Well I must have missed something?
I did go to a museum elsewhere (thank you Ivo) the Willet-Holthuysen, and see a lovely 'bijou' collection of beautiful glass - not well lit if you wished to see detail and photograph it but nonetheless, some gorgeous and interesting pieces (maybe 50 or so?) and quite a diverse collection in terms of shapes/colours/designs so it was interesting.
Some photos on tripadvisor here-
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g188590-d189386-Reviews-Willet_Holthuysen_Museum-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html#photosThey had a little more glass downstairs in cabinets, but it was unlit in dark wood cabinets and I really struggled to see it and take some pics. Had to flash photograph from an angle over the security cord and through the glass to even see that the glass had coloured stems.
This link is a good example of how badly lit and how difficult to photograph
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g188590-d189386-Reviews-Willet_Holthuysen_Museum-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html#photosThe Rijksmuseum did contain a small selection of exquisite pieces, but if I'm honest it was a bit disappointing for me. I was expecting the equivalent of the V&A in terms of quantity of selection of glass and it was not so, no where near so - but perhaps that was my preconceptions.
I went around two floors asking the helpers, none of whom were able to tell me where I might find glass. The ground floor person at reception was not able to either. Eventually I found about 8 Persian sprinklers. On the second floor a collection of Rock Crystal carved pieces (they were unbelievably well displayed and utterly stunning - I dream about owning a piece of rock crystal or a jewelled jade piece
). They were truly worth seeing.
I was then directed to the third floor where I found a collection of about 24 pieces of yellow pressed glass and was told that was all there was there on that side.
I ended up on the ground floor where I'd been directed as the only place there might be glass (though the person wasn't entirely sure about it) in the Special Collection section (through ships and dresses and Delftware) and found a small 4/5 cabinet section - lots of stipple engraved goblets and other engraved goblets (Peter I see what you mean about the display heights), a longish low level display of Roemers (not that many and not really my interest) and 17th century glass(might have been wider age than 17th ?? )... which was pretty, and wonderful to see it close up, but not a lot of it. And I think that was it. Not many coloured pieces, mostly clear glass in there apart from the green roemers. The engraving was stupendous of course. OH fortunately was interested in the technique of the stipple engraved glasses which I knew he would be.
And fortunately the Rembrandts made the whole thing worth doing. Utterly wonderful.
Yes it was lovely to see the glasses, but honestly, whilst I do appreciate that it's fantastic to see them in real life, if I'd known I was going to view a collection that small I think I would have thought twice about going.
What was a bit disconcerting was that none of the helpers I spoke to at the Rijksmuseum could really direct me to any glass with any certainty.
It was as though glass was something that got chucked in at the end when they were deciding how they were going to put it all back after the refurb.
And we did not have time to spend hours walking the entire museum hoping to come across a lucky break.
I feel mean writing this - and seeing them in real life of course beats photographs every time. But I'd highly recommend the V&A if you are after seeing a diverse and inspiring collection of glass in a museum.
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Topic: Rijksmuseum glass collection (Read 911 times)
