DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1398#0158
PLATE 151.
ENGRAVED GLASS,
BY J. DEFKIES & SONS, LONDON; LLOYD & SUMMERFIELD, BIRMINGHAM;
AND SPIERS & SON, OXFORD.
TTOWEVER much we might have desired it, it was impossible to illustrate some of the
largest pieces of glass manufacture- without entirely losing their effect when clone on a
small scale: we have, therefore, been unable to give the colossal chandelier and candelabrum of
Messrs. Defries, and have contented ourselves with selecting a few of their engraved pieces, to
combine them with those of the same description.
Messrs. Lloyd & Summerfield were awarded a medal by the Jury for cut and engraved
glass, glass window-bars, and for ornamental glass fittings of good metal and manufacture.
Messrs. Defries & Sons obtained honourable mention for their chandeliers, lustres, and table
glass ; for a novel glass screen, a chandelier of colossal dimensions, and specimens of general
excellence. Messrs. Spiers & Son also received honourable mention for their specimens of table
glass, and for novelty of form and engraved design.
Hint glass, from which all table services are made, was originally made from flints
calcined and ground in the manner now employed for making porcelain; but for many years
past, sand from Alum Bay, Isle of Wight; Lynn, Norfolk ; Reigate, Surrey, and other localities, has
been substituted; and these are not only more free from iron, but less expensive in the preparation,
than flints when washed and calcined. Fears have been entertained that a scarcity of such sand
would arise, and importations have of late years been made from New South Wales. The alkali-
makers of Birmingham and Liverpool supply the glass manufacturers with the refined pearl-ash,
which combines with silex for the formation of flint glass.
A writer on this subject in the year 1735 states that the charge for preparing flint " deters
glass-makers from using it. Where they cannot easily have proper stone, they make use of sand:
the best for use is that which is white and fine; for green glass, that which is harder and
more gritty. The preparation that it needs is only washing well. Maidstone, in Kent, furnishes
our glass-houses with white sand for their crystal glass, and with the coarser for green glass."
" The essential and distinguishing qualities of good glass," writes Mr. Pellatt, in his " Curiosities
of Glass-making," " are its freedom from specks or strias, and its near resemblance to real crystal
in its brilliant, pellucid, refractive, and colourless transparency. In all these respects, the
productions of the British glass-houses are at present unrivalled: it only remained for them to
evince their superiority in the ornamental branches of the art; and this has been partially
accomplished by the improved taste of the public, compelling manufacturers to employ superior
artists, as well as by the encouragement given by Government in establishing Schools of Design."
Indeed, nothing in the Exhibition could compete with the very beautiful specimens of engraved
ornamentation on crystal class, as seen in the works of our British mamifacturers, amongst which
the subjects we have illustrated held a worthy place. Nor was the purity of the material less
remarkable; and if we missed the fine productions of Messrs. Webb and Messrs. Richardson, of
Stourbridge, the deficiency was in a measure compensated for by the very pure metal exhibited by
Messrs. Powell, of London, Messrs. Osier and Messrs. Lloyd & Summerfield, of Birmingham.
ENGRAVED GLASS,
BY J. DEFKIES & SONS, LONDON; LLOYD & SUMMERFIELD, BIRMINGHAM;
AND SPIERS & SON, OXFORD.
TTOWEVER much we might have desired it, it was impossible to illustrate some of the
largest pieces of glass manufacture- without entirely losing their effect when clone on a
small scale: we have, therefore, been unable to give the colossal chandelier and candelabrum of
Messrs. Defries, and have contented ourselves with selecting a few of their engraved pieces, to
combine them with those of the same description.
Messrs. Lloyd & Summerfield were awarded a medal by the Jury for cut and engraved
glass, glass window-bars, and for ornamental glass fittings of good metal and manufacture.
Messrs. Defries & Sons obtained honourable mention for their chandeliers, lustres, and table
glass ; for a novel glass screen, a chandelier of colossal dimensions, and specimens of general
excellence. Messrs. Spiers & Son also received honourable mention for their specimens of table
glass, and for novelty of form and engraved design.
Hint glass, from which all table services are made, was originally made from flints
calcined and ground in the manner now employed for making porcelain; but for many years
past, sand from Alum Bay, Isle of Wight; Lynn, Norfolk ; Reigate, Surrey, and other localities, has
been substituted; and these are not only more free from iron, but less expensive in the preparation,
than flints when washed and calcined. Fears have been entertained that a scarcity of such sand
would arise, and importations have of late years been made from New South Wales. The alkali-
makers of Birmingham and Liverpool supply the glass manufacturers with the refined pearl-ash,
which combines with silex for the formation of flint glass.
A writer on this subject in the year 1735 states that the charge for preparing flint " deters
glass-makers from using it. Where they cannot easily have proper stone, they make use of sand:
the best for use is that which is white and fine; for green glass, that which is harder and
more gritty. The preparation that it needs is only washing well. Maidstone, in Kent, furnishes
our glass-houses with white sand for their crystal glass, and with the coarser for green glass."
" The essential and distinguishing qualities of good glass," writes Mr. Pellatt, in his " Curiosities
of Glass-making," " are its freedom from specks or strias, and its near resemblance to real crystal
in its brilliant, pellucid, refractive, and colourless transparency. In all these respects, the
productions of the British glass-houses are at present unrivalled: it only remained for them to
evince their superiority in the ornamental branches of the art; and this has been partially
accomplished by the improved taste of the public, compelling manufacturers to employ superior
artists, as well as by the encouragement given by Government in establishing Schools of Design."
Indeed, nothing in the Exhibition could compete with the very beautiful specimens of engraved
ornamentation on crystal class, as seen in the works of our British mamifacturers, amongst which
the subjects we have illustrated held a worthy place. Nor was the purity of the material less
remarkable; and if we missed the fine productions of Messrs. Webb and Messrs. Richardson, of
Stourbridge, the deficiency was in a measure compensated for by the very pure metal exhibited by
Messrs. Powell, of London, Messrs. Osier and Messrs. Lloyd & Summerfield, of Birmingham.