vase

Following London's Great Exhibition of 1851, the Victorian sense of "good taste" emphasized more ornate works. Some glassmakers met this demand by creating dramatic color effects. Several American factories produced Peachblow glass, which had a surface that shaded from opaque cream to pink or red, sometimes over opaque white. This glass was made in imitation of the Morgan Vase, a famous 18th-century Chinese "peachbloom" porcelain vase that sold at auction in 1886 for the astonishing price of $18,000. This sale was widely reported, and glass and pottery manufacturers raced to capitalize on the publicity by producing objects that resembled the Morgan Vase in shape and color. The pressed glass stand on the Morgan Vase in The Corning Museum of Glass was made to resemble the Chinese carved wood stand for the peachbloom vase.