Wine glass
Object NameWine glass
Date1760
OriginEngland or Netherlands
MediumGlass
Dimensions7 3/4 × 3 × 3 in. diameter (19.7 × 7.6 × 7.6 cm)
ClassificationsDecorative Arts, Glass
Credit LineGift of Ann and Henry Brunnier. In the Ann and Henry Brunnier Collection, Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
Object number3.8.13
Status
Not on viewCollections
CultureEnglish
Label TextAs glassmaking techniques continued to improve into the 17th century, glassmakers were pressured by their patrons to produce a colorless, crystal-clear glass. In England in the 1670s, a formula using lead oxide was perfected to produce lead glass, or crystal, as it is known today. Distinguished by its ability to ring like a bell when tapped lightly, it was heavier and more brilliant than its German cousin, "kristall."
English glassmakers using lead glass produced a series of drinking glasses noted for their perfectly balanced, elegant forms. These refined glasses were also popular on the continent, and large quantities may have been exported to the Netherlands, where they were lavishly engraved or stippled with a diamond-pointed tool. This wineglass is an example of an object of glass probably made in England then engraved in the Netherlands as a commemorative object. It depicts a birthing scene with a woman attending to the new mother lying in a bed, and it includes an inscription entreating for the welfare and prosperity of the woman and her new baby.
PeriodGeorgian
Locations
- (not entered) Iowa State University, Brunnier Main Storage
