A Fascination for Glass!

[rpfstoneman]

A Fascination for Glass!

Though I have always found glass snuff bottles to be somewhat interesting, I never consider glass to be a favored medium.  I reckon that I am more of an organic and porcelain type of guy.   I was thinking about my snuff bottle collection and all various bottles made from glass the other night, which again is not one of my preferred materials.  I thought about my glass cameo bottles, the glass bottles imitating organic and stone materials, sandwich glass bottles with their beautiful designs, molded and blown glass bottles, both plain and patterned, fused glass (or suffused to some), carved/etched (actually ground) glass, and then there are all those interior painted glass bottles.  Then it struck me and it was an ‘Oh My God’ moment, a good 80 percent of my collection is glass.  How did that ever happen?  Glass being one of those materials that did not command much of my attention!

Well here’s another glass bottle for the collection, and bottles such as this is likely why I have a fascination with glass.  Forgive the quality of the pictures, but I wanted to share this sooner rather than later.  This bottle was just purchased and I’m looking for other opinions if different from my own.

By all accounts this blue glass bottle appears to have a form and foot rim of older hardstone bottles, and I suspect it is a 19th century bottle.   Given the inset design of the orange, red, and white crosses it is presumed that each segmented crosses was cut, fused, and dipped in white glass to create rods.  These rods where then fused together with blue glass to create a solid block which was then ground and hollowed to form the bottle.  Meaning the bottle was carved in the same manner as if it was a hardstone.   The mouth appears to have a subtle taper (i.e., angled slightly in) along the inner lip of the mouth.  If so, this would indicate an older bottle form.  Regardless, think about the amount of work it would have taken to create the uniformity of the pattern (note the star pattern around the top of the bottle’s mouth) and resulting effect, whether it be old or contemporary. 

Charll

[George]

Congratulations on the new bottle Charyll !

It is really lovely.. 

Can not say have ever seen one created like this before.. 

[Wattana]

Charll,

I am not an aficionado of glass bottles, and have fewer than 10 percent in my collection. But the process you just described to produce the one you posted is truly fascinating. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when a bottle like that was being made. Thanks for sharing.

Regards,

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Charll,

  An interesting posting. Your family know about my 'facination with glass', since they've seen my share of my late mom's ancient glass collection (I inherited about 160-odd vessels of glass dating from 2,800 to 900 years ago). You and Skye are the only ones who've not.

  In that collection, I have a few  pieces made like your bottle, all dating from the early Roman period (50 BCE - 150 CE). The technique is called 'millefiori' ("thousand flowers" in Italian. Italian and not Latin, because the name was coined only in the mid-19th C. in Italy; before that it was simply referred to as 'mosaic'.)

  I've never seen a Chinese snuff bottle in millefiori glass before. I agree that, regardless of age, it is beautiful.

Joey

[rpfstoneman]

Joey and all,

This blue glass bottle is coming out of Australia.  Will have to wait for it’s arrival to see if my speculation on quality and age are correct.  Going to need a stopper, so if anyone has any ideas what might good atop this bottle let me know. 

Charll

[Fiveroosters aka clayandbrush]

Dear Charll,
Instead, I do like glass bottles very much
Joey is right, it is a millefiori bottle. For sure you have heard about Westerns trading ivory in Africa or furs with native North American tribes paying them with pieces of glass. It is not story, it is all true. Do google for "millefiori trade beans" and you will see many of them. It has been one of the biggest trade in History. In the late 18th century and great part of 19th century tousands of ships sailed mainly from Venice but also from Holland loaded by those beans. From that the iland of Murano in Venice if famous. The irony is that now those beads becomes antique and we are trading them back so we gain twice. I have some that my wife did bought at flea markets from Afican guys. BTW I do not know the fabrication technique, but do not think that they was made by rods, I tend to believe that they were drawn like the toothpaste with strips
Giovanni

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Giovanni,
  Charll is correct. The glass was drawn out like taffy into long thin rods while almost molten; then the rods were gathered together and melted enough to fuse the rods together without losing the design; and then the canes (collections of fused rods) were 'sliced' and the slices fused together to make a surface of the same design (to make pieces which were inlaid into furniture, or small vessels such as plates and bowls).
   In this case, the canes were fused together, to form a block; and then it was carved as if it was a block of stone.
Joey

[Fiveroosters aka clayandbrush]

Thank you Joey, I like to know technologies. Charll's bottle is very nice and I suppose not common too.
Kind regards
Giovanni

[OIB]

Dear all,

Just to share a few of my glass bottles that fascinated me whenever I fonder them.

Regards,
Inn Bok

[George]

Nice ones Inn Bok !

[George]

Not to make a comparison in regards to the age of your bottle Charll.., this seller is offering some similar, modern bottles that show the same process as Joey mentioned being used ..