considered to be

of interest and value.

This essay, titled `Glass Engraving as an Art’, was published

in October 1885 starting at P309. The final article will be on
`Glass Carving as an Art’ originally published in December

1885.

James O’Fallon lived from 1839 to 1912. Trained as a

designer, decorator and carver of glass, he lived in the

Stourbridge area and was part of George Woodall’s team at

Thomas Webb & Sons. We thank Clive Manison for

introducing us to these articles.

I n a recent number of this journal it was
pointed out in what respects glass

cutting differs from glass engraving.

Geometrical arrangements of prisms

and facets polished clear, so as to
readily deflect and refract rays of light

that fall on them, generally characterize
cut glass; but all kinds of lines and forms
of various depths may be graved in
glass and polished. Engraved glass,

therefore, unlike cut glass proper, is
capable of true artistic treatment.

Engraving by means of the point, and

also by use of the revolving wheel, was
practised on scarabei and cylinders of

sardonyx, cornelian, chalcedony, and

other stones by Egyptians, Phoenicians,

Assyrians, Babylonians, and Indians, as our museum

collections testify; and the application of both processes to
glass may therefore be about as ancient as the discovery of

glass itself. That the Arabs at the height of their power,

though competent in the mysteries of glass, did not
accomplish much in the ways of engraving and cutting, is
not perhaps so strange as that the Venetians, celebrated as
glass makers, never became proficient in these arts; and

notwithstanding that the Germans, the Dutch, and Flemish,
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, produced
some wheel work of excellent quality, and that in the present

century the French have kept up with the Germans in the

use of the lathe, none of them at any time has been

remarkable for knowledge of art as applied to engraved
glass. Nor until quite recently could England claim any

superiority in that respect. As a matter of fact, until within

the last decade or so, engraved glass as done by

Englishmen was generally most crude and coarse. Before
then the names of Keen, Cole, Herbert, and Silvers would
about exhaust the list of engravers belonging to the British

Isles, who proved that they had ability beyond the common.
For some time past natives of Bohemia have done most of

the better class work in England. Englishmen may have
learned something from them as to the use of the lathe, but

nothing in the way of design. Feeling very much the

necessity for improvement in this, and in order to compete
successfully at the International Exhibition held in Paris in

1878, the writer of this article was commissioned by Messrs.

Thomas Webb and Sons, of Stourbridge, to prepare designs
for glass making, and its ornamenting in several ways,

chiefly by means of the wheels. Two or three of the

specimens of glass produced under his direction while at the
works of this firm are here illustrated: they will help to

support, farther on, some remarks on Art and glass

engraving. Meanwhile, so as to assist the reader who may
desire to form a distinct idea of glass ornamenting as done
at the lathe, a few words before
describing that method will not be out of
place on three other engraving processes.
The hard point for inscribing and

engraving hard stones is doubtless older

than the lathe, and was certainly used in
engraving glass during classical and

medi
ae
val times. The Flemish, Dutch, and

Germans, within the last three centuries,

used it with great success, as testified by
examples of their work still remaining.

Diamond or other hard stone points – or
steel points similar to those used by some
glass carvers of the present day – may be

employed in engraving glass, and handled
in the same way as ordinary gravers for

metal or wood. The glass should be
coated with a mixture of gum and milk, on

which, when dry, a pattern may be drawn or transferred

previous to engraving. Very fine line and hatching and stipple

effects can be produced by this

method. Some of the
specimens in the Slade
collection of the British

Museum are exquisitely done,

especially those attributed to
Wollfe and Heemskerk. The

great drawback to such

engraving, when delicately

finished, is that it cannot be
well seen unless it is held close

to the eye and in a good light.
The sand-blast, though the

most recently discovered

process of engraving, may best

be noticed here, and before the

hydrofluoric acid process,

which falls more naturally in

with wheel work – for the reason that wheel work is

frequently brought into its service, and is itself on rare
occasions assisted by it. It seems that the first intention of

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Fig 3 – Table Lamp: Japanese

Ornamentation. Messrs. Stevens

and Williams.
the originator of this process, Mr. Tilghman, was to cut large

stones and metals by a jet of sand impelled by escaping

steam under high pressure. He soon found that moderate
pressure would grind,

obscure, or ornament glass.

The blast-pipe was made
moveable in any direction by

means of flexible or jointed
connecting tubes.

having his stencil plates of
tough and elastic materials,

such as oil colour, paper,
caoutchouc, lace – and not

of iron, copper, or steel,
which turned up at the

edges under the blast – he
was able to engrave many

kinds of patterns. A vacuum
process is now in use for

propelling the stream of

sand. The trade in this
decoration has principally

developed in the production of signs, in various coloured

glass for shop windows, doors etc.
The acid process is believed to have been originally

discovered about the middle of the seventeenth century by

Henry Schwanhard. Scheele, in 1771, practised on glass
with the acid. The St. Louis and the Baccarat glass

manufacturers in 1854 took at once to Kessler’s then
published adaption of Gay Lussac and Thenard’s (1840)

improved method of making the acid. Messrs. Richardson,
of Wordsley, Stourbridge, were, as English manufacturers,

the first to use hydrofluoric acid in the ornamentation of
glass. Mr. John Northwood, ably assisted by Mr. Grice, has
produced some very fine etching – as the process is called

