Images(6)

vase

Object NameGourd Vase

Artist Thomas Webb and Sons (f. 1837)

Cutter Fridolin Kretschman (Bohemian, about 1850-1898)

Enameler Jules Barbe (French, b. 1847)

Made FromLead Glass

Date1888

TechniqueBlown, Overlaid, Carved, Etched, Enameled, Gilded

SizeOverall H: 23 cm, W: 13 cm, D: 10 cm

Accession Number89.2.7

Credit LineGift of Juliette K. Rakow in memory of Leonard S. Rakow

Curatorial Area(s)

Modern

Exhibitions

The World in Glass: Treasures from The Corning Museum of Glass

Cameo Glass: Masterpieces from 2000 Years of Glassmaking

Louis C. Tiffany, Master of Modern Art Glass

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

Jules Barbe was a French gilder and enameler. He exhibited his work at the Paris world's fair of 1878, and a year later he went to Stourbridge. Barbe was employed at the Dennis Glass Works, where he introduced "raised" gilded decoration consisting of a paste made of gold, mercury, and other ingredients. This decoration was painted on the glass and fired in a muffle kiln fueled with oak wood. After the glass was annealed, the gilding was burnished with spun glass brushes. Barbe worked for the Webb firm until 1901, when he became a freelance decorator. Fridolin Kretschman, who carved this vase, is known to have lived in the Stourbridge area from 1886 to 1892.

Place Made

England, Amblecote

Physical DescriptionRuby and opaque ivory white, lead glass; blown, overlaid, carved, etched, enameled, gilded. Gourd shape, with curved neck and double bulbous sides; ruby glass overlaid with opaque white, opaque white relief-carved (cameo-carved) and enameled to create a realistic design of overlapping tan branches at the neck and base, with the sides between covered by a continuous vine with pale greenish and bluish leaves and orange-yellow gourds; three small blue and tan dragonflies on one side, amid the gourds; ruby background covered with gilded dots; pontil ground.
Provenance

Provenance Remark

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