[Extract from the Official Classification.]
CLASS 19. — CRYSTAL, GLASS, AND STAINED GLASS.

Drinking glasses of crystal, cut-glass, plated and mounted crystal, etc.; table glass, common glass, and bottles.

Window and mirror glass    Cast, enameled, crackled, frosted, and tempered glass. Glass for optical purposes, ornamental glass, etc. Stained glass, mirrors, looking-glasses, etc.

GLASS AND GLASS WARE.

The exhibition of glass, glass ware, and stained-glass windows, in fact all forms and varieties of glass for construction, table use, and ornamentation, was more complete an instructive than at any previous exhibition. The most ordinary forms of bottles of green glass and the most costly examples of cut and engraved crystal glass equally found a place in the gallery devoted to the display in the French section. The exhibits from other countries were confine more to the elegant and costly productions of the glass-maker’s art. Next to the overwhelming display by the French, the Austrian section had notably the most brilliant and varied collection of decorated glass ware, made by Lobmeyer and drawn from various factories in Bohemia. The British section was more brilliant than heretofore in glass of unsurpassed purity of metal and superb cutting and engraving, sent by Thomas Webb & Sons, by Powell & Son, and other exhibitors.

The manifold forms in which glass is wrought in Venice were fully represented by Salviati, Olivotti, and the Venice and Murano Company.

Number of exhibitors.

In the French section there were over 138 exhibitors, including those who exhibited stained-glass windows. In the British section there were 23 exhibitors; in the Austrian 21; in the Italian, 20; from Spain, 3; Russia, 2; United States, 2.

LIST OF THE JURY AND OF THE AWARDS GIVEN IN CLASS 19.

CRYSTAL GLASS, GLASS WARE, AND STAINED-GLASS WINDOWS.

List of the jury.

Messrs.

FRANCE.

The official introduction to the class divides glass products under eight different heads:

1. “Cristaux,” crystal glass (flint glass), for table services; lusters, candelabras; the crystal glass of luxury and of fancy, cut and colored, threaded, gilded, and painted.
2. “Gobeleterie,” fine and common, for table use; articles for restaurants; bottles for gaseous or aerated waters; retorts, and other apparatus for the laboratory.
3. “Les glaces.” — Mirror glass, plate glass, window glass;
   colored glass for pavements; apparatus for light-houses;
   rough glass, channeled glass; glass for roofs and covering
   plant-houses.
4. Les verres à vitres. — White and colored window glass;
   cylinders and globes; oval and square glass tiles.
5. Wine bottles; bottles for mineral waters; bell-glasses;
   convex glasses.
6. Enamels in mass, and tube glass for jewelry and enameling.
7. Mirrors.
8. Stained-glass windows.

The following tabular statement shows approximately the

value of the annual production and exportation of glass of French manufacture:

GREAT BRITAIN.

THOMAS WEBB & SONS, STOURBRIDGE.

This firm exhibited a very great variety of table and decorative glass ware. The “metal,” as the glass is called by glass-makers, was particularly clear and brilliant and of high refractive power, showing to great advantage in the heavily-cut ware and in the chandeliers. One novelty particularly worthy of mention, a heavily-cut service, had the appearance of being set with rubies in rosettes at the apex of the glass facets. They are, in fact, octagons of ruby glass, as perfectly cut as any gem, surmounting and firmly united with the brilliant crystal groundwork. They are the remnants of a complete coating of the surface by ruby glass, while the piece is in the molten state, the subsequent deep cutting removing all but the tips of the diamonds. A similar service, with blue glass, gives the impression of being jeweled with real sapphires. By the side of these a massive cut service, called the “Queen Anne,” embodies the characteristics of the glass of the eighteenth century, harmonizing with the prevailing styles of furniture and decoration.

Engraved and etched glass.

