Part III GLASS, SILVER, PLATE, ENAMELS, METALWORK

Chapter 15. Glass
 

OF ancient glass probably the best-known example in the world is the Portland Vase in the British Museum; this is composed of a layer of white glass over blue glass, the outer coating skillfully cut into a pattern. More ordinary types of glass dating to Roman times are in the form of small bottles, often called 'Tear Bottles1, which have been excavated and as a result of lengthy burial are covered in iridescence. The Romans mastered the art of making glass of all the types known in later years, and subsequent techniques have been rediscoveries. Considering the centuries that have passed and the delicacy of the material a considerable number of fine specimens has survived, but they are to be seen rarely outside museums.

Following the fall of the Roman Empire, the art of glass-making suffered a decline, but in Persia and other countries of the Near East some good pieces were made between the seventh and eleventh centuries. Later, in Syria some highly decorated articles, notably vases and mosque-lamps, were made and specimens of these outstanding works may be seen in the principal museums. At the same time, in Europe low bowls and cups were being made from a greenish or brownish coloured glass. A peculiarity of these is that the fitting of a foot to the articles, common enough in Roman times, seldom seems to occur; it would appear that the arts of making a foot and joining it to a vessel had been forgotten.
 

Venice

By the thirteenth century glass-making had become a well-established industry in Venice and on the island of Murano, where a large and important export trade was built up rapidly. The Venetians had found how to make a clear glass, cristallo, and were able to produce not only colourless pieces but others of pure gem-like tints. These various types of glass and the skill with which they were fashioned ensured a ready sale, and gave Venice an enduring fame. One of the techniques rediscovered shortly before 1650, lost since Egyptian and Roman times, was the embedding in clear glass of threads of white or coloured glass, the former known as latticino; dishes, and other pieces were made with lace-like patterns of mathematical precision. Other types of decoration were with enamels painted on the surface and fired (similar to the painting of chinaware), gilding, and engraving. The white glass used in the making of latticino pieces was used sometimes to make complete pieces; their resemblance to porcelain was recognized and often led to confusion. It is recorded that about 1470 a white glass was the subject of experiments to imitate Chinese porcelain, and as late as 1730 the French scientist, Reaumur, was working on much the same lines.

The Venetian trade declined once the spread of knowledge had enabled glass-works to be set up in other countries, but production continued. Both coloured and white glass were made throughout the eighteenth century and later, and chandeliers were introduced. These were often of large size, made of opaque glass tinted in pinks and blues and modelled with flowers, leaves and elaborate scrolls. Mirror-frames were made also in the same style.

Not only was domestic and ornamental glassware developed and exported in quantity by the Venetians, but during the greater part of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they were the principal makers of mirror-glass and their products were far ahead of those of their imitators. It must be remembered that the making of glass in Venice has been continuous for many hundreds of years, and the same designs have been reproduced there again and again. Many sixteenth- and seventeenth-century pieces were copied in Victorian times and more recently, and the collector must guard against these copies as well as against deliberate forgeries.
 

England

It is probable that good glass was made in England during the Roman occupation, but when that ended little other than plain utilitarian pieces were made for a considerable time. It is known that there were glass-makers in Surrey and Sussex, where timber was plentiful, from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. Also, it is known that coloured glass for church windows was made at several centres.

In the sixteenth century domestic needs were supplied by glass imported principally from Venice, and some was made in the Venetian manner by Italian workers who settled in London but did not stay. In 1575 Queen Elizabeth I granted Jacopo Verzelini a privilege for twenty-one years, during which he should make Venice glasses in London and teach Englishmen the art; at the same time, importation of such glasses was prohibited by law but possibly not in fact. A number of glasses exist which it has been suggested were the work of Verzelini, but it has been impossible so far to prove this and they remain the subject of argument. A typical goblet, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is engraved with the date 1581, and the names of 'John' and 'Jone Dier'; other rather similar pieces are dated from 1577 to 1586.

