(Warning! I ended up putting a lot of photos together, and included a bit of info. I hope if you have the time to look through it, it won't be a waste of space or effort.)
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Do many of you have high-speed internet, or is it mostly dial-up?)
Last May I took a Glass Road Trip. It was timed to coincide with a meeting of the NE chapter of the American Cut Glass Association, where I was a guest of a friend of mine from the internet. One of the major thrills was that it was being hosted by Jane Spillman, the Curator of American Glass at the Corning Museum of Glass, and had a genuine engraver as the guest speaker. Now, my home state, Minnesota, is glass-poor, and I had NEVER met any other glass enthusiasts in person! So this was a big deal.
I thought I'd share a few photos with you all. Well, it started out as a few, and I got kind of carried away. They're not fabulous because the museums were so dim, but I hope you enjoy them, anyway. I've tried to show an assortment, but it's kind of heavy on the engraved glass (you should see all the photos of engraving I'm
not showing you!). All are at CMOG unless otherwise noted.
First, a few particularly impressive ancient pieces.
Late 4th C BC Egyptian. Made by fusing different colors of glass rods together and stretching out the result to shrink the pattern. Bits are then cut off, assembled like a mosaic and fused.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9361This is Roman Empire from about the 1st C B.C. - 1st C A.D, perhaps made in Egypt. Fabulous colors! A very simplified summary of the making of the bowl: rods were fused, slumped in a clay mold, turned over and put on an exterior mold, a cane was added around the rim, bowl annealed, ground and polished inside and out. I don't remember the one on the right being explained, but presumably it was the same kind of thing but starting with a mosaic of bitty pieces.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9359This is Roman, about the same time. Blown, cased or flashed, and cut with wheel and burin-like tools. They've found fragments with SIX layers of glass!
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9360These are Kuttrolfs (gurgling bottles). 17th C, German. I still don't totally understand how they got the tubes. The parison was dipped in an extra coat of glass at the bottom and the canes were applied. Then the neck of the vessel was reheated and the air sucked out, causing it to collapse and (?!) form the tubes. Please tell me if you can figure out how the tubes were formed just by sucking the air out.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9358A trick glass. Way old. Sorry, I don't have any info about it. Pretty nifty party favor!
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9391Now some British glass! To start, one of my favorites: a cameo plate by George Woodall, Moorish Bathers
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9374detail:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9380A Webb cameo tazza, and a stupendous multitiered thingy that I think is also Webb
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9375http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9381Some British engraved glass:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9373 http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9372One stray Russian piece I found pretty incredible. It's a double-walled beaker (ala Zwischengoldglas) decorated with bits of paper, straw and moss. Bakhmetev Glassworks, 1820:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9357Intaglio beaker from 1690. In 1670 the Bohemians developed a new, hard, very clear glass, great for gem cutters to carve in. It was also pretty unstable, and liable to crizzling, which you can see on this fascinating piece. It's supposed to depict Adonis and Venus, but I'm not sure what's going on.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9406Dutch engraving in true rock crystal of Amalia von Solms, 1626 (TMA)
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9392A Bacarrat cameo punch set:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9385A Lobmeyr enameled vase. I love Lobmeyr. I have a few of their engraved pieces - gorgeous!
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9382A Lötz Octopus urn. The light bits are full of air - an awesome adaptation of the Mother of Pearl/Pearl Satinglass/air trap technique (TMA)
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9395"Americo-Bohemian" glass. This is Biedermeier-style glass made in the US. Not only did we import their glass, we imported a lot of talent. There were many Bohemian cutters and especially engravers working for American companies during the ABP. This first photo is of a goblet by Louis Vaupel, a Bohemian working for New England Glass (TMA):
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9363And a few other examples:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9384An array of amberinas:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9383I wouldn't have guessed who made this in a million years. This is Mt. Washington, by John Liddell, in 1885 (TMA):
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9386Some more typical Mt. Washington:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9389http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9388Some American engraved glass made in Corning, the "Crystal City."
Hawkes pitcher, engraved by Hieronymus William Fritschie (not to be confused with William Fritsche, who worked for Thomas Webb). For President and First Lady McKinley.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9397detail:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9396Steuben pitcher with "bosses" (Corning's word for the round bits). This is the same one featured in the skeleton mold thread, but bigger, and with a detail shot.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9394http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9393And the Hawkes vase with bosses:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9408detail
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9407Hawkes plate in the Empire pattern. Plus detail!!
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9377http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9376Sinclaire cut-to-clear urn. They were actually pretty short on the really good Sinclaire.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9362Really awesome item. This is an unfinished cameo engraving by Frederick Carder. I think it's really cool to be able to see a work like this "in progress"
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9371detail:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9370Maybe these will come in handy at some point. A selection of Steuben colors:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9367http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9368http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9409And Steuben Cluthra and Cintra:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9369This is a terrible photo, and I include it partly because someone was asking about intarsio earlier. This is a Steuben example in the TMA. This whole room was very dark, and none of the glass was labeled, it was frustrating.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9401Sorry, I don't know who did this! It's based on a Dali painting. I think it's pretty cool.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9399Libbey cut-to-clear urn (TMA):
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9405William Leighton cut and enameled vase. I think he worked for New England Glass.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9364This is a Heisey vase in a private collection. It was engraved by Emil Krall, an extremely talented engraver and designer from - you guessed it - Bohemia.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9379detail:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9378His Brother Wilibald Krall also worked for Heisey, and did this:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9403Whew! That's it for now.