This was shown in great profusion and beauty. It included many large and costly pieces, separately mounted as art objects, upon pedestals provided with the means of turning the vases around before the eye. These objects included designs by Mr. Pearce, but were mainly the result of the labors of Mr. O’Fallon, who has for years past made a special study of designing in its applications to glass. The firm spared no expense in having the designs of their artists fully worked out and embodied in whole services, characteristic of the decoration of different periods and countries. Thus, there were services of Egyptian, Celtic, Indian, Assyrian, Persian, Arabian, Greek, and Byzantine designs.

Among the purely decorative objects were a pair of vases each about fifteen inches high, upon which portions of the group upon the frieze of the Parthenon are copied by cutting in miniature — on one vase in intaglio and on the other in relief. Both are exquisitely cut, comparing well with the best ancient specimens of the glyptic art. Two years were required for the engraving. They are valued at about $2,000 each. There were several other good pieces, ornamented similarly by copies from Flaxman’s illustrations to the Iliad and Odyssey. One two-handled vase, about twenty inches high, is a most elaborate work, representing Pluto and Proserpine in intaglio on the body of the vase, with Grecian and Pompeian ornamentation on the handles and neck.

Lustered or iridescent glass.

This form of decorative glass, which was shown by a few examples by Lobmeyr in the Austrian section at Philadelphia in 1870, has now become very abundant and common. It has been made in great quantities of late, and it may be seen in the shop-windows in London, the small globes being generally filled with water to enhance the colored effect. The brilliancy of the iridescence has of late been perfected and increased, and it is most satisfactory when seen in shadow and not in full light, Chandeliers and decorative bulbous plates of this kind of glass are extremely brilliant. Even black beads for trimmings of ladies’ costumes are now made as iridescent as peacock coal.

Bronzed glass.

Next to this iridescent glass, and partaking somewhat of its character, is a new bronze glass, so called from its dark metallic appearance, like old bronze. It is a dark green glass, which has been subjected to corrosive vapors in such a way as to bring out the iris hues and give the appearance of great antiquity. This effect is enhanced by the classical shapes in which the vases are blown, reminding one at once of the ancient Roman glass of the museums. Viewed by transmitted light this glass is dark green, like glass colored by oxide of copper.

“Venetian” and onyx glass.

The production of glass in the Venetian style is not neglected by this firm. The characteristic forms and styles of decoration of the old Venetian makers are well represented. But the most satisfactory and attractive novelty of all is

the onyx glass, in which we have the promise of a rapidly expanding and charming art industry, by which we can nut only have good copies in form and material of the celebrated Portland Vase, but original productions in the same style. It is in fact, a revival of the art to which we are indebted for the Portland Vase, which, as is generally known, is formed of glass — a dark glass for the body and a white opal glass for the raised figures overlying it, but all in one piece. To produce such vases it is only necessary to first envelop the whole surface of the vase with a thick coating of white or opal glass, and then to cut away, down to the ground-work or body of darker glass, all that is not required to form the raised figures. These figures are sculptured and engraved in minute detail by steel points used as gravers, as stone cameos are wrought out of the solid onyx. The effects are the same. Among the pieces so formed are exact reproductions of the Portland Vase and other specimens, notably the “Dennis Vase,” designed and sculptured by J. Northwood. It stands about eighteen inches high, and the beautiful oviform body presents on one side the Triumph of Galatea, and on the other a copy of the Aurora of Guido. It is a beautiful object and the largest yet attempted. It is not yet finished. Two years’ work has already been put upon it and it will require two more years of Mr. Northwood’s best labor to complete it. A smaller vase, with the Aurora sculptured upon one side, is valued at $7,500.

Engraved colored glass.

As closely allied to this method of manufacture, we may next mention the great variety of engraved colored glass now beginning to attract great attention by its beauty and comparative cheapness. Upon a groundwork of milk-white or opal glass thin coatings of blue and rose-pink glass are spread successively. The pink colors are especially remarkable for their delicate gradations and shades of color. A great variety of small objects for decoration are made in this manner. They are handed over to the engraver, who with his wheel cuts through the outer coats of color down to the groundwork of white glass. Extremely fine lines and delicate effects may be so produced. The process invites and requires careful drawing and skilled designing. This Mr. O’Fallon has not failed to appreciate, and most of the specimens are wrought from his designs. One in particular attracts attention, as representing the development of the tadpole into a full-grown frog; the successive stages

of growth being shown by a procession of tadpoles amongst aquatic plants. The completed frog stands upon a lily-pad, and seems to be announcing himself to the world in a burst of his peculiar eloquence. This material is well adapted also to diapered and geometrical designs. Some of this glass has already found its way to the United States, and is used chiefly for mounting in silver or plated ware.