in the trade. A solution of isinglass or turpentine varnish

mixed with white lead, a prepared white wax, or asphaltum

mastic mixed with turpentine, will serve all ordinary
purposes for protecting glass from the action of hydrofluoric

acid. On an article coated with “resist” a pattern is

transferred or drawn, and its lines followed with a drawing

needle which exposes the clear glass meant to be submitted
to the acid bath, or only to acid fumes. The acid freely

attacks the silicate in the glass: the parts bitten out in the
bath are not only precipitated as silica and the other

constituents of glass, they also form, to some extent, a

flocculent powder on the pattern, neutralising the corrosive
power of the acid; and on that account it has to be

occasionally washed off during the aciding of a design

intended to be cleanly and deeply sunk. Lines and spaces
of a pattern when required in relief are preserved by a resist

made to flow easily from a long-haired pencil. Some
patterns are submitted to acid of varied strength and

admixture for variety of effect. The hydrofluoric acid bath is

made use of for assisting towards certain effects in wheel
engraving, and also in sinking the ground for carved
designs. Cheap and meretricious etched ornamentation,

done chiefly by mechanical contrivances, is now far too

common. It is manufactured abroad, as well as in several
parts of England, and though increasing trade and profit, is

limiting the pay of the toilers, and condemning them to exist
without thought or feeling for the simple but genuine and

lasting pleasure that comes of doing true work.
We now have to describe the lathe process of glass

engraving. The wheels are copper: in size from about the

fourth of an ordinary pin-head to six inches in diameter, and

from a full quarter of an inch thick to the thinness of the

fiftieth part of an inch, or even less, a few being trimmed to
the fineness of a hair at their graving circumferences. The

engraver cuts out his copper, makes his own wheels, and
keeps them true. The smaller wheels, like those of the seal

engraver, are usually iron, formed at the points of the
spindles. Files, knives, and at times sharp turning tools

steadied on a “rest” are employed for keeping the wheels in

trim. The frame of the lathe is of iron or brass, and together

with its supporting block rises about eighteen inches above

the bench. It has an arched top, screwed down on its
perpendicular sides that hold bosses of iron, steel, or type

metal in which a mandrel revolves. The spindles fit in the

mandrel; on the ends of them the copper wheels are riveted

(see diagram A). The mandrel has a pulley that receives a
catgut or leather band, communicating with the iron foot-
wheel. The axle of the foot-wheel is supported by two legs

of the bench. Near its centre is the crank, to which the

treadle is attached.
Before beginning to engrave a pattern it is marked on the

glass in outline with a pen or a well-kept hair-pencil, and a

mixture of gum, whiting, and water, or any common

colouring matter solved in turpentine or paraffine. The

pattern is sometimes transferred from tracing paper coated

on one side with a little tallow and whiting. If likely to be long

in hand it is marked on bit by bit during the process of

engraving. The workman on starting the lathe brings a

leather-pointed “splash-stick” over the wheel, settles the

leather point on to it, which equalises and retains on it the oil

and emery – the real grinding medium. Sometimes for

marking-in purposes, as the wheel is small and narrow and

only required for a short time, the leather point is not
brought on to it, but for large wheels it is indispensable.

Suppose he is about to begin on the jug (Fig. 7) – engraved
by the writer a few years ago. He rests his elbows on

cushions with the jug held in his hands; he then moves it

under and against the wheel, and with slight pressure
“slides” in the outline. A much larger and thicker wheel and

rough emery is next made use of for roughing and first
sinking. But as it would take too much space to enter into

every operation from beginning to finish of this pattern, we
select a fish from it in order to show its growth as effected

under different wheels. It must be observed, however, that
the fish – like the illustration of the jug – is about a third of the
original size, and the wheels nearly one-half, excepting the

last, which is full size. A thin wheel (not here shown) about

the circumference of a threepenny-piece was used in
sharpening the fins. The A tool corresponds to the A

roughed in body of fish, and so on with the other diagrams

(see next page).
The light of the eye of the fish is sometimes brought up by

polishing with a small iron, or tin and lead, with either of

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Fig 5 – Claret Jug: Keltic Ornamentation.

Messrs. Thos. Webb and Sons

which powdered pumice-stone and water

are used. But as a rule it is best to trust to

merely sinking for the light with a very small

copper or iron wheel and extra fine emery.

Good close grained cork wheels and
pumice and water give surface light, and if

properly managed, shade to parts of
engraving. Such wheels are seldom employed
with sufficient judgment and taste. Two or

three other copper wheels were used on this fish about the

gills, eye, and nose, as the pattern altogether was somewhat
deeply sunk. Birds and animals of all kinds require a similar

set of wheels. The human figure is seldom properly

engraved on glass, and no wonder, when most engravers

who attempt it satisfy themselves by tracing what they
cannot draw. The finest up to the thickest lines the copper
wheels allow come into the ornamentation of glass by this

process, in which cases the lines
correspond to the shapes of the cutting

surfaces of the wheels. Great steadiness

of hand and eye is required for engraving

and meeting lines round a glass. When
figure, floriage, and foliage are being
engraved they are mostly rolled and
wrought into form on the wheels,

according to the qualifications of the
engraver for such work.
It requires several years of practice with
the wheels to know how to select from the
rack the ones best suited for certain
patterns. The choice of a wheel is

governed not only by different parts of a
pattern, but by the general shape and

particular turns in the shape of the article
being engraved. Incavo engraving of the

better class demands more care in its

execution than relief work of the like class. The technical
difficulties are greater; want of practical experience and too

much trust in books have caused a deal of confusion to even
painstaking writers who have tried to explain engraving and

the other methods of ornamenting glass. The introduction to
“A Descriptive Catalogue of the Glass Vessels in the South
Kensington Museum”, by Alexander Nesbitt, though on the
whole perhaps the most satisfactory account of glass that

has recently appeared, falls short in this respect. Thus, at p.

