Cut glass was introduced to Japan during the early nineteenth century. The roots of cut-glass production in Tokyo had an important connection with the UK. Although cut glass first appeared in the city of Edo (present-day Tokyo) in the 1830s, it was not until the 1880s that it was developed into an intricate and sophisticated craft under the direction of a British glass-cutting engineer, Emmanuel Hauptmann. Hauptmann was hired by the Japanese government for the Shinagawa Glass Factory which adopted Western-style manufacturing technology.

This collection of cut-glass tumblers provides opportunities to explore Asian Art Deco from the early Showa period (1926-89) when Japan’s traditional art and aesthetics interacted with European life and culture.