vase

Jules Barbe (b. 1847) was a French master enameler and gilder who worked for the Dennis Glass Works of Thomas Webb and Sons in Amblecote from 1879, when he came to England, until 1901, when he started as an independent glass decorator in Stourbridge. Some biographical accounts indicate that Barbe spent most of his career in painting monograms and coats of arms on glass and porcelain. During World War I, he reportedly had to enamel mustard pots for a living. This was at the end of his career, when his earlier accomplishments apparently sank into oblivion. However, a few attributable and signed pieces show that Jules Barbe was capable of a remarkable craftsmanship. The Corning Museum of Glass owns his greatest known masterpiece, the gourd vase (89.2.7), a collaboration with the engraver Fridolin Kretschmann. The acquisition of a signed vase with relief gilded rims and enameled rose festoons, a counterpart to a vase in the Broadfield House Glass Museum, Kingswinford, England, strengthens the Museum's rank as a prime reference collection of the work of this artist.