xxix., while he agrees with the often-quoted passage from

Pliny – “Aliud torno teritur, aliud argenti modo ccelatur” – as

indicating that the wheel was mainly used in cutting and
carving, he is scarcely authorised in taking “aliud torno
teritur” to signify “merely mechanical

work executed by a wheel.” “Wheel”

and “lapidary’s wheel” in his pages
mean the same thing, so it is that he

fails to show the difference between
engraved glass and cut glass; and

though fairly noticing the wheel and
point as tools employed in working out

relief patterns, he does not say in what

respects the process of glass carving is distinguishable from

glass cutting or engraving.
A full stock of engraving wheels should number from 150

to 200. A competent glass engraver can impart to his work
peculiar excellences of surface – qualities of texture that no

material save glass is capable of receiving. But to attain to
such subtle effects the engraver must be endowed with real

artistic feeling. The experienced artist never neglects the
proper use of the treadle in regulating the

speed of the engraving wheel at certain

stages in the progress of a piece of work.

For this reason steam-power is of no use
to him. It is perhaps worth observing here

that the head of a strong engraving lathe is
nothing more or less than what glass
cutters today call the “mandrel,” an
instrument they like to avoid even when it

is necessary in assisting small work or
difficult parts of large patterns. The

mandrel is a relic of the times when cutters
used the treadle as well as engravers, and
were able to turn out a better class of work

than on the whole they now do,

accustomed so much to rely on the

advantages of steam power. Glass

engraving and glass cutting” many years

ago figured together in patterns more

frequently than they now do.
We will now devote a few words to the illustrations. Figs.

1 and 1A. – Jug and one of the goblets of water-set,
engraved in the spirit of the Cinque-cento Renaissance.

Figs. 6 and 6A.- Examples of polished engraving and cutting
combined. The shape of the jug is faulty, and not improved

by the wide flutings of its neck and horizontal line under

them which cut short the spiral inclination of the panels on

its body; the diminishing shape of the panels is ill suited for

the diaper arrangements they bear. A few good specimens
of cutting combined with engraving, about two hundred

years old – but the engraving not polished throughout – may
be seen in the South Kensington Museum, the British

..„.

Fig 4 – Diagram of

engraving fish
Wheels employed in

” Caspar Lehmann, contrary to the general tendency of opinion on the subject, with which we agreed in our last article, could not have been the
original inventor of glass cutting. Since the article appeared the writer has had special opportunities of fully satisfying himself that Lehmann could

only have revived or reinvented the art. Because the Greeks and Romans were able to polish the deep engraving of some of their gems, as many

of these prove, it occurred to the writer that the ancients must have been capable of polishing the flat and flattish surfaces of glass when rough-
cut on the iron wheel and smoothed on the lap. After minute examinations of the collections of glass in the British Museum and South Kensington
Museum, and passing over a doubtful specimen or two in the latter, he found in the British Museum five articles bearing genuine ancient cutting:

two of them, curiously enough, in the new Assyrian room, and supposed to date from 800 to 600 B.C. If the learned antiquary Caylus, and Natter,

the engraver of stones, who more than a hundred years ago, taking up with Pliny’s remarks (Natural History, book xxxvi.cap. 26), both agreed that

the Greeks and Romans knew the use of the lathe, and if those who have since so frequently quoted them had distinguished cut from engraved

glass, the question would not have been left so long involved. It is difficult to tell what was really understood by “lapidary and glass cutter,” when

as such, Lehmann had his patent granted him by Rudolph II, about 1609. Perhaps in his days the word lapidary was used more correctly than it

now is, and designated the cutter of glass who did his work principally by the aid of stone wheels. That he knew how to engrave as well as cut
glass at the lathe, and perhaps could do point work, is partly borne out by the fact that two sons and three daughters of George Schwanhard

(brother of Henry, the supposed original inventor of acid etching on glass) who continued Lehmann’s patent, are recorded to have produced incavo

as well as relief engraving.

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Fig 6 and 6a. –

Examples of

Engraving and

Cutting
combined.

Messrs. Thos.

Webb and Sons

Fig
7 –
‘Pretty Kettle of Fish’.

Messrs. James Green and

Nephew

Fig 8 – The frog Ti ght-rope Dancer’.
Messrs. Thos. Web b and Sons.

Museum, and in the Louvre. Fig. 2. – Flat-

sided claret jug: a good shape, and well

suited for engraving; Japanese style, and
polished all over. The background, if meant

for cloud or water, or both, would have been
improved by a little artistic liberty taken with
it – just enough disturbance to carry

something of the spirit that seems to be

actuating the hybrid monster of wings and

fins displayed against it (same firm). Fig. 3.-A
table-lamp, polished engraving, Japanese in
style: a well-made and handsome table
decoration (Messrs. Stevens and Williams).

