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Wine glass
Apsley Pellatt & Co. - Enlarge image
Wine glass
- Place of origin:
London, England (possibly, made)
- Date:
ca. 1851 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Apsley Pellatt & Co. (possibly, manufacturer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Clear glass with opaque twist, engraved
- Museum number:
C.32-1975
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 122f, case 4
Object Type
This wine glass is made in a typical Victorian mixture of styles: although the bowl is engraved with a riot of motifs, the stem is an opaque twist in the traditional Venetian manner. It is an example of Apsley Pellatt's so-called 'Anglo-Venetian' glass.
People
Apsley Pellatt IV (1791-1863) of the Falcon Glassworks, Blackfriars, London, was one of the chief innovators of the mid-19th century British glass industry. He learned about the historical techniques of glass-making by travelling about Europe viewing continental methods at first hand, and by rigorous experimentation. His Curiosities of Glass Making (1849) became an invaluable manual for his glass-making contemporaries.
Historical Associations
Pellatt won a prize medal at the Great Exhibition, where he displayed cut glass services, 'Anglo-Venetian' gilt and frosted glass, 'cameo-incrustations' (now called sulphides) and even lanterns and medical bottles. His two main exhibition pieces were a 24 foot high cut glass chandelier for 80 lights and an 'Alhambra-style' red, white and blue chandelier. John Tallis in his History and Description of the Crystal Palace (1852) declared Pellatt's work 'second to none in excellence or beauty'.