POWELL’S GLASS.

James Powell & Sons, of Blackfriars, London, sent also some new styles of glass dinner services and decorative objects, in a peculiar olive green, in brown, and in opalescent glass, all of which were strikingly peculiar and attractive. They all show a great mastery of the art, and at the same time a good appreciation of the decorative requirements of the period.

ITALY.

The chief attraction was the unique display by the “Venice and Murano Glass and Mosaic Company, Limited,” of 30 St. James Street, London, and 731 Campo San Vio, Venice.

VENICE AND MURANO COMPANY.

This company was formed in the year 1866, by a few English gentlemen whose interest in Italian art induced them to subscribe the capital necessary to give a proper artistic and commercial direction to the revival of an industry for which Venice and Murano, in their palmy days, had acquired a world-wide celebrity.

It was not an easy task, for although the workmen retained certain traditions of the ancient art and methods, their taste had become vitiated by working from inartistic models, and time, patience, and special efforts were requisite to induce them to produce higher and more artistic types, more worthy of their intelligence and skill.

Aided by Signor Alessando Castellani, and by the fragments of some of the more remarkable ancient productions, which he carried with him and exhibited to the workmen, the company has been able to produce objects which compare with the best work of the ancient artists, and to reproduce some of the most celebrated objects preserved in the museums. Many of these precious objects were placed before the workmen by Castellani, and their ambition was at once aroused and stimulated. Their success in imitation and in working by the same methods is fully proved by the results shown in the cases of the company at Paris.

The exhibit was arranged in chronological order, beginning with copies of early Roman and Christian glass from originals preserved in the library and in the Christian Museum of the Vatican at Rome, and including reproductions of Roman “murrhine” and vitreous pastes imitating agates, jacinth, sapphires, etc.; copies of Arab-Egyptian lamps, enameled; copies of early Venetian glass urns, tazzas, and nuptial goblets; enameled glass, glass mosaics, and marquetry work in glass, down to lusters, girandoles, and candelabra for modern theaters. A few, only, of the more interesting and important specimens will be noticed.

In the collection of enameled glass there were vases, basins, lamps, and reliquaries, two of the latter in enfumé glass, enameled in colors and gold, with inscriptions in Arabic-Byzantine style, formed after an original in Mr. Castellani’s collection, and the motive of the ornamentation from the fragment of a bass-relief found in the island of Torcello. There was also a nuptial goblet of sapphire color, enameled with figures and landscape, with medalion portraits of a young man and woman, representing nuptials of the fourteenth century. It is an exact reproduction of the celebrated Coppa Nuziale in the Corner Museum at Venice, the work of a Muranese artist of the fifteenth century. But the most interesting of all the reproductions is found in the

St. Mark’s Tazza,

an exact reproduction of the famous tazza in the treasury of St. Mark’s, at Venice. It is blown in black glass, and is not over six inches high, but the original is valued at over 80,000 francs. This original was one of the treasured objects sent home to France by Napoleon I, but afterwards returned. For the purpose of making the copy, which is excellent, the original was borrowed of the government. The copy in black glass, like the original, is enameled in various colors and gold, and has round the circumference medalions and Coptic inscriptions divided into several zones. It is mounted like the original by Signor Castellani.

The original tazza is considered to be a work of the eleventh or twelfth century, and it is believed by some that the art of enameling, as practiced at Limoges, was started and stimulated by seeing this vase.

Copies from the Blade collection.

The exhibit contained seventy different pieces, reproduced after specimens selected from among the best Muranese types.

