Topic: Burmese Article for Review

[Jim Sapp]

I am posting this article in response to a related thread on a satin glass pitcher thought to be Burmese.  I didn't wish to hijack that thread so I started another.

Some ago I circulated an article titled Insights into the Development of Burmese Glass: The Jules Barbe Pattern Book By Jane Chester Young, The National American Glass Club.  I circulated it among recognised experts for their review and comment.  I recorded all their comments in the original article (shown in read).  It contains perhaps too much information for the beginning collector, but for those always in the search of information, you may find the article informative and, perhaps, a bit entertaining.  The article is on-line at:

http://www.fairy-lamp.com/Fairylamp/ArticleNAGCBarbeRevised.html

Enjoy,
Jim.

[krsilber]

Interesting article, very detailed!

One suggestion - although most people reading the article probably already know something about Burmese, I don't think it would hurt to add a sentence or two about what it is, i.e. it contains gold and uranium and is struck to develop the shading.

I'm confused about the cased Burmese glasses.  Was a verdict ever reached?  I thought the Burmese cameo that looks cased was just struck on the outside, so it looks cased but isn't. 

Regarding this Inquiry:  "If Burmese glass is produced by using Gold and Uranium,which gives you the colouring of pink to yellow, what mixture was used to produce colours such as blue, brown etc."  I'm sure you already know this, but for Mt. Washington's Peach Blow, uranium was replace by cobalt.  Is it known that these other Burmese colors were uranium-based, or could the Blue Burmese actually refer to Webb's Peach Glass, since it is identical to Mt. Washington's Peachblow?

And the other Inquiry about Burmese being translucent - I've never seen any in person, but it sure looks pretty opaque to me from the photos I've seen.  Why would you have air twist in an opaque or even semi-opaque glass?

According to Avila's Pairpoint Glass Story, the spelling of the designer who created the decoration for the Queen's set is "Albert Steffin" (of course, I have no idea if that's accurate).

This is just a stupid little grammar comment, but it struck me because it was the second word in the article:  "glassware's" should be "glasswares."  The same mistake was made somewhere else in the article, too.

Boy, I'll never look at my Ray Grover book again without thinking about the dastardly scheme he was a part of!

Great article!  Thanks for sharing.  I hope you'll post the final draft once the questions and contradictions get ironed out.

[Frank]

Interesting read but one thing that disturbs me is that some of the comments are unsupported and with the commenter's only identified by initials? Was Jane Young also asked to add a postscript regarding the additional remarks?

[Jim Sapp]

Interesting read but one thing that disturbs me is that some of the comments are unsupported and with the commenter's only identified by initials? Was Jane Young also asked to add a postscript regarding the additional remarks?

Yes, that is quite true.  The comments are unsupported.  It was an informal review for my use only and Jane was not asked for comment. 

[heartofglass]

Very interesting article, thanks for sharing. 
As I have several Webb & Fenton Burmese items in my collection I think I can comment on their various qualities with some actual experience of this type of glass.
The Webb items are very thin & delicate. When viewed in strong light (even daylight) they have a slight translucence. They are not totally opaque. Whether this is due to the thinness of the glass itself, or the mixture itself, I cannot decide. Perhaps a little of both?
I do have to disagree with the closing remark that claims that the Fenton Burmese is a "very poor imitation". The Fenton Burmese of course does not have the delicacy of the Victorian era Burmese, it is much thicker glass & some of the painted decoration on it can be a bit excessive at times. Nevertheless, it is a fine quality glassware, very well-crafted & the Burmese colouration is excellent, with a high uranium content. I see the Fenton Burmese as a homage to the original rather than an out & out reproduction.
To me the poor imitations are the Italian repros of Burmese from the mid 20th C. These are muddy, dull & lacking in uranium. They try tried to copy rare shapes & added applied decoration that most Burmese never had (eg. sprays of fruit).

[Jim Sapp]

Nevertheless, it is a fine quality glassware, very well-crafted & the Burmese colouration is excellent, with a high uranium content. I see the Fenton Burmese as a homage to the original rather than an out & out reproduction.

I agree, the Fenton Burmese ware exceptional in it's own right.  Your reference to it being a homage is correct and there is no better example of the recent Burmese fairy lamp epergnes hand crafted by Nick Inman, Horcastle Studios in the UK.  He is using Fenton's Burmese cullets to produce Burmese fairy lamp epergnes similar to those of the Victorian era.

In a recent issue of the Fairy Lamp Club Newsletter, one of our members wrote a short article comparing the qualities of Fenton and Webb Burmese.  Perhaps you would be interested in seeing his assessment.  The newsletter is on-line at:

http://www.fairy-lamp.com/Fairylamp/Adobe_Files/Issue46.pdf

This member also collects contemporary and Victorian Burmese ware (fairy lamps) and has a very strong appreciation for both. 

I generally strip out short articles like this when sharing with others but, since this is a "glass forum", some of you may find the other articles equally interesting.

Jim.