Topic: Pellatt & Green Patentees London - Napoleon - Aspley Pellatt

[Robin G]

Don't know why I'm only now seeing some of the replies to my Aspley Pellatt/Pellatt & Green Wellington sulphide set into a red cased large heavy open salt. M, you asked for more more info, plus gave me a great lead to to the Illinois State Museum. One easy question- Yes, I'm sure it is Wellington. It is similar to the John Ford rendition and absolutely identical to the salt pictured in Paul Jokelson's book on sulphides. His identification has a question mark, and no attribution date at all. I asked my husband how we acquired it and what info he was given. I don't know what your rules are about mentioning current dealers. But a big name London dealer came to a paperweight meeting here in the States, c. 1992. He was selling items from the Jokelson collection. At the time J. wrote the book, he did not own this piece, saying it was in a private collection in Paris. But he must have purchased it later. It was shown at Corning, and has a label from them on the bottom. So interesting to see the blue version from Illinois. As you know, their date estimate was 1845-1855, and attribution of the sulphide itself was to Allen & Moore, marked on their piece, but not on ours, perhaps by chipping off where the initials should be. Otherwise, identical. The remaining question is who set the portrait into the final piece. But not a burning question for me. The 1831 date was only spoken by the London dealer, never authenticated in any printed material. Thanks for your research and interest in my piece.

[flying free]

Possibly of interest to the original piece on this thread - or maybe not - but thought I'd add it anyway to stimulate some discussion.  See the part I have bolded.
Link to something I found on the net-
http://www.georgianindex.net/Shop/glass/p-gglassmakers.html

Info on that picture of Apsley Pellat's showroom picture includes the following quote:

' ... .  Glass sulphides, also called Cameo Incrustations, are opaque, usually white, medallions or figurines encased in glass and used to decorate clear glass objects. They often appear on the sides of decanters, jugs, bottles and tumblers, and they are a very popular form of paperweight decoration. The name sulphide comes from the use of sulphur in the process of manufacturing sulphides in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The sulphide itself is usually made from a clay (or ceramic) and glass paste and is completely encased in glass. The early 19th century patents (innovative English glassmaker Apsley Pellatt (1791-1863) in 1819 in England and Pierre Honore Boudon de Saint-Amans in1818 in France) involved opening up a blown glass bulb while it was still molten, and placing the sulphide inside, then sealing up the opening (by pinching together the molten glass) and sucking out the air to draw the glass and the sulphide together. The most famous and successful producers of sulpides were Apsley Pellat in England from 1819 to the mid-century followed by Baccarat in France. Sulphides are sometimes called "Cameo Incrustations" or "Cameo Encrustations" and Apsley Pellatt originally called them "Crystallo-Ceramie". Their popularity as a luxury item was harmed when cheap imitations were made in which the design was pressed into a glass object, leaving an intaglio impression, which was then filled with plaster of paris and glued onto the surface of the glass vessel.

Pillar molding, a variant of the blown-molding process by which ornamental domestic ware could be made cheaply was patented in 1835, by Thomas Green, who gave it the name of Roman pillar moulding. The exterior was corrugated vertically or swirled, while the interior remained smooth. This patent was licensed to others, and a price list issued by Apsley Pellatt illustrates several examples. This was made in color, too.'


Anyone care to corroborate this info?  or expand on it?  Does that process relate to the shapes of the encrustations or other items?  I'm thinking of all the fancy cut bottles with sulphides in them maybe?