For the next seventy years a series of men held monopolies from the government for glass-making, and in the same period a change was made in substituting coal for wood in heating the furnaces. Little has been identified as having been made during this lengthy period, but it is suggested that much of the glass made then, and earlier, is so like true Venetian that it cannot now be told apart. One truly recognizable article of which the making began late in the seventeenth century is the wine-bottle. Fortunately, it was a custom in many instances to make them with the addition of a circular glass seal on the shoulder on which was the name of the owner and the date, and many of these have survived. A study of both seals and bottles has enabled a sequence of styles to be noted, and it is possible to date a bottle by its shape even when no seal is present.

It had long been considered that English glass was an inferior material, both in appearance and strength, to the imported Venetian, and in 1673 the London Glass-Sellers' Company engaged George Ravenscroft to experiment and find a substitute for 'cristallo'. The result of his researches was that the addition of a quantity of lead oxide in the form of litharge made an excellent glass that not only equalled, but even excelled, the Venetian. As powdered flints were also a part of the new composition it was given the name of 'flint glass' but it is called often nowadays 'glass-of-lead'.

Ravenscroft's first pieces suffered from a defect known as 'crisselling', in which the glass is covered in a fine crackle which clouds it. This was cured, and in 1676 it was announced that Ravenscroft had gained permission to mark his productions. The mark chosen was a small seal with the appropriate device of a raven's head in relief. Not more than a dozen sealed pieces have survived, and most of them are now in museums. Following the success of 'glass-of-lead', it was adopted throughout England. One feature of the new material was that it could not be blown quite as thinly as the Venetian, but it lent itself to the making of articles that were bright in appearance and could compare well with natural rock crystal.

The most popular production of the eighteenth century was that of wine-glasses, and thousands remain of which the different patterns defy calculation. A particularly pleasing feature of many is the 'twist' stem; these are clear, white, or coloured; the latter rarest and most expensive. The earliest glasses have a folded foot (with the outer edge turned under), later ones are with a plain thin edge.

In 174S a duty was levied on all glass; as the duty was on the actual material the amount of this in each article was lessened, and more labour and time were expended on ornamentation. To this, together with changing fashion, is due the rise of cutting, enamelling and engraving, which played an increasing part as the century advanced. Members of the Beilby family of Newcastle-on-Tyne are famous for their enamel work. Decanters, introduced about 1750 and plain at first, became cut heavily, and before long cutting was the principal decoration of all pieces.

Chandeliers and pairs of candelabra were greatly in demand in the last half of the eighteenth century. The complex cut patterns glittered brilliantly by candlelight, enhanced by hanging chains of small glass drops. Old examples can still be bought, and most of them have been converted skilfully for use with electricity.

In Bristol, articles were made of a porcelain-like white glass, often painted delicately in colours. Blue and amethyst-coloured glass was made there also, but the majority seen today has been manufactured in recent years and probably not in England. Nearby, at Nailsea, a large factory made jugs, rolling-pins and similar domestic pieces. Many of these were in green-tinted bottle-glass, which was taxed at a lower rate and could be sold cheaply, others are made of glass striped in mixed colours. Pieces are described for convenience as 'Nailsea' and 'Bristol', but similar articles were made at glassworks up and down the country and it is rarely possible to say exactly whence they came.
 

Ireland

Irish glass, particularly Waterford, has been the subject of discussion for many years, but in fact it cannot usually be distinguished from that made in England at the same time. When some further Excise duties were placed on English glass in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, a few manufacturers sent craftsmen across to Ireland and opened factories there. A number of decanters have survived with raised inscriptions under the base reading 'Penrose, Waterford' and 'Cork Glass Co.', and these are indisputably of Irish make.
 

