Bottle Shaped Like a Bunch of Grapes

Object Name: 
Bottle Shaped Like a Bunch of Grapes

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Object Name: 
Bottle Shaped Like a Bunch of Grapes
Accession Number: 
64.1.8
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 16.4 cm; Rim Diam: 2.5 cm; Shoulder W (max): 6.3 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
1-199
Primary Description: 
Deep blue, translucent to transparent; mold-blown. Bottle with body shaped a like bunch of grapes. Rim outsplayed, with irregular rounded lip, partly folded up and in; neck cylindrical, wider at bottom than at top; shoulder slopes, with squarish horizontal cross section; wall tapers, with roughly circular cross section; base rounded. Whole body covered with bulbous protrusions simulating grapes. Single, rather prominent vertical mold seam extends from top of shoulder, down wall and across base, then returns to top of shoulder.
Department: 
Provenance: 
Smith, Ray Winfield (American, 1897-1982), Source
1964-03-16
Edge, Charles E., Former Collection
Category: 
Color: 
Technique: 
Material: 
Fire and Vine: The Story of Glass and Wine
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass 2021-07-03 through 2022-12-31
Explore the many ways glass touches wine as it travels from the grape to your goblet in Fire and Vine: The Story of Glass and Wine. The entwined histories of glass and wine extend back thousands of years, from lavish feasts of ancient Rome, to the polite society of Britain in the 1700s, to formal dinner parties of post-war America, to an essential experience within our contemporary food culture. The strength, impermeability, and versatility of glass has played an important role in every step of wine’s journey, from the production, distribution, sale, and ultimately the enjoyment of this intoxicating beverage. During your visit, you’ll see a rare 2,000-year-old fragment of cameo glass depicting a grape harvest, a still-sealed bottle of wine found in a shipwreck off the coast of England, and an exceptional 400-year-old document describing an “almost unbreakable glass jar” that could prevent wine from spoiling. A focal point of the exhibition will be a dense display of dozens of wine glasses from around the world, representing many styles and tastes, fit for a variety of occasions. You will be able to envision the stories behind the glasses—and imagine yourself partaking from this delicate stemware that’s been part of countless life moments. In the exhibition, you'll also explore how the story of glass and wine has particular relevance in the Finger Lakes of New York State, which has been a nexus for both the glass and wine industries for more than 150 years. Independent, entrepreneurial winemakers and glass artists have found a mutual home in this region, building on historical tradition with new creative energy that makes Corning and the Finger Lakes an international hub for the entwined industries of fire and vine.
Venue(s)
Metropolitan Museum of Art 2014-12-09 through 2015-04-13
Corning Museum of Glass 2015-05-16 through 2016-01-04
At the end of the first century B.C., glassmakers working in the environs of Jerusalem made a revolutionary breakthrough in the way glass was made. They discovered that glass could be inflated at the end of a hollow tube. This technical achievement—glassblowing—made the production of glass vessels much quicker and easier, and allowed glassmakers to develop new shapes and decorative techniques. One technique, inflating glass in molds carved with decorative and figural designs, was used to create multiple examples of a variety of vessel shapes with high-relief patterns. The molds used to shape this ancient glass were complex in their design, and the mold-blown glass vessels of ancient Rome tell a wealth of stories about the ancient world, from gladiators to perfume vessels, from portraits of a Roman empress to oil containers marked with the image of Mercury, Roman god of trade. Among the earliest workshops to design and create mold-blown glass was one in which a man named Ennion worked. Ennion was the first glassmaker to sign his glass objects by incorporating his name into the inscriptions that formed part of the mold’s design, and thus he stands among a small group of glass workers whose names have come down to us from antiquity. On view through January, 4, 2016, Ennion and His Legacy, is composed of mold-blown master works by Ennion and other Roman glassmakers. The works are drawn from the Corning Museum’s collection of Roman glass, one of the finest in the world. Within the larger exhibit is a smaller exhibit organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ennion: Master of Roman Glass, which focuses specifically on works made by Ennion. Composed of loans from a number of international institutions and private collections this exhibit within an exhibit brings together many of the known examples of Ennion’s wares and will be on view through October 19, 2015.
 
Wine: Celebration and Ceremony
Venue(s)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum 1985-06-04 through 1985-10-13
Glass from the Ancient World
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass 1957-06-04 through 1957-09-15
 
Antikes Glas aus der Sammlung Ray Winfield Smith: Kurpfalzischen Museum Heidelberg
Venue(s)
Kurpfalzischen Museum 1952-11 through 1953