From the Murano Museum, also, there was a choice selection of fifty different pièces, exemplifying all the phases of manufacture in that island, including a large vase in opaline jasper and ruby glass, with two handles in the shape of swans, standing thirty inches high; a chalice, with cover in opal; and a large chalice, with cover of great delicacy.

Roman murrhine glass.

In the beautiful collection of colored pastes, gem-like in color and brilliancy, there were cinerary urns, cups, paterae and goblets. Pliny is supposed to have referred to this glass when he wrote, “Album et murrhina aut hyacinthos sapphirosque imitatum et omnibus aliis coloribus,” in describing the transparent and opaque colored glass which was so highly valued in his time.

In this series there were silver goblets, or cups, with elliptical perforations half an inch long at the sides, through which an inner lining of sapphire or ruby glass protrudes like gems. The whole surface seems set with round cut and polished sapphires or rubies. The glass lining of the silver is perfect throughout, but bulges and protrudes through the openings. It is evident that the silver goblet is first made and polished, with the openings left in the sides, and then, being warmed, is lined with glass by blowing a bulb inside of it, the lining protruding through the spaces. These linings were, of course, very tight and close fitting, and could not be removed without breaking or melting the silver. These cups are copied from an original in the British Museum. Sapphires, emeralds, amethysts, and rubies were thus imitated.

A cup in imitation of onyx — a copy of one in the treasury of St. Mark’s — was mounted in silver gilt by Signor Castellani; another, also copied from one in St. Mark’s treasury, and mounted in silver by Castellani, has the colors of topaz and emerald. A patera in murrhine colors, white, blue, and yellow, is a fac-simile of the original in the National Museum at Naples.

Some vases, in imitation of agate, are copied as to form from originals in Signor Castellani’s collection.

Cameo glass.

There were interesting specimens of glass prepared for cutting like cameos. Cups and bowls for this purpose are formed of an inner body or layer of dark blue glass, with an outer coating or layer of even thickness of opaque white

glass, in which the design is wrought by carving or grinding down to the dark-colored sub-layer, or foundation. This outer white layer is about one-eighth of an inch thick, and is chiseled in high relief, in a similar manner to that by which the Portland Vase in the British Museum was formed, and also the Pompeiian Vase in the museum at Naples. It is a difficult task to get glass mixtures that have exactly the same degree of shrinkage on cooling. The two differently colored pastes must shrink exactly alike, or cracking would result, especially when the outer layer is chiseled away in forming the design.

Christian and other grafito glass.

The specimens Nos. 74 to 79 are chiefly paterae, cups and dishes decorated with colors and engraved or etched films of gold leaf. Several paterae of early Christian style are reproductions from famous examples preserved in the Christian Museum of the Vatican, and are ornamented with medallions in etched gold leaf, inclosed between two layers of glass. A dish is ornamented with subjects on etched gold leaf representing the Bible history from chaos to the crucifixion of St. Peter; diameter sixteen inches. Many of these objects may be considered as restorations, being modeled from mere fragments, which, however, served to indicate the full and complete form of the ancient vessel.

Mural glass mosaics.

This company has executed a great number of important decorative mural mosaics in Great Britain and on the Continent. The perfecting of this art, so extensively practiced in the middle ages, has engaged the earnest attention of the company. It was not until numerous costly experiments had been made that they successfully reproduced the ancient smalti tints, examples of which were shown. Among the mosaics shown, one was particularly interesting as a precise reproduction of one of the spandrils designed by and executed under the direction of Raphael in the ceiling of the Chigi Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo at Rome, representing one of the signs of the zodiac, with two figures. Another piece, a panel, represents at the upper end the conversion of St. Paul, and is on an Arabic-Byzantine ornamentation. This and thirteen other similar panels were executed by the Venice and Murano Company for the Gibbs’s Memorial in Tyntesfield Chapel, near Bristol, England.

For full details regarding the various exhibits in Class 19, I refer to the following report of Mr. Charles Colné, who has long been practically familiar with the manufacture of glass, and has presented a very interesting view of the subject of the display at Paris, and the practical lessons taught by examination of the European methods and results.