Fig.8.-One of a pair of pilgrim bottle-shape
vases, engraved with the subject, ‘The Frog

Tight-rope Dancer;’ the one not among our illustrations
being ‘The Frog Clown.’ The diaper is acid-etched relieved

by engraving (Messrs. Thos. Webb and Sons). Fig.7.
Narrow-necked water jug; subject, ‘Pretty Kettle of Fish.’

The designer and engraver of this intended to imply that
fresh-water and other fish – they seem a little mixed in the
design – should express at times some kind of

consciousness not referred to in natural history when
beholding kindred of theirs who have got into hot water

(Messrs. James Green and Nephew). Fig.9.-Punch-bowl, in

the Chinese style of ornament. The squat shape of this bowl
is rather against the pattern showing well in illustration; it is,

however, a good bold specimen of glass engraving, and was
bought by the South Kensington Museum authorities for

Bethnal Green Museum. Designed by John Northwood

(Messrs. Stevens and Williams). Fig.5.- One of a pair of

claret jugs, in the Keltic style of ornamentation. Purchased
by Sir Richard Wallace, the eminent connoisseur, at the Paris

Exhibition, 1878. Partly etched with acid, and then engraved
in detail at the lathe, and polished with very small wheels

(Messrs. Thomas Webb and Sons).
In France, during the reign of Louis XVI., engraving on

glass was much encouraged; but its figure subjects were

generally very poor, and the ornamentation showed too

frequently some of the worst forms of rococo debasement.

Wine-and-water goblets were the order of the day, and the
principal articles engraved, even until quite recently. During

the Empire their chief ornamentation consisted of cypher

letters repeated back to back, and interlacing in monogram

form, seldom without a kind of medival
letter or escutcheon in their centre. Seven or

eight years ago some of the French glass
began to show a wide departure from this

style of engraving, the ornamentation being

much influenced by the free play and spirit of

Japanese design. The polished imitation rock-
crystal work of the Baccarat Company, which

mainly characterized their then engraved

goods, has since been imitated in England

with great success. In Bohemia, during the
present century until about 1860, and even

since then, coloured vases, wiederkoms,
cups, and suchlike things, were turned out in
great quantities, engraved with landscapes

and stags, and boar hunts, characterized by
stereotyped stiffness in workmanship as

well as sameness of subject. Within the last

quarter of a century natives of that country

have flocked into France and England, and

learned to do ornament; and one Bohm has

executed some fairly good figure work. On

the whole, Germans, and Bohemians in

particular, who are brought up from their

childhood to engrave glass – often whole

families, descended from generations of
engravers, being so employed – take to it

naturally. They can imitate almost any kind
of design, but have little or nothing of the

originating faculty. Whatever their deficiency

in that respect, it was scarcely ever so

minute as the portion which survived in the ordinary British
worker at the glass engraver’s lathe. Excepting perhaps four

engravers – whose names are given at the beginning of this
article – the latter modicum of originality was expended in

some (not to be defined)
way on what was dignified

by the terms “stars,” “hop

and barley,” or “grape vine.”

But the growth of the “hop
and barley” and the “grape

vine” on beer-jugs and
goblets, decanters and

wine-glasses, was poor

indeed compared with the
“stars;” billions of stars!

each of them a

consequence of four

intersecting gashes done
with a mitre – or it did not

matter about the mitre – wheel. It is grievous thinking over

this class of work, and that it was so generally encouraged
by glass manufacturers. But what is to be said for the glass

manufacturers – saving less than half-a-dozen – who yet
know no better? In the Newcastle-on-Tyne, the Manchester,

the Midland, and Stourbridge districts of the glass trade
hundreds of engravers, so called, are not fit to do anything
besides such brain-impoverished attempts at ornamentation

as we indicate. A few years ago a “boss,” or journeyman,

was in the habit of keeping his “seven years” bound
apprentices at nothing better – he seldom

could teach them better – and found it to his
advantage (reckoned by money) to hold

them to it, and produce grosses and
grosses every week. It paid him then, no

doubt; and the result so far is, that these
wine-glasses, for instance, which once were

done at the rate of three shillings a dozen,

now fetch only that amount per gross! The

grosses are not so many, it is true, and that

is good; but the men are as heavy-handed

as ever, and duller-brained, and are not
likely to improve while the majority of

manufacturers are quite ignorant of Art, and

their pretensions to taste governed by the

amount of profit they think they should

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Fig 9 – ‘Punch bowl: Ch

Messrs. Stevens and Wi Warns
inese Ornamentation.

realise on their wares.

The engraved glass shown by

Lobmeyer, of Vienna, at the various

exhibitions, as well as that displayed in
them by several of the English firms, was
mainly done by Bohemians. Yet it is only

too true that Austria, Prussia, and France
have not, so far, evinced, in the matter of
engraved glass, any sure and well-

founded Art knowledge. In this respect Great Britain and
Ireland, at the Paris Exhibition of 1878, took the highest

award.
Some of the London dealers who give out glass for

engraving have assisted much to advance it as an art. As
Messrs. Dobson and Pearce at one time were, so now W.P.

and G. Phillips, and James Green and Nephew are, eminent

for their engraved and cut glass; but at the same time the
enterprise of Messrs. Thos. Webb and Sons has contributed

not a little to the reputation of the chief London producers;

and the like praise may be accorded Messrs. Stevens and
Williams for the quality of acid engraving they have supplied.

