Saturday 25 April 2020

18th-century English wineglasses





Whereas earlier English wineglasses had paid great attention to the engraving of the bowls of the glasses, those of the third quarter of the 18th century saw a marked changed as makers lavished much more attention on the stems, developing new techniques and a wide range of designs that led to work of great beauty and delicacy.

This is not to say that bowl decoration ceased altogether, merely that engraving tended to be more formal and less individualistic. Makers also became more interested in the use of gilding and enamelling to add decoration.

There was a short-lived vogue from about 1750 to 1765 for glasses with incised stems, possibly made to imitate porcelain designs that were current at the time. However, these glasses did not become universally popular during a period when people of taste and refinement wanted style and beauty above all else, and relatively few such glasses have survived to the present day.

The innovation that really sparked the imagination of makers and delighted buyers was the internal twisted stem. Although the outside of the stem was straight (sometimes with one or more “knops”), columns of air or strands of opaque glass were inserted and twisted to form what could be a complex and intricate pattern.
Air twists were made by blowing a narrow column of air down the centre of a stem as it was turned, thus producing a central “worm”. Opaque twists were made by placing rods of opaque-white enamel glass upright in a circular mould. Clear glass was then poured into the mould before all the glass was reheated and drawn out to the required thickness, the twisting being performed with exact regularity. Up to 36 individual canes of white glass have been detected in some stems.

The craftsmen who made these stems became extremely skilled and developed hundreds of different patterns. These might include the use of up to three different twist designs within the same stem, the inclusion of coloured glass as well as white, and the mixing together of air and opaque twists. 

The colours used, which were generally translucent rather than opaque, included yellow, green, black, lavender, chocolate, orange, turquoise, shades of blue and a wide variety of reds. The rarest colour seen today is yellow and the commonest combinations are red and green or red and blue. 

However, it is notable that the use of colour, and of mixed air and opaque twists, was far less popular with the original customers of these glasses than was standard opaque twisting. It is possible that the extra complexity made these glasses too expensive, or it might be that they were considered too garish and therefore not suitable for refined English tastes. Whatever the reason, coloured stems were only used in 3% of wineglasses manufactured at this time.
As noted above, the bowls of late-18th century wineglasses tended to be either un-engraved or decorated with standard designs such as fruiting vines or, on larger glasses intended for ale, hops and barley. Commemorative glasses, inscribed to mark a particular occasion, were much more common earlier in the century.

The use of knops, i.e. swellings on the stem, was quite common especially in the earlier part of the century, with up to four knops being present on a stem. However, knops tended to distract from appreciation of the more complex twists achieved in the mid to late 18th century, so are seen less frequently on glasses produced at that time.

The bowls could be of many different shapes, with the commonest being round-funnelled or ogee shaped (i.e. a double curve leading to an outward-facing lip). Decoration was added by hammering, moulding and fluting.

After the Excise Act of 1746 glass became more expensive, so the practice of producing a heavy foot by folding the glass over became less common. Glasses with complex opaque twists that also had folded feet were only produced to special order and so are rarely found today. Only 4% of opaque twist glasses have folded feet and are therefore highly prized by collectors.

Some of the rarest, and therefore most valuable, wineglasses of this period were gilded or enamelled. The processes involved required considerable skill and patience and only a handful of craftsmen (and women) are known who were able to do this. One of these was Michael Edkins of Bristol, but the name most often associated with the very best work of this kind is Beilby.

William Beilby was a jeweller and silversmith who moved to Newcastle from Durham in about 1760. Of his five surviving children, four became craftspeople, with William junior and Mary specialising in glass enamelling. Virtually all the superb enamelled Beilby glasses were made between 1762 and 1778, with Mary not being involved in the early years. After 1768, when Mary was nineteen and ready to start in the family business, the designs and decoration acquired a decided feminine touch, with scenes including rustic landscapes, ruins and obelisks.

Unfortunately, Mary suffered a stroke in 1774 and, because she and her brother had always worked as a pair, the production of enamelled wineglasses did not continue for much longer, ceasing altogether when the brother and sister retired and moved to Scotland. No other craftsmen took over when the Beilbys finished, so all glasses enamelled in the Beilby style can safely be dated to before 1780.

The 18th century was certainly the golden age of English glass, with its combination of practicality and delicacy. The wineglasses produced at this time were greatly treasured, being expensive to buy and therefore only owned by the wealthier members of society. Their appreciation of these naturally fragile objects, which would have passed down through the generations, doubtless explains why a reasonable number have survived to the present day. Needless to say, the best of these glasses command very high prices today, with single glasses changing hands for thousands of pounds.

There are important collections of 18th-century English wineglasses at several museums, including the Victoria and Albert in London, the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge and the Ashmolean in Oxford.

© John Welford

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