Glass

Prior to the Victorian period, Americans were dependent on European imports for elegant glassware. Native glasshouses produced mostly utilitarian glass such as flasks, bottles, and windowpanes during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Refined lead glass tableware was produced on only a limited basis in the United States during these years.  Not until the opening decades of the Victorian period did the production of sophisticated glassware begin to flourish in America, enabling native manufacturers to meet the needs of the prospering nation.

Blown Glass

In the nineteenth century, most high quality glass tableware and decorative objects were made of blown lead glass embellished with cut and/or engraved decoration. Commonly called "flint" glass during the period, lead glass was made by introducing oxides of lead to the glass mixture to achieve clarity and brilliance. The molten glass was blown and shaped by a skilled craftsman; cut with faceted motifs and/or engraved with pictorial decoration of flowers, leaves, landscapes, figures or buildings using a stone wheel; and then polished to a brilliant luster. 
       

Styles 

Celery Vase

c.1830-1850

Northeastern United States

Blown and cut glass

Collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA

Broad-fluted or panel-cut glass was fashionable from about 1830 to 1850.  This style of glassware was cut with wide, slightly concave panels.  Engraved decoration was occasionally combined with the panel cutting, but typically the panels were left plain in keeping with the simplicity of the style.

Compote

c.1830-1850

Northeastern United States

Blown and cut glass

Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA

Decanter and Wine Glasses

c.1830-1850

United States

Blown and cut glass

Collection of White House Historical Association, Washington, D.C.

Decanter

Probably Jersey Glass Company of George Dummer (active 1824-1862)

c.1824-1840

Jersey City, New Jersey

Blown and cut glass

Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Compote

Long Island Flint Glass Works of Christian Dorflinger (active 1852-1863)

1861

Brooklyn, New York

Blown, cut and engraved glass

Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

In the middle of the nineteenth century, as a result of the growing taste for elaborate ornament, elegant glassware once again featured cut decoration of faceted shapes similar to those found on cut glass produced in the early decades of the century. Motifs such as diamond points, fans, and strawberry diamonds embellish most, if not all, of the surface of the glassware.  Engraved ornament of naturalistic motifs is periodically combined with the faceted cut decoration.  Panel cutting continued to be used on the stems of drinking glasses and compotes.

Bowl
Probably New England Glass Company (active 1818–1888)

c.1860

East Cambridge, Massachusetts

Blown and cut glass

Collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA

Wine Glass

E. V. Haughwout and Company (active 1855-1861)

c.1855-1860

New York City, New York

Blown and cut glass

Collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX

Cruet

Possibly engraved by Louis F. Vaupel  (1824-1903)

Manufactured by New England Glass Company
(active 1818-1888)

1860-1870

East Cambridge, Massachusetts

Blown, cut and engraved glass

Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Pair of Compotes 1851-1857 New York City, New York Blown and cut glass Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Oil Lamp

Possibly Boston and Sandwich Glass Company (active 1825-1888)

1850-1860

Sandwich, Massachusetts

Blown and cut glass, marble, brass

Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

The 1840s witnessed the importation into the United States of large quantities of brightly colored and layered glass produced in Bohemia. The popularity of Bohemian glass inspired American glass manufacturers to produce cut glassware incorporating colored layers, described as "Overlay" glass. Overlay glass is made with two or more contrasting layers of glass. The layers are achieved by means of a technique called casing, which involves blowing the outer layer first and then introducing the inner layer.  Multiple layers are created by repeating the process of blowing one layer inside the other.  Motifs are then cut through the outer layer to expose the contrasting layer underneath. In most instances, a layer of red, green or blue glass appears over a layer of clear and the colored layer is cut through with circles, ovals, quatrefoils and other shapes. Occasionally a layer of opaque white glass is introduced between the colored and clear glass layers.  

Compote

New England Glass Company (active 1818–1888)

c.1855

East Cambridge, Massachusetts

Blown and cut glass

Collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA

Pitcher

Boston and Sandwich Glass Company (active 1825-1888)

c.1843-1867

Sandwich, Massachusetts

Blown and cut glass

Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Decanter

Boston and Sandwich Glass Company (active 1825–1888)

1867

Sandwich, Massachusetts

Blown, cut and engraved glass

Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Covered Jar

Possibly New England Glass Company (active 1818–1888)

c.1850

East Cambridge, Massachusetts

Blown and cut glass with gilding

Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA

Vase

New England Glass Company (active 1818-1888)

c.1848-1858

East Cambridge, Massachusetts

Blown and cut glass

Collection of the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY

Covered Jar

New England Glass Company (active 1818-1888)

1883-1888

East Cambridge, Massachusetts

Blown Amberina glass

Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

American glass production achieved high levels of sophistication and ingenuity during the 1870s and 1880s through the influence of the Aesthetic Movement.  The new "art glass" placed emphasis on brilliant colors and surface patterns and on shaded color effects.  Art glass encompassed a variety of new types including Amberina, Peachblow, Burmese, Sicilian, Spangled, and Crackle glass.