They are now encouraging wheel engraving with
considerable success. After all it is not to the manufacturer

or dealer that the real development of glass engraving as an
art, and the arts of glass as a whole, so much depend as on

the intelligent industrial artist himself, who grows strong,
having love for his work, faith in it, whilst carrying it through

to completion – as often happens under adverse
circumstances. If we were to try to get at a just

appraisement – certainly no easy matter – of rare specimens

of glass, and uphold as precious possession engraved

examples, original in design and of superior execution, we
should not so much contrast them with different other

materials to which are entrusted the best efforts of genius,
because no material created by man is so marvellous as

glass, or more capable of taking artistic finish; but we might

feel tempted to, in a manner, single out and reflect over
certain glass objects of Art in our museums; one at least of
which is absolutely beyond any price to-day, so valuable is

it considered, though at one time it was broken into

hundreds of pieces! There is no likelihood of a pair of even
the most perfect works of Art in glass commanding in the
present age 6000 sestertia (about £50,000 of our money),

the price said to have been paid by the Emperor Nero, for
“two glass cups with handles.” Nor would any pawnbroker

of the hour imitate the years-ago Jews of Metz, and advance

to a royal personage on security of the “Cup of the

Ptolemies” a “million livres tournois” – something like
another £50,000, or, in modern currency, £250,000. Money

after all is only symbolic of intrinsic value set upon life and

its joys, to which genuine works of Art contribute.
Imitation of natural effects, and the, in their turn, imitation

of these, which becomes conventionalism more or less
consciously rendered and refined, as in the Indian and

Persian ornament, are well adapted for engraving on glass.

The Keltic style, for the most part, is too difficult for
engraving, but occasional advantage should be taken of its

curious animal forms and ingenious convolutions of lines, as
in Fig. 5, which represents work that greatly influenced the

awarding of the Grand Prix of 1878 to Messrs. Thos. Webb
and Sons. The grotesque style, when its

forms show some wit and do not run to

outrageous eccentricity, is well adapted
for wine jugs, bottles, and drinking
glasses, but should be sparingly used.

Not only in Gothic ornament but in
Italian Renaissance it has been
employed at times with charming effect.
But for the glass engraver Arabesque

ornamentation which includes within it the three periods of

Italian Renaissance is full of suggestion – suggestion in the

proper sense, for it should be understood in the light of a

revival of Art principles more than of mixed up styles that
may be copied without hesitation by the common workman.

It is the real world of flowing line and happy form. Much

might be said in favour of other styles did space permit.
Glass engraving as done at the lathe is in principle the

same as seal engraving. But the engravers of precious

stones and crystals have a special advantage that has told

in their favour all along: the material they work on being of

high value generally, as compared with glass, pays for being

engraved to the utmost nicety of finish. Nevertheless, as we

have indicated, there are not wanting instances of glass
being valued far more highly than the most costly engraved

gems. And after all, the intrinsic value of any natural

production, be it diamond, ruby, crystal, or whatever else, is

small as contrasted with the Art excellence it may be made

to exhibit.

J. M. O’FALLON

Word Definitions
The meaning of the following words, used in the text, may
help the reader, they are listed in order of appearance in the
article:

Scarabei: plural term for beetles

Sardonyx: a type of banded agate, a microcrystalline quartz
in the form of a brown based onyx, layered with white. (Dark
sard is often known as chalcedony)

Caoutchouc: a natural rubber that has not been vulcanised

Isinglass:

a paste for specialised gluing, obtained

from the dried swim bladders of fish
Asphaltum: thick, sticky tar-like substance
Flocculent: a loosely clumped texture having a fluffy or
wooly appearance

Aciding: a light etching of a surface
Resist: a resistant substance applied as a coating to
protect the glass surface from the etching process

Paraffine: translation of paraffin
Floriage: a bloom or blossom

South Kensington Museum: The V&A as referred to in 1885
at the time of this article
Wiederkoms: a German style of drinking vessel

Note

The punch-bowl in fig.9 was exhibited in 1976 as item 56 in the
Dudley Art Gallery Exhibition ‘English Rock Crystal Glass, 1878 –

1925’. The exhibition catalogue remarks that the pattern is not

recorded in the Stevens and Williams description books. This bowl
is in the V&A Museum collection and their records note that it was

engraved by John Northwood and Frank Schreibner.

THE
GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

An Interesting Decorative Technique!

by Somewhat Puzzled?

H
ave you ever bought

something that when delivered

was not as advertised but then, in
some unusual way, turned out to be

even better than the expected

item? A recently purchased small,
enamelled bowl, see figs 1 and 2,

rather than actually being
enamelled, demonstrated an

altogether different technique. Had

it been enamelled it would have
been a stunning piece of work;

however, it was decorated with a
less usual technique that I have not
previously encountered.

The clear glass bowl has been

decorated with at least 70 pieces of
printed paper applied to the

underside of the bowl. A sheet of

paper was then applied to cover

the whole which, in turn, was given
a protective coating of shellac or
similar. Multiple pieces of printed
paper were necessary because of

the curvature of the bowl and for

the same reason the protective
paper covering has a series of neat

folds around the side of the bowl.

