Apologies to Mike for hijacking his thread, but I hope this is interesting.
If someone said Stained Glass to me, like you, I would think of coloured glass. In fact I have a lot of it in the shed from a past life.
But, original stained glass windows were not made of coloured glass but clear glass painted with various pigments which when fired produced the colours.
There was a previous thread on here which is worth re-visiting:
https://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,45056.10.htmlReferring to a picture in Cottle of a group of enameled opal vases, Bernard C says, 'J.G.(Sowerby) would not have considered enameling relevant to the colour of glass. Enameling, even fired-on enameling, was a decorative process, nothing to do with glassmaking, as it could be used on pottery, china, and metal as well. So he would have regarded the group shown not as stained, as it says in the caption, but painted or decorated with enamel.'
On my Glass Colours webpage I wrote:
I agree with this sentiment. While most Blanc de Lait items are opalescent clear glass, there are also a significant number found in a pale green opalescent glass which does not appear to have a specific name. I believe this colour could be the 'stained' Blanc de Lait referred to in the advertisement. It is also possible the the 'stained' idiom may refer to the very rare pink tinted 'Blanc de Lait', referred to above as Rose Opalescent.
But, it could also refer to clear Blanc de Lait pieces which are sometimes found with highlights picked out with an amber stain.
In the 4 pictures:
First is a standard piece of clear opalescent Blanc de lait
Second is green tinted Blanc de Lait. This is found as often as clear but I believe that Sowerby made this type for a longer period than the clear.
Third is a pink tinted Blanc de lait. Only two items known to exist, both Gladstone bags, displayed in the Shipley Art Gallery, Geteshead. Referred to in Cottle as Rose Opalescent.
Forth is clear Blanc de Lait with an amber stain. These are quite rare, the stain always seems to be amber and is probably fired on as opposed to just painted. I do not have a piece, can anyone confirm this?
The catalogues are trade only. By the time of the 1882 catalogue I think Vitro Porcelain sales may have been lagging so Sowerby were trying to 'tempt' buyers with new 'fancy' glass products by adding Tortoiseshell, New Marble Glass, Aesthetic Green, Enamelled Opaque Glass and Stained Blanc de Lait etc etc. to their range of products.
The descriptor 'stained' may refer to the tint, green or pink as per Bernard, or it may refer to the applied stain. I still tend to agree with Bernard.
Mike