Vase
Manufacturer
Sowerby & Co.
(English)
CultureEnglish
Dateca. 1870
MediumPressed glass
DimensionsOverall: 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm)
Overall, Rim: 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm)
Base: 3 in. (7.6 cm)
Overall, Rim: 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm)
Base: 3 in. (7.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.5151
Not on view
DescriptionVase of pressed green slag. Urn style with three exotic birds (swans?) in high relief chained at necks around vessel. Stem is of three pairs of feet in high relief.Label TextGLASS FOR THE MASSES A great revolution in glassmaking technology occurred in the mid-nineteenth century: the machine press. First developed in America in the late 1820s, it was quickly adopted by the British glass industry. Machine presses required less-skilled laborers and allowed for greater productivity in the factory. Thus, glassware became less expensive for the growing consumer market. Even a middle-class home in the mid-nineteenth century could afford a complete table setting of pressed glass in a matching pattern. Pressed glass often imitated more expensive cut glass, but increasingly featured more fashionable styles or cutting-edge colors for a highly decorative effect. Sowerby & Co. Gateshead-on-Tyne, England Vase, ca. 1870 Pressed glass Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.5151 Exhibition History"Cheers to Queen Victoria: British Glass from the Chrysler Collection," Waitzer Community Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, September 22, 2010 - March 20, 2011.Published ReferencesMorris, VICTORIAN TABLE GLASS, color plate III and similar ill. #15, pg. 11 & 13 (called Newcastle about 1880).