The quality of decoration points to

professional manufacture and the

overall effect is most striking, albeit

for a relatively inexpensive means
of production.
The arms depicted on the bowl

are those of The Worshipful

Company of Comb Makers, a City
of London livery company

incorporated by Charles I in 1635,
still in existence in 1862 but
defunct by 1892: the precise date

of its dissolution is unknown.
Perhaps the bowl was one of

several made to mark the demise

of the guild, which would point to a

latest production date during the

third quarter of the 19th century.
The paper on the underside of

the bowl has partially worn through
fig.1: Glass bowl

decorated with pre-
printed ‘scraps’ with

crest of Comb Makers

Guild of London (11cm

diameter 3cm tall).

fig.2: Underside of glass
bowl, showing wear to

paper covering and

folds necessary to fit
paper to shape of bowl.

as can be seen in fig 2. Other
examples might have been

discarded when the printed

decoration was worn through,
which would explain the scarcity of

examples of this technique. If the

underside was originally marked
with the maker’s name it has long
since worn away. If produced in

Britain it is unlikely the decoration

was added by a glass company;

however, it might have been
produced by some enterprising

company associated with the

printing industry. The pieces of
printed paper are of a high quality

and have a distinct resemblance to
printed ‘scraps’ which were still

popular in the middle of the 20th

century.
The technique is new to me and I

have yet to find anyone who has
previously seen it. Hopefully,

readers may have seen examples
of this type of decoration and might

be able to offer information on
what, where, when and by whom

they were made.

If you can help please contact me
on: [email protected]

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

1 at

– r
n
• WIC:

BOOK REVIEW

From Goblets to Gaslights, the

Scottish Glass Industry 1750-2006

by Jill Turnbull – the Author

This book completes the story of table
glass manufacture in Scotland. Based

on fifteen years of research in the
Scottish archives, legal records,

contemporary

documents,

newspapers, government papers,
price lists, pattern books, recipe books

and family correspondence, this book
sets out the individual histories of the
glassworks in Glasgow, Leith, Alloa,
Greenock, Bathgate, Perth and Wick.

Most of their products are impossible
to identify but when a Swedish
industrial spy reports back to his

masters in 1802 that 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’, it is clear the standard
was high. Fortunately, from the firm

which became Edinburgh Crystal,

there are thirteen pattern books now in

the care of the National Museum of

Scotland, while the Museum of
Edinburgh houses the wonderful

archive of the Ford-Ranken family,
owners of the Holyrood Flint Glass

Works. In addition to illustrations from

these sources and from printed
catalogues, a free DVD is included of

the complete Holyrood pattern book

(right) belonging to Corning Museum of
Glass, offering a unique opportunity to
identify glass which might otherwise
be attributed to Stourbridge.
Of the eighteen chapters, thirteen

cover the histories of individual

companies, from Verreville established

in 1777, to Caithness Glass set up to

ease unemployment in 1960. Included

are the little-known flint glassworks in
Greenock whose principle market in

1833 was Dublin and the Forth Glass

Works which specialised in pressed
glass. The early history of the Alloa

glassworks has been revised, while the

story of the establishment of the
i

f
Holyrood glassworks is told for the first

time. In the late 18th century, recruiting
experienced staff for a new business
was a problem resulting in some very

dubious practices, such as the

occasion when an agent went to Lord
Delavel’s glassworks in Newcastle,
arranged to meet the men at a local
pub, plied them with drink and

persuaded them to sign up to work in

Leith for a financial reward. Lord

Delavel was not happy and some of
the men finished up in prison.

Wherever possible the human story,
working conditions and customs are

explored.
Of the remaining five chapters, four

discuss and illustrate the different

types of glass and the decorative

techniques used, namely cut glass and
sulphides, clear and coloured, pressed

and moulded, and engraved. The
remaining chapter looks, as its title
explains, at lights, medicine and

music. Lighting was crucial to the
survival of all the glass manufacturers,
as were their medicine vials and other
basic but rarely collectable products,

while items like the sets of musical
glasses made in Edinburgh and target

balls produced in Perth came at the

more frivolous end of the market.
The book begins with a brief look at

the Excise and the final appendix
quotes from a government report on

the employment of children in the
glassworks in Glasgow. Hopefully it will

help to increase awareness of the

Scottish contribution to the British
glass industry.

Editor’s Note
Jill Turnbull will present an illustrated
talk on the Scottish Glass Industry at

our AGM on 14 th October,
being held at Ely Cathedral conference

centre. (Events Booking Form

enclosed).
Her book will be available at our AGM

and also from the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland (flyer with

discount enclosed)

fig 1: Holyrood

Pattern sheet.

Ford-Ranken
collection at

Edinburgh

Museum

fig.2: Edinburgh

Crystal

These pictures
show four
examples from

glassworks that

are covered in Jill

Turnbull’s book.

fig.3: Forth Glass

Works

fig.4 below:

Strathearn Glass

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

fig.2: Vase, Opal

body cased with

Ruby
MEMBER’S QUERY

This set of three, four sided amber
coloured spirit bottles, is known as

an interlocking ‘Harvest Jug’,

(fig.1). They are blown glass and
hand finished in Stourbridge.

Within the engraved shoulder

design are individual labels for
Whisky, Gin & Rum; they have

interchangeable stoppers fitted by
a cork with different black figures.
One is a cow, one a cat and the

third a Japanese lady, carrying a
load balanced on her head, (figs.2,

3, and 4). All three are engraved
with the same Diamond

Registration Mark, with its code 13

– 10 – D – A (fig.5), showing the
pieces to have been made on Dec

10th 1878 by Westwood & Moore
at Brierley Hill Dudley.
When discussing 19th century

Stourbridge glass, the firms of

Thomas Webb, Stuart & Sons and
Stephens & Williams are most likely

to be mentioned. A number of
smaller glass factories existed, but
can anyone help with information

on Westwood & Moore? The

Japanese lady stopper suggests an
influence from Christopher Dresser.

