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Gourd Vase

Gourd Vase

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Object Name: 
Gourd Vase
Department
European
Category
19th Century European
Place Made: 
England, Amblecote
Date: 
1888
Color
AAT
ruby
Technique
AAT
carving
AAT
etching
AAT
enameling
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 23 cm, W: 13 cm, D: 10 cm
Accession Number: 
89.2.7
Credit Line: 
Gift of Juliette K. Rakow in memory of Leonard S. Rakow
Location: 
On Display
Description
Ruby and opaque ivory white, lead glass; blown, overlaid, carved, etched, enameled, gilded. Gourd shape, with curved neck and double bulbous sides; ruby glass overlaid with opaque white, opaque white relief-carved (cameo-carved) and enameled to create a realistic design of overlapping tan branches at the neck and base, with the sides between covered by a continuous vine with pale greenish and bluish leaves and orange-yellow gourds; three small blue and tan dragonflies on one side, amid the gourds; ruby background covered with gilded dots; pontil ground.
Label Text
Jules Barbe was a French gilder and enameler. He exhibited his work at the Paris world's fair of 1878, and a year later he went to Stourbridge. Barbe was employed at the Dennis Glass Works, where he introduced "raised" gilded decoration consisting of a paste made of gold, mercury, and other ingredients. This decoration was painted on the glass and fired in a muffle kiln fueled with oak wood. After the glass was annealed, the gilding was burnished with spun glass brushes. Barbe worked for the Webb firm until 1901, when he became a freelance decorator. Fridolin Kretschman, who carved this vase, is known to have lived in the Stourbridge area from 1886 to 1892.
Inscription
THOMAS WEBB & SONS / GEM / CAMEO Impressed base
Provenance
Rakow, Mrs. Leonard S. ((d. 1992)), Former Collection to 1989-06-07
Rakow, Dr. Leonard S., Former Collection to 1989-06-07
Louis C. Tiffany, Master of Modern Art Glass
Venue(s)
Musee du Luxembourg 2009-09-16 through 2010-01-17
Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal 2010-02-11 through 2010-05-02
Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia 2010-06-05 through 2010-08-15
Cameo Glass: Masterpieces from 2000 Years of Glassmaking
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass 1982 through 1982
 
Notes: Tiffany Glass and Fridolin Kretschmann (2012) illustrated, p. 267, Fig. 5;
Oriental Influences on Victorian Glass (2010-3) illustrated, p. 4;
Tiffany Glass: A Passion for Colour (2009) illustrated, p. 118; BIB# 112877
Layers of Wonder: Majestic and Marvelous Cameo Glass (2003-05) illustrated, inset between pp. 40-41;
English Cameo Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass (1994) illustrated, pp. 36-37, 61, fig. 31; BIB# 35913
The many facets of Victorian glass (1993-10) p. 118;
The Corning Museum of Glass Annual Report 1989 (1990) p. 5;
Recent Important Acquisitions, 32 (1990) illustrated, p. 194, #14;
2,000 Years of Cameo Glass at The Corning Museum (1982-07) p. 57;
Cameo Glass: Masterpieces from 2000 Years of Glassmaking (1982) illustrated, pp. 81, left; 116-117, #78; BIB# 30609
Important Nineteenth Century English Cameo Glass and Fine French Paperweights (1970-10-26) p. 13 no. 40 and frontispiece; BIB# 12905
Cameo Glass (1936-09) pp. 109-112, fig. 9;
The Editor's Attic: A Nineteenth-Century Masterpiece in Cameo Glass (Antiques, v. 28) (1935-07) pp. 6, 7, ill.;

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