Germany

The hold of the Venetians on the markets of Europe was a strong one, and continual efforts were made to break it in all the countries concerned. The Germans were skilled at enamelling their glass, but it was of Venetian type and only the quality of the painting makes it noteworthy. Late in the seventeenth century they managed to develop a heavy type of crystal glass to which they applied cutting on the wheel: a revolving fine grindstone against which the article was held for pattern-making. This was a method first used in ancient times by lapidaries in the forming of gemstones, but had been employed also by the Roman glass-makers notably, as mentioned above, in the Portland Vase. The German craftsmen had already achieved success in engraving natural rock-crystal, which was then mounted elaborately in gold set with gems, and it was not a difficult step to adapt their skill to glass. The most famous of these engraving establishments were in Berlin, Petersdorf in Silesia (now Poland), and Cassel.

The fine workmanship of the earlier craftsmen was not equalled by their successors, but the glasswares of Silesia and Bohemia continued to be made throughout the eighteenth century. A milky-white glass, often decorated in enamel colours, was very popular and much of this has survived. It can be confused with the rare white Bristol product by the inexperienced, but is seen to be commonplace when compared closely. A deep red, or ruby, glass was made in the early and mid-nineteenth century, and cut in the manner of 150 years earlier. It was exported and proved highly popular in England; much of it was of clear glass 'flashed' with a thin coating of red cut through with scenes of stag-hunting and views of German spas.
 

Holland

Glass of Venetian type was made in the Netherlands in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but it was in the decoration of glass that the Dutch excelled. Like the Germans, they ornamented much of their output with cutting on the wheel, but a specialty was engraving with a diamond which was often done so finely that the decoration can be seen only when the light falls across it. There are specimens of diamond-engraving in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, dated 1600 and 1604, and similar work was done throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The names of Frans Greenwood (a Dutchman in spite of his English surname) and David Wolff are the best known of those who did this delicate work. Some of the surviving examples are signed and dated, but many bear no indication of artist or of when they were executed. Some of the late eighteenth-century engravings were on English glasses of the period, which were then being imported into Holland.

At the end of the eighteenth century an artist named Zeuner, of whom remarkably little is known in the way of personal details, executed a number of paintings on glass. These were done in an unusual manner, with gold and silver leaf laid on the back of the glass which was then scratched through and filled with black paint. The skies in outdoor scenes were painted in natural colours, and the effect is striking and decorative. Some of his surviving works are of views in Amsterdam, and a small pane! in the Victoria and Albert Museum shows a view of the Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, in about 1780.

France

The French were the most noted makers of stained glass for windows, and this was not only for their own churches but was sent abroad. Domestic glassware, as elsewhere, was of Venetian style and of no particular distinction. Nevers and Rouen had works at which were made small figures in coloured and white glasses; some of them date to as early as about 1600 but many surviving specimens are later. Most of them have little individuality with which to establish their exact provenance, as they were made also in Germany, Italy and England.

It was at the end of the eighteenth century that French glass-making began to develop, and factories were opened to make glass 'in the manner and quality of England'; whence had come much that had been imported. A factory at Baccarat, near Lunéville in 1765, was followed two years later by the Cristallerie de St Louis, in Lorraine, and others who have remained less renowned came and went. The method was invented of enclosing white ceramic medallions in clear crystal, which gave the former an attractive silver appearance; paper-weights, goblets, and other pieces were made with this type of ornamentation.

At the two factories mentioned above, and at a third in Clichy, were produced the paper-weights of clear glass decorated within with coloured 'canes' of the same material. Specimens with dates between 1845 and 1849 are found, and some are marked additionally with 'B' for Baccarat, 'c' for Clichy, and 'SL' for St Louis. It should be mentioned that the dates on such examples are never set centrally, but always to one side and even then are often scarcely noticeable. Within the last few years much attention has been paid to paper-weights from these factories, and their value has greatly appreciated. A very scarce specimen has fetched over $3,000, but less exotic ones can be purchased for a few dollars. It may be noted that they have been faked extensively. Commonplace copies with blurred coloured 'canes' inside and centrally placed dates are easily recognized, but during the last ten years some extremely clever copies of rare specimens have been made.
 