With trade with Japan increasing at

this time, could he have designed

these bottles for a smaller glass

firm following his return from
Japan?

Does anyone know the history and
making of this set? Replies please to

editor: [email protected]
fig.1:

Interlocking
Harvest

Jug

fig.2: Cat
stopper.

Bottle

labelled Gin

fig.3 far

right): Cow

stopper.

Bottle
labelled

Whisky

fig.4:

Japanese
lady

stopper.
Bottle

labelled

Rum

fig.5: Diamond Registration Mark

Clive Manison informs us:

Dr Christopher Dresser, the innovative
Victorian designer, was one of the first

British visitors to Japan, arriving on 26th
December 1876,

and staying until
May 1877. He took
with him a number

of specimens of

British decorative

arts which were
presented to the

Japanese
Government, with

the intention that

these might form

the nucleus of a
museum collection.
fig.1: Design drawing of Vase with Opal body,

cased with Ruby

He published a memoir of his visit in

1882 under the title of “Japan, its

Architecture, Art and Art Manufactures”,
which is a fascinating description of the

country at a time when few railways had
been built, and foreigners were still

restricted from travelling outside the main
centres. (It has been reprinted and is

available in paperback)
Clive, part of whose collection is very

Japanese in style, unfortunately missed
out on buying at auction a four footed,

two handled vase, with an Opal body and
cased with Ruby. It had been described

as made by Stevens & Williams. On

research, he found the design drawing in
the Thomas Webb pattern book as design

no. 12207 (fig.1) and luck led him to

finding a similar vase for sale a short while
later (fig.2).

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

WHAT’S ON

Events

Members of The Glass Circle are invited

to attend all of our meetings with the
same benefits as the Glass Association

members.

Saturday 16th September 2017

The GA meeting at Christchurch
Mansion

This is a splendid and substantial Tudor
brick mansion house within Christchurch

Park on the edge of the town centre of
Ipswich, Suffolk. During your visit, you’ll
have time to view the period rooms and
enjoy works by Gainsborough and
Constable while soaking in 500 years of
history. Regrettably, the famous

Tibbenham Glass Collection of 487

English drinking glasses of the 17th to
19th centuries is presently in storage,
but we’re there to concentrate on the
display cabinet of around 150 glasses,
on which the museum would appreciate

our opinions.
After lunch we’ve been honoured with

an invitation to the Thorpeness home of
John Smith, chairman of the Glass

Circle, so that after a short drive, we’ll be
able to view and discuss his collection.

(Booking form enclosed)

Saturday 14th October 2017

Study day and AGM

Our annual October meeting will be held
in Ely, at the Cathedral Conference

Centre. The AGM will be early on the
agenda, followed by Jill Turnbull’s
presentation; informing us, along with
her well researched comments, into the
early period of the Scottish Glass

Industry. If you’ve listened to Jill before,
you’ll know that this is not to be missed!

The afternoon will be on stained glass
with a talk by glass artist Alf Fisher and

an introduction and tour of the stained
glass museum from its curator Jasmine

Allen.
(Booking form enclosed)

Glass Fairs 2017

November 12th National Glass Fair at
B’ham Motorcycle Museum

Glass Fairs 2018

February 25th Knebworth Glass Fair at
Knebworth Barns, SG1 2AX for sat-

nays
May 6th National Glass Fair at B’ham

Motorcycle Museum
Le Stanze del Vetro

This organisation is a joint venture
involving the Cini Foundation in Italy and
Pentagram Stiftung, a Swiss-based,
non-profit Foundation. They are based
on Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, the

island next to the Giudecca in Venice. If

you enjoyed the article on Venini, you

may wish to transport yourself to Venice,

to take in the extraordinary current

exhibition (always free entry) on ‘Ettore

Sottsass: The Glass’. This is a 100 year
celebration of his birth in 1917. Only now

on until 30th July, but worth the visit.

Joint visits for the GA with the GC

A visit to Italy and France, September
2018

Final dates and itinerary to be arranged.

The Cinzano Glass Collection with
around 150 glasses from the 5th to 18th
centuries, has been owned by Diageo

since they took over Cinzano. It is now

held at the Diageo meeting centre in Villa

Storica a Santa Vittoria d’Alba in Italy
between Genoa and Turin.
We will also visit Villa Monastero, on

the shore of Lake Como near Varenna,
north of Milan and in the south of France

we’ll make a trip to the glass centre at

Biot. We’ll advise you of the programme
as soon as it is confirmed.

Other visits and meetings are being

arranged in the UK, and we’ll advise
everyone once dates are arranged.

Member’s News

The GA Committee
Due to work and family commitments,

both Becky Wallis who has been with

the V&A and with us for a number of
years and Cordelia Jackson, a more

recent member and valuable addition

from the younger generation, have had
to regretfully resign their positions on the

GA Committee. We thank them both for
the time and work put in to promote our
organisation and organise events.

Wishing them both well for their futures.

