Later European Glass
This gallery presents a broad range of glass from the Baroque to late Victorian periods. There are many examples of English lead glass and Bohemian chalk glass, two pivotal 17th-century innovations. Other displays include glass furniture, chandeliers, and objects made for world's fairs.
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Medallion with Portrait of Louis XIV
France, probably Orléans, glasshouse of Bernard Perrot, about 1675-1685
Molded glass medallion with a bust of the Sun King Louis XIV in profile. The portrait is gilded on the reverse, and set into a gilded brass frame with fitted with a suspension loop.
H. (frame) 38.7 cm
99.3.2
This is one of the largest French glass objects known from the 17th century. It celebrates the Sun King, Louis XIV, and it was created during his lifetime. The glass portrait is attributed to Bernard Perrot (1619–1709), the best-known French glassmaker of that period. He emigrated from Italy to Orléans, France, where he founded a glasshouse with the support of the duke of Orléans in 1668. Perrot made several significant technical discoveries. One of his most important contributions was a secret method of casting glass to produce relief figures and medals. This heavy medallion was cast in a mold of the royal effigy that was based on gold medals of the monarch dating to the 1670s. Seven medallions of Louis XIV, originating from three different molds, are known today. All of the other examples are in French collections.
Covered Beaker with Monogram of Friedrich III
Germany, Potsdam, probably engraved by Gottfried Spiller, about 1688-1701
Clear glass, free-blown, cut and engraved
H. 12.5 cm
58.3.185, gift of Edwin J. Beinecke
During the 1670's, shortly after lead glass had been perfected in England, glassmakers developed thick-walled, colorless glass in central Europe. The princely glasshouse in Potsdam, Brandenburg, was among the first to do this. Under the direction of the alchemist and glassmaker Johann Kunckel (d. 1703) it achieved a brilliant clear glass, coming as close as possible to its exemplar, rock crystal. Like rock crystal, the thick-walled glass was ideal for cutting and engraving. Intricate designs were created by carving into the glass with rapidly turning copper or stone wheels. This covered beaker was cut in relief, as well as engraved in intaglio so that the decoration is below the surface plane. It was made for Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg (r. 1688-1713, became King of Prussia 1701), and it was probably engraved by Gottfried Spiller, who with his teacher, Martin Winter, co-founded an engraving workshop in Potsdam. Following Winter's death in 1702, Spiller became the royal glass engraver.
Mechanical Glass Theatre
France, Paris or Nevers, mid-18th century
Multicolored glass, lampworked, assembled; wood, mirror, rock crystal, fabric, shell
Overall H. 59.4, overall W. 74.1 cm
2002.3.22
This lampworked glass theater is the only one known with movable figures. They are operated with 14 levers and wire pulls that protrude from the lower right side of the box. The theater shows the Wedding at Cana, as told in the Gospel of John (2:1–10).
The art of making stage settings with lampworked glass figures originated in Italy and came to France with Italian glassmakers. These settings were made at various places in France. The first and most famous center was Nevers in central France, but important workshops were also set up elsewhere. In the first half of the 18th century, Jacques Raux (d. 1777) was appointed “Emailleur du Roy” (king's enameler) in Paris. Two lampworked stages, now in the Musée national de la Renaissance in Ecouen near Paris, bear his name.
Table and Cut Glass Boat
France, Baccarat, Compagnie des Verreries et Cristalleries de Baccarat, Table: designed 1889, made 1889-1905; Boat: designed by Charles Vital Cornu (1851-1927), 1900
Table: Colorless glass, marble; blown, tooled, cut, assembled
Boat: colorless glass with ormolu mounts, blown, cut.
H: 167 cm.
Collection of The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY (79.3.155)
At the 1900 world's fair in Paris, the Parisian department store Le Grand Dépôt displayed a sculpture in the form of a boat. It was designed by Charles Vital Cornu (1851-1927) and created in glass and bronze by Baccarat. Following the exposition, this scupture remained in Baccarat's shop until it was purchased in 1930 by Sri Ganga Singhji Bahadur, the maharajah of Bikaner. It is housed today in the Lallgarh Palace in Bikaner. The maharajah was one of Baccarat's regular customers, and the palace contains several examples of pieces made by the company. Another boat produced by the factory remained there for some years, and it is not known when it was sold. It was part of a lot with a rectangular glass table that was offered for sale at a Parisian auction in 1979, and both of these objects are now in the collection of The Corning Museum of Glass. The company's records do not state when these pieces were united, but it seems likely that they were together in the Baccarat showroom after 1900, and they were probably purchased at the time.
Cameo Plaque, Moorish Bathers
England, Amblecote, Thomas Webb & Sons, George Woodall (signed), 1898
Light pink glass cased with opaque white, cameo carved with bathing scene
Diam. 46.3 cm
92.2.10, bequest of Juliette K. Rakow. From The Cameo Glass Collection of Leonard S. Rakow and Juliette K. Rakow
Moorish Bathers is George Woodall's masterpiece. It was started about 1890 and completed in 1898. The plaque was acquired by the Hon. George Brookman of Adelaide, Australia, and it narrowly escaped destruction when Brookman's home was destroyed by fire. George and Thomas Woodall left school at about the age of 12 and became apprentices at the firm of J. & J. Northwood. They also attended evening classes at the local art school, where Thomas later became an instructor. After completing their apprenticeships, they moved to the Dennis Glass Works, where they were employed primarily as designers. The Woodalls made two important innovations. One was their extensive use of the cutting wheel, which greatly accelerated the process of decorating cameo glass. The other was their use of an overlay of white glass with a bluish tint. When this overlay was thinned over a base of burgundy or brown glass, a much greater variety of shading was achieved than was possible with other white glasses.
Micromosaic with view of the Basilica of San Marco
Italy, Venice, E. Cerato, 1907
Opaque polychrome glass, gold; inlaid.
H. 153 cm, W. (frame) 203 cm
96.3.36, gift of Dorothy and Charles J. Plohn, Jr.
This may be the largest Venetian micromosaic in existence. It measures five by seven feet, and it weighs one ton. As a rule, micromosaics are small works that emphasize detail; rarely do they exceed the size of a modest painting. This panel depicts Venice's Piazza San Marco and its basilica. It provides an almost photographic record of the mosaic decoration on the basilica's facade as it existed at the start of the 20th century. The panel is signed by the mosaicist E. Cerato, and it was on display in the store of the glass company Pauly & C. at the Piazza San Marco until the late 1950s. Developed in Italy during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the micromosaic technique made use of minute tesserae of colored glass that were arranged to create painterly effects. These tesserae were cut from thin opaque glass rods, of which there were more than 20,000 different tints.
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