vase

Royal Flemish was one of the most elaborate Art Glasses produced by the Mt. Washington Glass Company. Instead of a heat-sensitive glass that changed color, Royal Flemish was a lavishly decorated glass that featured various enameled scenes, often with the addition of gilding. Some of these pieces were enameled to look like stained glass, and others displayed gilded coins. Another popular motif, as on this vase, was peacocks. No Royal Flemish glasses were simple in design and decoration. The basic glass was colorless, but it was acid-etched to produce a matte finish and then enameled and gilded. Almost all of the Royal Flemish pieces show the initials “RF” back to back and enclosed in a diamond. Despite its name, Royal Flemish had nothing to do with the art or history of the country of Flanders, located in what today is known as Belgium. Mt. Washington made a variety of other Art Glasses with exotic names such as Burmese, Napoli, and Verona. None of these glasses had anything to do with the art of Burma or Italy, but the names appealed to customers who were becoming more and more interested in travel and exotic locations. A glass nearly identical to Royal Flemish was made by the Harrach glassworks in Neuwelt, northern Bohemia, at the same time. This glass was exported to the United States, where it sold for less than Royal Flemish. Fortunately, some of the Harrach pieces are signed; otherwise, it would be difficult to distinguish them from the American ones. To learn more about Mt. Washington’s Royal Flemish glass, see Kenneth M. Wilson and Jane Shadel Spillman, Mt. Washington and Pairpoint Glass, v. 2, Corning: The Corning Museum of Glass, 2011, pp. 8–53.