Gourd Vase

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Object Name: 
Gourd Vase
Maker(s): 
Place Made: 
England, Amblecote
Accession Number: 
89.2.7
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 23 cm, W: 13 cm, D: 10 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
1888
Credit Line: 
Gift of Juliette K. Rakow in memory of Leonard S. Rakow
Web Description: 
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.

More Info

Department: 
Modern
Provenance: 
Rakow, Mrs. Leonard S. (d. 1992), Former Collection
1989-06-07
Rakow, Dr. Leonard S., Former Collection
1989-06-07
Category: 
19th Century European
Color: 
Ruby, Opaque Ivory White
ruby
Technique: 
Blown, Overlaid, Carved, Etched, Enameled, Gilded
carving
etching
enameling
Inscription: 
THOMAS WEBB & SONS / GEM / CAMEO
seal
: 
Impressed base

Description

Primary 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.

Exhibitions (2)

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 1982-05-01 through 1982-10-31
Cameo glass, one of the most costly and difficult decorating techniques since first century B.C., is documented and illustrated in this catalog. Included are examples from Rome, Islam, and China, as well as English 19th-century masterpieces by John Northwood and George Woodall among others. For the purposes of this catalog, the term “cameo glass” is used to refer to cased glass objects with two or more differently colored layers. The outer layer is usually an opaque or opalescent white, and the outer layer or layers have been carved in to leave the decoration standing in relief against a body of contrasting color. Shading is produced by thinning down the carved layer; highlights are created where the glass is left thickest. Both this catalog, and the exhibition for which it was created, documents the 2000-year cameo glass tradition.
 

Publications (13)

Notes: Tiffany Glass and Fridolin Kretschmann (2012) illustrated, p. 267, Fig. 5; BIB# AI92558
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;
Recent Important Acquisitions, 32 (1990) illustrated, p. 194, #14; BIB# AI74245
The Corning Museum of Glass Annual Report 1989 (1990) p. 5; BIB# AI96380
2,000 Years of Cameo Glass at The Corning Museum (1982-07) p. 57; BIB# AI9264
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.;