Mold Half for Flasks

Object Name: 
Mold Half for Flasks

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Object Name: 
Mold Half for Flasks
Accession Number: 
93.7.3
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 20.1 cm, W: 12 cm, Diam (incl. handle): 17.3 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
about 1824
Credit Line: 
Gift of Gladys W. Richards and Paul C. Richards
Primary Description: 
Brass, iron; cast, tooled. Shallow rectangular shape, made of cast brass and incised with "LAFAYETTE" above the profile of a man facing left with "COVETRY/ C. T." below. All lettering is in reverse: long edges have vertical ribbing and indentations for lugs to received matching lugs from other half of mold. A separate collar of cast iron has been added to inside of neck section to make it smaller and a triangular piece of cast iron with a long handle ending in a loop has been added to back of mold.
Department: 
Provenance: 
Fliegel, Joseph, Former Collection
Richards, Paul, Former Collection
1989-04-26
to
1993-10-01
Arman, David, Former Collection
1989-04-26
Richards, Gladys W., Source
1993-10-01
Category: 
Inscription: 
COVETRY/C.T.
Mark
below the bust in a semi-circle
LAFAYETTE
Mark
above the profile of a man in a semi-circle
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.
Out of the Mold
Venue(s)
Museum of American Glass at Wheaton Village 1990-04-07 through 1990-10-28
 
The Decanter: Ancient to Modern (2018) illustrated, p. 227 (fig. 13, right);
Glass: A Short History (Smithsonian Books edition) (2012) illustrated, p. 93, right; BIB# 130360
The illustrated encyclopedia of glass (2011) illustrated, pp. 92, 115 (right); BIB# 128671
Flask with Mold (adult) (2011)BIB# 131721
The Encyclopedia of Glass (2001) illustrated, p. 102; BIB# 69319
The Corning Museum of Glass, A Guide to the Collections (2001) (2001) illustrated, p. 109, right; BIB# 68214
The Corning Museum of Glass: A Decade of Glass Collecting 1990-1999 (2000) illustrated, pp. 41-42, #52; BIB# 65446
1999 Commemorative Stamp Yearbook: Nature of America (1999) illustrated, p. 42, left; BIB# 63171
Recent Important Acquisitions, 36 (1994) illustrated, p. 108, #7; BIB# AI33896
The Corning Museum of Glass Annual Report 1993 (1994) p. 8, ill.; BIB# AI95182
Out of the Mold (1990) 24 p.; BIB# 33543