The Compagnie des Verreries et Cristalleries de Baccarat, the most famous name in French glass, was founded in 1764 by Monseigneur de Montmorency-­Laval, the bishop of Metz, as a way to utilize the wood on the heavily forested land of his estate. In its early years, the factory operated under the

In the 19th century, at the very time when glassmakers were improving their skill in fashioning and annealing the large pieces that would be needed to create furniture, the number of contacts between Europe and countries to the east was increasing, and both England and France were expanding their

Today, it is not at all unusual to find glass tables and cabinets, as well as large glass lighting devices. But in the second half of the 19th century, when glass was first used in furniture on a commercial basis, it would have been truly remarkable to see such objects. The development of glass

F.& C. Osler was probably the largest European company that supplied glass objects to India. Its products sold there included both table wares and lighting devices. During the last quarter of the 1800s and the early years of the following century, Osler also made glass fountains and furniture

One of the largest but least-known 19th-century English glass firms is Jonas Defries & Sons, which was located in the Houndsditch section of London from 1856 until the early 20th century. The company operated under various names for at least a century (an 1880 advertisement says that it was

The third English Company that made furniture for the Indian market was located in the Stourbridge area. This factory had been built early in the 19th century, and it was purchased by Joseph Webb in 1850. He was a cousin of Thomas Webb, owner of the famous glass firm of Thomas Webb & Sons, and

Cup plates are an example of the specialized items in ceramics and glass with which Victorian ladies liked to clutter dinner and tea tables. Later in the century, these small plates were joined by a host of other "special" items: ice cream sets, berry sets, lemonade sets, and dishes for

Late in 1993, The Corning Museum of Glass received as a gift a brass lantern with a red glass globe [93.4.102] inscribed "ELMIRA WIDE AWAKES/ G.L.SMITH/CAPTAIN" (Fig. 1). This lantern had a mid-19th-century look, and I thought it might be an early product of the Corning Glass Works. I was

Glasses engraved with scenic views or important buildings are part of a Germanic tradition dating to the eighteenth century. Similar commemorative glasses are noted in England, e.g., the well-known Sunderland Bridge rummers, but they are less common in English glass. Germanic glasses with this type

In 1977, the author discussed two groups of glasses engraved with American views, probably made in the United States but possibly abroad. 1 In the last two years, several more glasses in each of these groups have been discovered, along with some new information which is here presented. Five

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes this desk set produced by Boston and Sandwich Glass Company. The problems involved in pressing glass were summarized by a glassmaker in 1849: "If an overplus of metal [glass] be gathered, it thickens the article throughout; but if too little, it

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes glass of H.W. Stiegel, produced by the American Flint Glass Manufactory of Henry William Stiegel. Stiegel opened a glasshouse in Manheim, Pa., in 1764. He was originally a manufacturer of window and bottle glass, but his main interest was fine lead

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes the Morgan Vase. The Victorian sense of "good taste" emphasized ornate works. Some glassmakers met this demand by creating dramatic color effects. Several American factories produced Peachblow glass, which had a surface that shaded from

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes Glass Window Blinds designed by Elias Hungerford. Hungerford received a patent for these glass window blinds in 1866. They were designed, he said, "to give light which enters the room any desired tint to correspond with the color of wall paper

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes the Lily-pad Pitcher, produced by Lancaster Glass Works. The glass that was used to make this pitcher was also employed in the manufacture of windows because the brilliant, deep aquamarine color would not have been noticeable in thinly blown sheets

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes this electric cut glass lamp. Six lamps in this style are known, and all of them are cut in the same pattern. The manufacturer has not been positively identified. One of these lamps was purchased in Chicago in the late 1930s or early 1940s, and

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes Flask with Mold produced by Stebbins and Stebbins. The manufacture and decoration of hand-blown tableware was a slow and costly process. Glassmakers soon sought ways to speed production and to decorate their wares more inexpensively. One way to do

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes Cut and Gilded Vase produced by William Leighton. This cut and gilded vase, blown from four layers of glass (colorless, red, green, and opaque white), is very Bohemian in appearance. However, it was made at the New England Glass Company. William

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes Blue Aurene Vase, designed by Frederick Carder. Aurene glass was one of the earliest color effects created by Frederick Carder for Steuben Glass Works. It was first made as an iridescent gold-colored glass, but by 1904 Carder had developed blue

This display of glass produced in America in the 18th and 19th centuries includes useful objects made in the 1700s, fancy art glass of the late 19th century, and glass for windows, lighting devices, and storage jars.

On June 23, 1972, Corning suffered a major natural disaster. Tropical Storm Agnes inflicted three days of incessant rain on western New York and Pennsylvania. Corning's normally peaceful Chemung River became a torrent. The river overflowed its dikes, and downtown Corning was inundated. At the

These blinds led to the arrival of glassmaking in Corning. Elias Hungerford, who patented the blinds in 1866, looked for a glass factory that would make them. He persuaded the owner of the Brooklyn Flint Glass Works to move to Corning, where both land and labor were less expensive. The original

Jane Shadel Spillman, curator of American Glass, discusses Louis Comfort Tiffany's blown glass showcased in "Tiffany Treasures: Favrile Glass from Special Collections"- on view at The Corning Museum of Glass November 1, 2009- October 31, 2010.

Mt. Washington and its successor, the Pairpoint Corporation, was one of America's longest-running luxury glass companies (1837-1957), one that rivaled its better known contemporaries, Tiffany and Steuben. It constantly reinvented and re-invigorated its business through creativity in texture,

On June 23, 1972, Corning, New York and the surrounding communities were devastated by a major flood, as a result of the tropical storm Agnes. At The Corning Museum of Glass, hundreds of objects were broken, more than half of the Library's materials were saturated with flood water, and the

The firm of Elias Palme, one of several companies started by members of the Palme (or Pallme) family, was founded in Kamenický Šenov, Bohemia, in 1849. Most of the Palmes were glass cutters and engravers, and chandeliers were their principal products. Catalogs show table- and floor-size bronze and

In 2001, The Corning Museum of Glass acquired an object of folk art: a powder horn engraved with the figure of a glassblower [2001.7.4] (Fig. I). Powder horns were necessary accouterments for soldiers and hunters in the 18th century. Many are known from the French and Indian War (1755-1763) and the

Robert Hewes of Boston is chiefly known among students of American glass as the man who tried unsuccessfully to found a glass factory at Temple, New Hampshire, in 1780-1781. The possibility that The Corning Museum of Glass might undertake an archaeological investigation of the Temple site led the