hello and welcome to the GMB - good to have another collector of Georgian glass
Don't think I'd agree that this looks like a typical Georgian epergne. Although we've become accustomed to thinking of epergnes as C19 table centre-pieces for holding flowers, their original use in the U.K., in the C18, was for holding various dry sweetmeats.
The pix I've seen show them, as you'd expect, being heavily cut, and even adorned with drops - with the glass being much thicker. As Lustrousstone has said, your wheel engraving of ferns is so typical of Victoriana - perhaps somewhere in the mid C19. Regret I can see only one of your criteria' as being genuinely valid for Georgian glass - the others are features that might be found on glass from almost any period - and this is the folded foot. The folded foot is most certainly from the first half of the C18, but I have my doubts that Georgian epergnes would have been given this feature, which was in essence an attempt (quite successfully) to strengthen the extremities of more thinly blown items such as drinking glasses, milk bowls, loving cups etc. (also applied to some very wide rims)
I suggest this epergne was made with flowers in mind, and would suggest that the folded foot is simply to strengthen the foot rim.
Unfortunately, I don't think there is much in the literature on Geogian epergnes - just the odd few paragraphs scattered around.
However, a nice piece of glass which has survived in one (or should that be two
piece intact for a long time - a good find.
Topic: Georgian Epergne (Read 1650 times)
