Topic: Drinking glass with fine Intaglio bird

[Ekimp]

Charity shop find last week. Initially thought it was engraved but is actually decorated using John Northwood’s Intaglio technique. It isn’t as detailed as fine engraving can be but is very effective, especially in the flesh. It is much more delicate than most glass decorated with the Intaglio method, you can see the feathers are just 1mm wide. It looks like the silhouette of the bird has been rough ground first, then detail cut through with standard Intaglio cuts.

From Hajdamach “...a standard intaglio cut will reveal a sharp edge on one side going into the surface of the glass at ninety degrees while the other edge slopes gradually upwards to the surface”

There is no pontil scar so believe the glass is 20th century, I was thinking English origin and earlier than later as it is such good quality. Not much wear, good ring, 9cm high. I think the bird might be a black grouse.

[Paul S.]

would agree that in view of what appears to be a mechanical finish to the underside of the foot, then almost certainly a modern piece - nice find though from a charity shop - and the intaglio one side step to the cut is easy to see  -  think you're probably correct about the black grouse.

It's probably fair to say that when compared to a piece of bog standard C19 pteridomania copper wheel engraving, then this is superior - some of those ferns are ultra basic and very two dimensional.                  So, in addition to Northwood's 'intaglio' process improving the realism of an image, improvement must also be due to the overall quality of art and skill level of the engraver  -  with this black grouse the entire image remains un-polished, so might we assume less skill required than had a part mirror-finish been produced?         
I don't think we should be too dismissive of a lot of late C19 copper wheel engraving  -  again, if you look in Hajdamach (1800 - 1914), he shows images from that process that are to die for, and even some of the grape and vine images can show amazing minute detail, and some of the acid engraving is amazing.
I have some pieces where both methods have been used (intaglio and copper wheel), and they look v.g., and I'd suggest that a skilled intaglio engraver uses the step cut to give perspective to what might otherwise be a lacklustre image.           
In some ways, this perspective appearance can be seen in Kny's cut work for Stuart, where he creates a fine mitre around the shape of leaves, and though only a small addition it brings the image of his leaves to life.

Sorry, no idea as to origin - Scotland perhaps ?              Pheasants were a fairly common C18 and first half C19 subject to include in their engravings  -  I believe they shoot both birds at one time or another - images of rural life I suppose.

the more we tick on about Northwood's 'intaglio' cut with the 'step', the more I'm irritated  -  what a tragedy that a different description wasn't used.     

[Ekimp]

There is a black grouse whisky....

Thanks for your comments. Completely agree regarding the quality of engraving, some of it is fantastic. I believe they employed engravers on the Intaglio work so imagine if the skills were there for better engraving then they were probably also available to produce good quality Intaglio if required. I had been thinking of the Intaglio work as having quite large broad strokes so it was interesting to see that they also used it for more detailed work. As with most things, you get examples at each end of the quality scale...but probably a lot more at the lower end...especially in charity shops.

I have no idea if the skill to create a polished finish was a factor as I don’t think it would improve the image in this case, and may even detract from it. The direction seen in the ‘strokes’ of the feathers adds something and makes it look more dynamic. Especially as the light changes when it’s moved when in the hand rather than in a static photograph. The degree to which the cuts reflect light depends on their orientation, so some areas look almost gloss and polished whereas other areas with cuts on a different orientation look matt, makes it quite three dimensional, quite clever I think. It is lacking in not having a nice small polished eye though.

Apparently the workers called it ‘Tag’ which might be better

[Paul S.]

think I'd forgotten about the Black Grouse  -  perhaps when the glass contains whisky, the bird looks even better               Yes, I saw the word tag in Hajdamach  -  no idea why that was used - but obviously it didn't catch on for the rest of us.                     

[Greg.]

Both Rowland Ward and Moser produced/retailed designs with game birds, might be worth investigating.

[Ekimp]

Thanks Greg, that’s interesting.

The decoration on these Moser glasses looks very similar Intaglio https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/10-etched-moser-lobmeyr-designed-1815208490

I’ll have a look around, so maybe not English then.