China

While glass was known in China from the fifth century A.D., little is known about what was made and no early specimens have been identified with certainty. A glasshouse was started under the Emperor K'ang Hsi and again there is little positive information about the productions, but a number of pieces of experimental types have been assumed to date from that time. Later, in the reigns of Yung Cheng and Ch'ien Luig (together covering the years 1723 to 1795), pieces were made of opaque tinted glass. These pieces are noticeably heavy in weight in comparison with European examples, and the colours are distinctive and pleasing. Vases were made in the shape of monochrome-glazed porcelain of the periods, and with the surface polished on the wheel. Snuff-bottles and other pieces arc found imitating remarkably closely the colour and texture of jade and other hard-stones. The Chinese mastered the technique of copying onyx and other layered stones by making articles of two layers of glass, cutting through one to reveal the contrasting colour of the other. Clear glass snuff-bottles were decorated in the nineteenth century by the tedious process of painting them on the inside surface by introducing a bt ash through the narrow neck opening.
 

America

It is known that Captain John Smith sent back to England a sample of glass made on American soil in 1609, but doubtless the anonymous maker and his successors made purely utilitarian pieces. The greatest demand would be for window-glass and for bottles; a demand that continued for many years to come. Numerous glasshouses came and went during the course of the eighteenth century: Richard Wistar advertised in 1769 'between Three and Four Hundred Boxes of Window Glass . . . Lamp Glass... Bottles ... Snuff and Mustard Receivers, and Retorts of various Sizes, also Electrifying Globes and Tubes, &c.\ while in 1773 Henry William Steigel had for sale: 'decanters . . . tumblers . . . wine glasses ... jelly and cillabub glasses . . . wide-mouth bottles for sweetmeats . . . phyals for doctors', etc.

As can be understood, not a great quantity of American-made glass from before 1800 has survived, and examples show divergent styles. Both English and German immigrants owned or worked in the glasshouses of the time, and each brought the skills and patterns of his homeland. Not only is it a matter of difficulty to distinguish between the productions of the various factories on American soil, but wares made in many of the lesser European factories at about the same date are not dissimilar.

Pocket spirit-flasks were in demand at the end of the eighteenth century, and usually were made by blowing the molten glass into an ornamented mould; the ornament being impressed on the article when it cooled and was removed from the hinged mould.

In the nineteenth century, once the United States had become independent, imports were discouraged and manufacturing of goods increased. Innumerable glassworks opened, but none stayed the course solely by making table or ornamental wares; profits from them were insufficient and window-glass and bottles were the mainstays. Finally, a machine for making pressed glassware was invented and came into use about 1828. Pressing involves the placing of molten glass into a mould, then a further mould is pressed on the still-molten material to force it into shape; one or both moulds could bear ornamentation, depending on the shape of the finished article. This provided a quick and cheap method of making imitations of cut-glass, and of introducing further ornament, for instance beading, which was not practicable on the wheel.

Pressed coloured glass was made in great quantities. The Boston and Sandwich Glassworks, of Sandwich, Mass., founded in 1828 by Deming Jarves, is probably the best-known source, but very many other factories, both large and small, made similar wares which are barely distinguishable one from another. Some examples are marked with the name of the maker, but many cannot be assigned to any particular factory.

Copies of some of the French mid-nineteenth-century glass paper-weights were made at the Boston and Sandwich Glassworks, and some original designs also were produced there.
 

BOOKS

The standard works on English glass are British Table and Ornamental Glass, by L. M. Angus-Butterworth; From Broad Glass to Cut Crystal, by D. R. Glittery, both books distributed in the United Slates by Arco Publishing Company; New York; and A History of English and Irish Glass, by W. A. Thorpe, 1929, in two volumes. Less comprehensive, also by W. A. Thorpe, is English Glass.* W. B. Honey's Glass (Victoria and Albert Museum, 1946), deals with all countries.