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Author Topic: Stuart or Harrach ?  (Read 9629 times)

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Offline David Hier

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Stuart or Harrach ?
« Reply #20 on: May 26, 2006, 02:43:16 PM »
Quote from: "Glen"
The motif is undoubtedly a stylised peacock feather.............Tadoples, teardrops, tornadoes. They are all in fact, stylised peacock feathers.Glen


That might well be the case, but it is important to know what the designs were called in the original pattern books etc.

You also have a 'chicken and the egg' type of scenario. Were the trails designed to be stylised peacock feathers, or were they called that after the similarity was spotted (by the maker?)?

The trails are extremely stylised and could arguably represent some kind of flower. Hopefully a close look at the pattern books will shed some light on the matter.
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Offline Glen

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Stuart or Harrach ?
« Reply #21 on: May 26, 2006, 02:53:47 PM »
A contemporary Harrods catalogue (1909) referred to them as "The original English Peacock Decoration". And of course, the peacock feather was one of the great style motifs of the era. A study of press moulded patterns in the early 1900s shows that peacock designs (peacock "eye", full feather, highly stylised representations of the feathers and even the full bird itself) were exceptionally popular.

JMHO

Glen
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Offline David Hier

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Stuart or Harrach ?
« Reply #22 on: May 26, 2006, 03:15:13 PM »
Quote from: "Glen"
A contemporary Harrods catalogue (1909) referred to them as "The original English Peacock Decoration".


Is that for the Northwood pressed pieces?
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Offline Glen

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« Reply #23 on: May 26, 2006, 03:22:23 PM »
No, it's not for Northwood pressed pieces - it's for "glass with applied decoration probably made in Stourbridge or Birmingham".

Glen
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Offline David Hier

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« Reply #24 on: May 26, 2006, 03:57:28 PM »
Is there no reference to a manufacturer in the Harrods catalogue?
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Offline Glen

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« Reply #25 on: May 26, 2006, 04:04:36 PM »
Nope. It simply states: "Hand Made English Glass".
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Offline David Hier

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« Reply #26 on: May 26, 2006, 06:31:55 PM »
Quote from: "David Hier"
Quote from: "KevH"
I eagerly await the views of anyone who may know the difference and who may also be able to confirm the Thomas Webb versions as mentioned in my other message.


My father is certain that Webbs made this type of glass. I will check out the pattern books as soon as possible.


I have looked at what footage my father has of the Webbs pattern books and I can confirm that they did produce 'peacock eye' glass. The shapes and variations are quite distinctive, so they should be easily distinguishable from others made by Stephens & Williams, Stuarts and Richardsons etc etc.

Unfortunately there was no reference to any kind of description or name for this glassware.

My father has looked at the Stephens & Williams pattern books and found several examples of the glass we are discussing. None of the documentation he looked at had any descriptions or names either. Interestingly he did find silver rimmed bowls/vases and decanters.

I have also been told that Mervyn Gulliver has done a lot of research into 'peacock eye' glass. He says that it is almost always referred to as "Peacock Eye Trail" in the Stuarts pattern books.

Unless someone carefully catalogues the relevant pattern books for 'peacock eye' glass, and also acquires examples from all the makers concerned, I doubt that any definitive advice for identification can be provided.

One more thing that might be of interest. I found several examples of 'peacock eye' glass in a 1907 edition of the "Army & Navy Stores Catalogue". The glass is only described in terms of "flower vases" or "bowls". There is no mention of a maker and the glassware is simply described as being "Best English Glass". or "Best English Flint Glass".
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Offline David Hier

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Stuart or Harrach ?
« Reply #27 on: May 26, 2006, 06:33:38 PM »
Quote from: "Bernard C"
Jackson attributes two colour green peacock's eye glass to Stuart, with an introduction date of around the turn of the century.   She also notes a citron and chocolate version which I have not seen.


I think Jackson might be talking about a ruby over citron variant, where the greeny-yellow base colour makes the ruby trails look chocolate in colour. My parents own an example, so I will take a photo when I get the chance.


I have just found a few small snippets of useful information in Mervyn Gulliver's "Victorian Decorative Glass: British Designs, 1850-1914", ISBN 0-7643-1597-8.

On pages 87-89 there are several examples of peacock eye glass. All the examples are attributed to Stuart & Sons Ltd and described as having "stylised peacock eye trails".

To confirm that Stuarts did make such glass, there is a copy of an illustration from their pattern books (page 269). The item illustrated is a "Glass bowl to hold flowers". A registered design number is also given: "R. D. 486685 - September 8, 1906".

Interestingly there is an example of a bowl made by Richardson's (page 204). The illustrated example features the distinctive peacock eye trails, but also has "machine threading" and a "pincered work frill" around the body.

One last bit of information I neglected to mention with regard to the Webbs pattern books. Almost all of the illustrations show peacock eye trails that do not have a central 'eye' shape.
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Offline KevinH

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« Reply #28 on: May 27, 2006, 10:45:29 PM »
Thanks for the extra info, David. I had also checked the Gulliver book and had noted the items you pointed out. He also shows another example (at the top right of page 87) but with no attribution.

And there is one that is a Satin "air trap" type vase (lower left of same page) which is stated to have a "stylised peacock tail [not "trail"] pattern" (ie presumably without the "eye" part of the description for "peacock eye trails"). Or is "peacock tail" something else again? Unfortunately for that Satin vase it's not possible to see the design feature that is a "tail". I wonder whether that is simply a "tear drop" pattern.

And could "tear drop", rather than "peacock eye" be applicable to the Webbs versions if, as you say, they do not have a central "eye" portion?

What would be really useful is for the Webbs patterns to be published so that we can all see the clear differences in shapes and variations that you mentioned.
KevinH

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Offline David Hier

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« Reply #29 on: May 28, 2006, 11:40:40 AM »
I think that the 'peacock tail' vase has nothing to do with the glass we are talking about. Stylistically it bears no resemblance to 'peacock eye' glass. The piece in question is a typical piece of Victorian (continental) decorative glass, whilst the peacock eye glass has its stylistic look firmly rooted in the 20th Century, and illustrates the first tentative steps towards modernism (sort of).

The Webb’s trails, and designs, look very much like the pieces shown in Mervyn's book, as well as the examples posted on this message board. They do include a large tadpole-like blob that thins into a tail, which trails down the glass onto the base. They just don't have the internal 'eye' tool-work. My parents own a piece that has the same sort of trails, so I will post an image when possible.

My parents have quite a few pieces of peacock eye glass and there are a lot of variations between the pieces, indicating different makers. For instance, a piece that resembles the Webbs patterns has no eye tooling, but the trail is all one colour. Other pieces have no eye tooling, but the centre of the eye has a different colouration. Another piece has the head of the trail opening up into a fan shape that meets the rim of the glass. These are all signature features that would distinguish the work of one maker from another. Someone just has to do the research and look at all the pattern books etc.

When it comes to identification, Stuart's signed their pieces consistently form the 1930s and Webbs from 1907, so later pieces should be easy to attribute.

As for the Webbs pattern books............ to look for the patterns I had to take video footage that my father had filmed and convert it to DVD. I suppose I could try to find out how to get stills from the DVD, but there are copyright issues and limitations to the use of such material. The footage I looked at is far from complete and I’m sure that there are more examples in the records. These may well include details such as the name Webb’s gave to such wares. This might include the origins of the infamous Manley reference to ‘Cairngoram Drops’.
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