The British Glass Foundation (BGF) and
White House Cone — museum of glass
(WHCmog)

As you have been able to read
elsewhere in this magazine, much is

happening to raise the funds needed to

fit out the interior of the museum, with

help from a current submission to the
Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The BGF

parted ways with the original design

team ‘Bright & White’ and are now
working with a design group known as
`Fuzzy Duck’. It is excellent news to

know that Charles Hajdamach
(Life

President of the GA)
who commenced

the Broadfield House Glass Museum
and knows the collection so well is
working with Allister Malcolm, the

Resident Glass Artist of WHCmog, in
explaining requirements and consulting
with Fuzzy Duck. Chloe Winter-Taylor is

consulting on design themes and

together with Stuart Connelly is

responsible for the archives, which are
destined to remain with Dudley MBC.
We support them and wish them all well
in moving forward with the internal fit-
out of the museum. The GA has donated
£1000 per annum for three years.

Looking at Red House Cone from WHCmog
The Biennale and International Festival
of Glass in Stourbridge

It is the Ruskin Mill Trust that runs The
Biennale. It’s worth viewing the
charitable work they carry out with

youngsters from the age of 16 to 25,
who have complex behaviour learning

difficulties and disabilities. Both

residential and day placements are
offered. Find out more at www.rmt.org.

This year, the GA is helping to fund the
Biennale Catalogue and offering a prize
of £750 to the glass artist, exhibiting at

the Biennale Exhibition. The prize will be

for the glass entry that the GA members

consider their favourite, voting slips will

be available at the exhibition from

opening night on Thursday 24th August,
through to the closing of the exhibition
on Saturday 9th September. This is the

first time that the GA has donated a
prize, to help the artists and support The

Ruskin Mill Trust. Make it worthwhile. Do

go and vote.

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

Antique Stourbridge Glass

GLASS: The true facts and good investments.

Celebrating 80

Peter’s son Bart in admiration of his father
37

MEMBERS NEWS

Many of our members will remember

Dilwyn and Patricia Hier. Dil was a GA

committee member for many years and

together, they ran the glass fairs until
passing them on to Paul Bishop and

Christina Glover.
Dil has spent time creating an

informative website, focussing on

Stourbridge glass, wishing to pass his
knowledge on for others to read. He
writes
‘I felt it was easier than getting a book

published. I believe I am more able on
line to show original records and pattern

books with better definition and in larger
quantity than the confines of a book

would allow. The same goes for
photographs with rotating images of

articles and videos. The task of
producing the website is large and more

information and photographs are being

added on a continuous basis. It is an
ongoing task with a great deal more,
waiting in the wings, to be included.

The opportunity is there for GA

members to contribute as well. If
anybody has research material that is

not included or improves what I have
written it can be added. I also see the

website as a platform to promote books,

organisations and museums that
specialise in glass, being complimentary

to existing GA publications and

hopefully it will attract new people to
glass collecting and the GA.’
‘The site is partly free but the main

content is subject to two levels of

subscription. The premium level
provides access to the archive materials

and £10 of the upgrade fee will be
donated to the White House Cone
Museum of Glass towards its upkeep.’

Dilwyn can be reached through his

website:

Home Page

or email: [email protected]
Bild-Werk Frauenau

The GA have visited and written about
the Glassmuseum in Frauenau, Bavaria.

A fifteen minute walk away, is the Glass

Academy in Bild-Werk. Sarah

Hoechstetter writes:
‘In 1987 the painter and studio glass

pioneer Erwin Eisch founded the

International Academy for glass and arts

Bild-Werk Frauenau in Bavaria,
Germany. This year the school

celebrates its 30th anniversary with a

special academy programme. On the

occasion of the anniversary there will

also be an exhibition from July until

August which will showcase works from
teachers across the whole spectrum of

the schools programme. We would be
delighted if the GA members could visit

us and join in the events that will take
place at Bild-Werk this summer.’

Their website is:

www.bild-werk-frauenau.de/en.

For more information on ‘what’s on’

email Sarah at:
sarah.hoechstetter@bild-werk-

frauenau.de

Peter Layton — Celebrating 80

To celebrate being 80 years young, on
June 15th, Peter Layton invited some of

the pioneering spirits of British Studio

Glass to join him in an exhibition at

London Glassblowing in Bermondsey.

Each artist has made a huge
contribution to glass art and each one of

them is still at the top of their game.

Peter had invited Alison Kinnaird MBE

and Katharine Coleman MBE, two of the
world’s leading glass engravers, Philip

Baldwin and Monica Guggisberg who’ve

moved from Paris and set up their new
studio in Wales. Also present were David

Reekie and Colin Reid, the UK’s

foremost glass sculptors, with their work
being internationally renowned. Sam
Herman, who with Peter, is one of the
`golden oldies’ helped to forge the way

in the early days and they now

encourage the next generation,

including Cathryn Shilling, Louis

Thompson, Tim Rawlinson, Layne
All the Glass Artists with Peter

Rowe, and Anthony Scala. Peter
invited Joseph Harrington, Dr

Heike Brachlow, Livvy Fink, Nancy
Sutcliffe and Karen Browning for

their consummate talent and skills

and their remarkable and
innovative ideas. We must not

forget Peter’s own work, as
exciting and innovative as it ever

was. The whole exhibition was a

worthy tribute to him. All present

sang ‘Happy Birthday’ following a
warm talk from Peter’s son Bart.

THE GLASS CONE NO.111 SPRING/SUMMER 2017

The Glass Cone

THE MAGAZINE OF THE GLASS ASSOCIATION
www.glassassociation.org.uk

PROMOTING THE UNDERSTANDING AND APPRECIATION OF GLASS

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