Vase

Hobbs, Brockunier and Company
(active 1863-1891)

c.1886

Wheeling, West Virginia

Blown Peachblow glass

Collection of The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, NY

Amberina was a translucent glass that shaded from mellow amber at the base to ruby red at the top. In imitation of the subtle shaded effects found in the colorful glazes on Chinese porcelain, the Wheeling, West Virginia, firm of Hobbs, Brockunier and Company introduced a type of glass known as “Peachblow,” made with an inner layer of opaque white and an outer layer shading from light yellow to cherry red. The label Peachblow encompasses two other types of shaded glass, one graduating from bluish gray to rosy pink, the other graduating from white to rosy pink. Burmese glass, related to Peachblow, shades from lemon yellow to rose pink. Both Peachblow and Burmese glass were made either with a glossy surface or with a matte finish achieved by etching the glass with acid.  The shaded effects frequently provided the background for enamel and gilt decoration of flowers and leaves.  

Vase

Mount Washington Glass Company (active 1837-1958)

c.1886-1894

New Bedford, Massachusetts

Blown, enameled and gilded Peachblow glass

Collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA

Other types of art glass include Spangled glass, made with flecks of gold, silver, and other metals embedded in the glass, and Sicilian glass, which features pieces of brightly colored glass set into a black ground. Craquelle glass is distinguished by a surface suggestive of cracked ice, an effect achieved by rolling a molten gather of glass over pulverized glass.

Vase

New England Glass Company (active 1818-1888)

1886-1888

East Cambridge, Massachusetts

Blown and gilded Peachblow glass

Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Vase Mount Washington Glass Company (active 1837-1958) c.1886-1894 New Bedford, Massachusetts Blown, enameled and gilded Burmese glass Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Vase Mount Washington Glass Company (active 1837-1958) 1878-1880 New Bedford, Massachusetts Lead glass containing volcanic lava, inlaid enamel glass Collection of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA Pitcher c.1885 American Blown spangled black and amber glass Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Pitcher

Boston and Sandwich Glass Company (active 1825-1888)

1877-1885

Sandwich, Massachusetts

Blown craquelle glass, silverplate

Collection of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

Punch Bowl on Stand

Libbey Glass Company (active 1888-1935)

c.1905

Toledo, Ohio

Blown and cut glass

Collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX

The late nineteenth century witnessed a renewed taste for cut glass, but now with emphasis on deep cutting and complex patterns incorporating a multiplicity of highly faceted motifs. The period of "Brilliant" cut glass, so named because of the brilliant effects created by the refraction of light in the cut patterns, emerged after the firm of Christian Dorflinger in White Mills, Pennsylvania, displayed at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition an elaborately cut decanter and matching set of wine glasses.  This type of heavy, deeply cut glass enjoyed great popularity from about 1880 to the end of World War I.  The motifs cut into Brilliant glass include stars, fans, geometric shapes, relief diamonds, strawberry diamonds, pinwheels, and hobnails. The cut decoration is occasionally enhanced with engraving or by a thin layer of translucent colored glass "flashed" onto the outer surface.  Brilliant glass was used to produce both tableware and decorative objects.  

Jug

J. Hoare and Company (active c.1895-1920)

c.1895-1920

Corning, New York

Blown and cut glass

Collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA

Compote

Taylor Brothers and Company (active 1902-1910)

c.1905

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Blown and cut glass

Collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh PA

Vase

Tuthill Cut Glass Company (active 1900-1923)

c.1913

Middletown, New York

Blown, cut and engraved glass

Collection of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

Vase

T. G. Hawkes and Company (active 1880-1962)

c.1890-1900

Corning, New York

Blown, cut and flashed glass

Collection of the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY

Wine Cooler and Six Wine Glasses

Christian Dorflinger and Sons (active 1892-1921)

1900-1915

White Mills, Pennsylvania

Blown, cut, engraved, and flashed glass

Collection of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

At the end of the nineteenth century, American art glass moved in a new direction with the appearance of glass distinguished by a satiny, shimmering surface inspired by ancient glass objects that had been buried underground for centuries. Over the course of time, the minerals in the soil interacted with the antique glass, producing a distinctive iridescence on the surface. In the late nineteenth century, glass companies brilliantly reproduced the effect by spraying molten glass with metallic oxides that produced a rainbow of shimmering colors. This new type of glass was appropriately labeled "iridescent."

