- Museum number
- 1992,0711.1
- Description
-
Glass goblet and cover; free-blown, ovoid body and cover, set on a tall knopped stem with raised foot, with wheel-engraved geometric decoration incorporating a band of interlaced leaf-shapes on both body and cover, and bands of vertical parallel lines. Marks.
- Production date
- 1862 (circa)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Text from J. Rudoe, 'Decorative Arts 1850-1950', revised ed. 1994, no. 408:
This goblet is identical in form to a goblet shown at the International Exhibition in London in 1862 and illustrated in J.B.Waring's three-volume record of the Exhibition ('Masterpieces of Industrial Art and Sculpture at the International Exhibition of 1862', London 1862, vol.1, pl.87). In preparation for the Exhibition, Apsley Pellatt held a competition for designs for engraved glass, which had replaced cut glass in contemporary taste. The prizewinning designs were produced by his firm and at least some of them were shown at the Exhibition (J. Rose, 'The Apsley Pellatts', The Glass Circle 3, 1979, 7). The goblet illustrated has decoration in the classical style and is described as, 'designed by John.H.Wood'. Whether this refers to the shape or the decoration, or both, is unclear. It may be that the goblet was a standard shape on which different designs were executed. In 1864, the firm presented a selection of the competition glasses to the Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh (Rose 1979, pls.9-11) and in 1967, a few models were transferred to the Victoria & Albert Museum (Rose, pl.7-8 and B. Morris, 'Victorian Table Glass and Ornaments', London 1978, pl.43). See also Morris 1978, pl.47 (private collection).
Pellatt pieces are rarely signed; the only other recorded pieces with this signature are a pair of oil lamp bases in a private collection (C. Hajdamach, 'British Glass 1800-1914', Woodbridge 1991, 261, pl.250)
The Falcon Glass Works, founded in the 17th century, were taken over by the Pellatt family c.1790. After a period as Pellatt & Green until the early 1830s, the firm traded under a number of names which appear to overlap: Apsley Pellatt, Apsley Pellatt & Co, Pellatt & Co. The publications listed above were written by Apsley Pellatt (1791-1863, the fourth member of the family with that name); under his direction, the factory became one of the pre-eminent London firms, making a wide range of decorative glass. From 1852, Apsley Pellatt's younger brother Frederick was in charge until his death in 1874, when the firm split into two parts, which ceased trading in 1890 and 1895.
- Location
- On display (G47/dc10)
- Acquisition date
- 1992
- Acquisition notes
- Previously sold at Gilding's Fine Art Auctioneers, Market Harborough, 3 March 1992, lot 140 for £680
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1992,0711.1
