Recent Important Acquisitions, 2007
Ancient Glass
Roman Snake-Thread Bottle
Roman "snake-thread" glasses are so-called because of their sinuous patterns of applied ornament, which sometimes include birds and animals, but more often consist of leaves or abstract motifs. Glass of this type may be completely colorless, or have a colorless body with colored decoration. Snake-thread glasses were produced in two parts of the Roman world: in the eastern provinces and in the northwest. The earliest examples date from the late second century A.D. and the latest were probably made around the year 300.
Our new acquisition is a snake-thread bottle decorated with tendrils and ivy leaves on long, snakelike stems. Four leaves and stems surround the body of the bottle. Two are opaque white and two are light blue; all of them were impressed with a tool while the glass was still soft, creating the corrugated surface that is typical of snake-thread decoration. Between each pair of leaves are tendrils with spiral ends. The tendrils are made of gilded, colorless glass.
The bottle was made in the third century, probably in Cologne, Germany, an important city on the northern frontier of the Roman Empire and a great center of glassmaking. H. 0.0 cm.
European Glass
Mosaic Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt
This mosaic portrait of Theodore Roosevelt was exhibited at the St. Louis World Fair in 1904, as documented on a contemporary photograph that is part of this acquisition. The St. Louis Fair coincided with Roosevelt's re-election as president of The United States in November, 1904.
The model for the portrait was perhaps John Singer Sargent's portrait of Roosevelt for the White House, dated 1903. The mosaic was created by Erede Dr. A. Salviati & Co. of Venice using glass tesserae of various colors, fitted into a rectangular panel mounted in a wood frame. H. 62 cm x W. 48.5 cm (without frames).
Silver-Mounted Transverse Glass Flute
In 1806, the Parisian watchmaker Claude Laurent received a patent for un flute en cristal. The patent claims that “the inventor has discovered that glass is a proper material, as it gives sounds of the sweetness and purity desired, and also renders the tones invariable, and makes the instrument convenient and easy to play.” Laurent exhibited his first glass flute in 1806 in Paris, and stayed in business until 1848, when he was succeeded by J. D. Breton, who made flutes of wood and of glass until 1874.
Glass flutes were beautiful to look at and reliable instruments, but, according to Dayton Miller (“Flutes of Glass,” The Flutist, v. 6, no. 7, 1925, pp. 151–155) not exceptional in their tone quality. Thus, they were not aimed for professional performance, but rather for representational purposes. The flute recently acquired by the Corning Museum was made for Charles Ferdinand Artois, Duc de Berry (1757–1836), the second son of King Charles X of France. It is engraved with Artois' coat of arms. L. 62.2 cm.
American Glass
Sandwich Glass
Two products of the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company of Sandwich, MA, were recently acquired by the Museum. A candlestick, made in 1829 or shortly after, matches a drawing made by Deming Jarves, head of the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company, in a letter to his glasshouse superintendent, William Stutson, dated January 20, 1829, shortly after pressing of tableware was first accomplished. The design of the stem is reminiscent of English glass of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Only two of these candlesticks have turned up in the last 50 years. H. 24 cm, Diam. 11.2 cm. Purchased in part with funds from the Gladys M, and Harry A. Snyder Memorial Trust.
The second Sandwich piece was made 30 or 40 years later. It is a sugar bowl with cut decoration in a pattern called "Star and Comet.” This shape and pattern was probably in production during the 1860's and 1870's: they both are shown in a Boston & Sandwich catalog printed around 1874. H. 22.1 cm, Diam. 12.4 cm. Purchased with funds from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation's Kenneth R. Treis Fund.
Modern Glass
Tire (2005) by Robert Rauschenberg
American artist Robert Rauschenberg is an internationally acclaimed artist who came to prominence in the 1950s. Interested equally in abstraction and in popular culture, he was one of an early group of Pop artists who changed the course of modern art. Throughout his career, Rauschenberg has challenged people's notions of what fine art is and how it is made. The rubber tire—a humble, dirty, industrial, ecologically adverse, and politically questionable necessity—is an enduring symbol in his work. In this sculpture, it is re-created in mold-blown colorless glass and presented as an object of beauty. Luminous and seemingly precious, the glass tire casually leans in its silver-plated steel tire carrier, yet it gives an impression of luxury. H: 78.7 cm, W: 68.5 cm, D: 29.2 cm.Partial gift of Daniel Greenberg, Susan Steinhauser and the Greenberg Foundation, and the F.M. Kirby Foundation.
Glass Sticks (2001) by Jun Kaneko
A sculptor, painter, and print-maker, Japanese artist Jun Kaneko is best-known for his large, glazed ceramic sculptures that weigh hundreds of pounds. In 1998, he was given the chance to work with glass at the Bullseye Glass Company in Portland, Oregon, and it was during this residency that the Glass Sticks was conceived. The sculpture is made of fused glass bars that are stacked on top of each other—to a height of over six feet—without any bracing. Glass Sticks expresses essential qualities of glass, such as fragility, strength, and transparency, and its ability to hold and project light and color. H. 200, W. 106.6, D. 106.6 cm assembled. Gift of The Ennion Society and funds provided by Laura Houghton, James R. and Maisie Houghton, and the Glass Acquistions and Exhibitions Fund.
Rakow Research Library
Creative and Imitative Art by James Tennant Lyon
The Rakow Library has acquired this rare work by J. T. Lyon, who had presented its principal idea to the London Architectural Association in 1866. After Lyon's untimely death, his widow wrote an introduction and had the book published for private circulation only. The Rakow's copy belonged to the family and bears an inscription to “Christina Mary Percy Lyon, in affectionate remembrance of her beloved father, April, 1873.” The book was published in Brussels by M. Weissenbruch, printer to His Majesty, 1873.
J.T Lyon was a stained glass designer whose London-based business made windows for buildings as far away as Scotland and India. A small illustrated catalog of church windows and prices is bound in with Creative and Imitative Art. Together, the book and the catalog evoke an interesting juxtaposition of Lyon's philosophical leanings with his entrepreneurial pursuits.
In addition to the printed book, the Rakow owns the corresponding manuscript of one hundred pages, neatly written in black ink on blue paper and bound in half morocco leather. The title page contains a quote from The English Humourists by William Makepeace Thackeray: “Learn to admire rightly; the great pleasure of life is that.”