Vase

Designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany (American, 1848-1933)

Manufactured by Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
(active 1892-1902)

1893-1896

Corona, New York

Favrile glass

Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Techniques for manufacturing iridescent glass were innovated in Europe during the 1870s and 1880s, when examples were first shown to a receptive public at international exhibitions (the nineteenth-century precursor to today’s world’s fairs) in Vienna and Paris. The fashion for iridescent glass coincided with the rise of the French Art Nouveau style, characterized by organic forms and decoration of abstracted motifs derived from nature. When adapted to the Art Nouveau style, iridescent glass took on soft, supple shapes decorated with stylized leaves and flowers or with simple swirls of contrasting colors. Glass objects such as vases as well as shades for the new electric table and floor lamps that were appearing in greater quantity at the turn of the twentieth century frequently assumed the form of a lily or some other type of flower. 

Vase

Quezal Art Glass and Decorating Company (active 1902-1924)

c.1900

New York City, New York

Iridescent glass

Collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA

Compote

Quezal Art Glass and Decorating Company (active 1902-1924)

c.1901-1920

New York City, New York

Iridescent glass

Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Production of iridescent glass began in the United States in the 1890s. The most famous American maker associated with the manufacture of iridescent glass is Louis Comfort Tiffany, whose firm introduced it in 1894 under the label 'Favrile.'  Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company and later Tiffany Studios produced a variety of iridescent glass vases, decorative accessories and lampshades. Other American glass manufacturers introduced their own unique variants of iridescent glass and marketed them under distinctive names such as "Aurene."

Vase

Designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany (American, 1848-1933)

Manufactured by Tiffany Studios (active 1902-1932)

c.1906

Corona, New York

Favrile glass

Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Vase Designed by Frederick Carder (American, born England, 1864-1963) Steuben Glass (active 1903- 2011) c.1910 Corning, New York Iridescent glass Collection of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY

Pressed Glass

For many centuries, glassware was a luxury available to only the wealthy. The production of glass required the talents of skilled artisans who could form and decorate the medium by means of complex techniques. The glass object was formed by blowing a gather of molten glass attached to the end of a tube and manipulating it into the desired shape.  Decoration was usually achieved by engraving, cutting or enameling. This labor-intensive process made glassware costly to produce.

About 1825, American glassmakers introduced a process for inexpensively producing glass with attractive and elaborate patterns similar to those found on elegant glassware with hand-cut decoration. The manufacturing process involved placing a gather of molten glass in an iron mold and dropping a plunger that pressed the glass against the mold. The glass object was simultaneously shaped and decorated.  Pressed glass, as it came to be known, represented the most significant American contribution to the history of glass making.  The manufacturing process rendered unnecessary the skills of glass artisans to shape and decorate the glass.  Because it could be produced quickly and inexpensively, pressed glass tableware was brought within the reach of a much broader spectrum of society.  For the first time, American middle-class families could own a matched set of glass tableware decorated with attractive patterns.

Cup Plate

Boston and Sandwich Glass Company (active 1825-1888) 

c.1830-1835

Sandwich, Massachusetts

Pressed cobalt blue glass

Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

Initially pressed glass was limited to the manufacture of small items such as drawer pulls, salt cellars and cup plates, but by the 1830s, it was used to produce a broad variety of tableware, including compotes, sugar bowls, cream pitchers, vases, candlesticks and oil lamps. By the middle of the nineteenth century, American glasshouses were manufacturing complete table services in pressed glass. Pressed glassware was made in both colored and colorless glass.

Pressed glass of the 1830s and 1840s, described as "lacy glass," features lace-like decoration of scrolls and leaves on a ground of stippling that conceals imperfections such as bubbles and ripples, which appeared during the pressing process. As manufacturers improved the techniques for making pressed glass, many of the imperfections disappeared.

Sugar Bowl and Cover

Boston and Sandwich Glass Company (active 1825-1888)

c.1830-1850

Sandwich, Massachusetts

Pressed amethyst glass

Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA

Compote

Boston and Sandwich Glass Company (active 1825-1888)

1840-1845

Sandwich, Massachusetts

Pressed canary yellow glass

Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

 

Footed Bowl

Possibly New England Glass Company (active 1818-1888)

1850-1870

East Cambridge, Massachusetts

Pressed glass

Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

The mid-nineteenth century witnessed the appearance of a broad variety of patterns, many inspired by the revival styles popular at the time. Historical motifs include the Greek key and anthemia, Gothic arches and tracery, Rococo scrolls, and Renaissance portrait medallions. Other patterns were either naturalistic, featuring fruits, flowers, oak leaves, acorns, and grape clusters; or geometric, the designs comprised of circles, ovals, squares, or diamonds. Some patterns commemorate an historical event or technological achievement such as expansion into the American West or the laying of the transatlantic cable.  In the 1870s and 1880s, pressed glass designs adopted Japanesque motifs associated with the Aesthetic Movement.  Pressed glass made at the end of the nineteenth century imitates the elaborate faceted designs found in Brilliant cut glass. 

