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Footed Bowl

Manufacturer Unknown

CultureAmerican

Dateca. 1825-1835

MediumLead-formula glass | Blown-three-mold glass | Tooled glass

DimensionsOverall: 6 3/16 in. (15.7 cm)
Overall, Rim: 7 3/4 in. (19.7 cm)
Base: 6 1/8 in. (15.6 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase with Assistance from Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Waitzer.

Object number93.14

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 116-3, Case 18

DescriptionThis colorless footed bowl is of lead-formula glass blown molded and tooled, the bowl formed in a "blown-three-mold" quart decanter mold (McKearin G.II-33 -- with an 18-diamond bottom) and expanded into a hemispheric shape with a folded rim and the conical base formed in a pint tumbler or decanter mold (G.II-18 -- with an 18-diamond base) the foot flared out and molded. In American blown-three-mold the form of this particular object with its hemispheric bowl and high conical foot is very unusual, but not unique.

Label TextEarly American Molded Glasses: Pressed and Blown "The most novel article was pressed glass; which was far superior, both in design and execution to anything of the kind I have ever seen in either London or elsewhere. The merit of its invention is due to the Americans, and it is likely to prove one of great national importance." James C. Boardman, English traveler, on viewing glass at the annual fair of the American Institute of the City of New York in 1829 Footed Bowl United States, ca. 1825-1835 Mold-blown, lead-formula glass (so called blown-three-mold), tooled Museum Purchase with assistance from Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Waitzer 93.14 This footed bowl might well be termed "poor man's cut glass," for its elements were mold-blown in imitation of costly rich-cut glasses in the London fashion. Footed bowls are among the rarest forms in early 19th-century American mold-blown glass. Since glass molds were expensive, glassmakers used the same mold to create as many forms as possible. This was done by manipulating the hot glass immediately after it came out of the mold. A quart decanter mold, for example, was often used to form a quart tumbler and a quart pitcher as well. The conical foot of this bowl was formed in a pint decanter or tumbler mold. Its bowl was formed in a quart decanter mold, but the glass was further expanded by blowing after it left the mold. (That is why the diamonds of the bowl have a much softer appearance than the diamonds of the foot.) Edited By: GLYExhibition History"Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," October 25,1996 - March 2, 1997. Published References"Recent Important Aquisitions," _Journal of Glass Studies_ 36 (1994): 108, no. 8.