I’ve just bought this clear pressed glass comport and would value the opinion of GMB members.
12.5cm tall, with top rim diameter of 13.5cm and a base rim diameter of 10.7cm. Weight 800gm. No identifying marks.
It has a really chunky hexagonal baluster stem with two plain bosses at each end. The bottom boss joins seamlessly to a circular foot, the underside if which is slightly concave impressed with a multi-point star, and finished with a distinct but narrow raised foot rim. The bowl has a scalloped rim with 24 ‘fingers’, the exterior of the bowl being decorated with 24 oval concave thumbprints over a zig-zag row of raised diamonds. The exterior base of the bowl has a plain stepped circular boss, then a distinct groove before joining with the top boss of the stem.
The centre of the bowl interior has what appears to be the smoothed remnants of a pontil mark, and immediately beneath the pontil mark (or perhaps even inside it) are air inclusions such as you get when bowls and stems of hand blown goblets are joined together during manufacture.
The top surface of the foot has typical pressed glass ‘flow’ marks. The bosses of the stem and two of the hexagonal angles have traces of mould marks. The bowl seems to be much more finely finished, with no obvious mould marks to the exterior or interior, and just the smoothing marks of the pontil scar to the centre.
The bowl has a resonant ring when flicked, whereas the stem and foot produce a muffled clonk.
The comport appears well made and finished, and is symmetrical. The metal has good clarity with few bubbles or inclusions.
I think there is little or no doubt that it is an English piece and, to me, it has all the characteristics of early Lancashire or West Midlands pressed glass that you would expect from a piece made between 1850 and the mid-1860s.
I can understand that the piece was probably held on a pontil rod attached to the centre of the bowl interior for finishing after removal from the mould. Do you think it’s possible that the bowl and stem/foot were made in separate moulds and then joined together while still hot (as a hand blown piece may have been)?
Does the shape and decoration ring any bells with you?
I’ve already sought NeilH’s opinion, and he has found an unregistered Percival Vickers pattern from around 1860 with several similar features (though not quite a match), and the comport is certainly not dissimilar to the couple of pieces of Joseph Webb, Stourbridge, pieces of pedestal glassware that I have (dating from the early 1850s).
Does anyone know of any attributed patterns from Midlands glass works that may fit the bill?
Topic: Pressed glass comport 1850 to-mid 1860s. No identifying marks. (Read 757 times)