Until about 1860, lead was used in the production of pressed glass.  Afterwards a cheaper soda lime glass recipe was introduced to further reduce the cost of pressed glassware.

Compote

Possibly Boston and Sandwich Glass Company (active 1825-1888)

1865-1875

Sandwich, Massachusetts

Pressed glass

Collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA

Celery Vase
c.1850-1870
America
Pressed glass
Collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA

Covered Butter Dish

Gillinder and Sons (active 1861-1930)

1876-1886

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pressed glass

Collection of the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

Compote
United States Glass Company (active 1891-1962)

c.1891

Tarentum, Pennsylvania

Pressed amber glass

Collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA

Dish

La Belle Glass Company (active 1872-1888)

c.1880-1885

Bridgeport, Ohio

Pressed glass

Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of  Art, Philadelphia, PA

Cream Pitcher

Gillinder and Sons (active 1861-1930)

1880-1890

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pressed green glass with applied blown glass handle

Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA

Glass Factories

Both elegant cut and engraved glassware and less expensive pressed glass items were produced by the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company and the New England Glass Company, both located in Massachusetts.  The New England Glass Company, the earlier of the two firms, was established in 1818 by Amos Binney, Edmund Monroe, Daniel Hasting, and Deming Jarves in East Cambridge, Massachusetts.  In the same year, the firm acquired the glassmaking workshop of a defunct East Cambridge glass and porcelain company and began production of fine cut flint, or lead, glassware. Hundreds of skilled workers were employed in the production of cut and engraved glass throughout the factory’s history.  About 1827, the company adopted the recently invented pressing machine and increased its output by producing pressed glassware, beginning with lacy glass in the 1830s, then shifting toward geometric and other patterns in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1883, the factory hired a British glassmaker named Joseph Locke, who had achieved a reputation for his remarkable glass cutting skills after making a cameo-glass replica of the famous ancient Roman glass Portland Vase.  Shortly after his appointment, Locke introduced the many varieties of Aesthetic Movement-influenced art glass for which the New England Glass Company became famous, including Amberina and Wild Rose, the latter label describing the company’s version of Peachblow.  Despite the popularity of its novel colored glass, the New England Glass Company was forced to close in 1888 due to debilitating strikes among its workers.

In 1825, Deming Jarves, one of the founding partners of the New England Glass Company, left the firm and opened the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company in Sandwich on Cape Cod.  Like the New England Glass Company, the Sandwich firm produced cut and engraved flint glassware throughout its history.  In the late 1820s, the company began production of pressed glass, initially manufacturing small items such as cup plates and salts and later expanding into other tableware by the 1830s, during which decade the company also introduced colored pressed glass. Jarves successfully managed the company for twenty-three years before leaving in 1858, when George and Sewall Fessenden took over the firm.  During the Fessendens’ ownership, the company introduced in the 1870s various types of art glass that reflected the influence of the Aesthetic Movement.   Striking workers and competition from cheaper glass made in the Midwest brought about an end to the firm in 1888.

While operating the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, Deming Jarves established in 1837 a new glass factory in South Boston. The company was created for his son, George Jarves, who operated the firm from 1846 until his death in 1850, first in partnership with John D. Labree and later with Henry Comerais.  William L. Libbey and Timothy Howe, who had been working respectively as the company’s bookkeeper and clerk, took over the firm in 1861, by which time it was known as the Mount Washington Glass Works. In 1866, when Howe died, Libby became the sole proprietor. During this early period, the factory produced both blown and cut glass and pressed glass.  In 1872, after acquiring the glass making factory of a local company that had recently closed, William Libbey resigned, leaving the business in the hands of his brother. One year later, the factory closed due to an economic depression. In 1874, the firm was revived and reorganized as the Mount Washington Glass Company.  Under the management of Frederick Stacey Shirley, an English glassmaker, the company introduced during the 1870s and 1880s a broad range of art glass, including Sicilian, Peachblow, and Burmese. In 1894, the Mount Washington Glass Company merged with the Pairpoint Manufacturing Company, which had been producing silverplated mounts for Mount Washington glassware since the 1880s.