Historic Ornament, Vol. 2 (of 2): Treatise on decorative art and architectural ornamentWard, James
History
Historic Ornament, Vol. 2 (of 2): Treatise on decorative art and architectural ornament
Ward, James
Architecture -- History; Decoration and ornament -- History; Decorative arts -- History
Some Venetian glass makers came to Paris in 1665, when an establishment
was formed for the making of mirrors, and about the same time another
factory was set up at Four-la-Ville; these two factories were united by
the French Minister Colbert, and were under the patronage of the king.
We find that soon afterwards, and especially in the Louis-Quinze period,
large panels and wall spaces were filled with glass mirrors as interior
decorations.
[Illustration: Fig. 303.—Spanish Glass; Sixteenth Century. (S.K.M.)]
Glass was made in Spain in the Ibero-Roman period, as the remains of
glass vessels and necklaces have been found in tombs, and the ruins of
Roman furnaces have been found in the valleys of the Pyrenees. It is
supposed that the art was carried on under the Gothic kings of Spain,
and also by the Moors in the thirteenth century, who brought with them
glass workers as well as some of the wares of the East. Much of the
glass made in Spain subsequent to this date is in imitation of the
shapes of Arabian pottery, and this is still the case in much of the
modern Spanish glass. Spanish glass of the Renaissance was similar in
form and in material to the Venetian work of the same period, and during
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the work was in imitation more
or less of the contemporary Dutch and Flemish glass (Fig. 303).
In Holland, glassware seems to have been made by Murano artificers, who
from time to time settled in that country and brought the secrets of
their trade with them. The objects made were naturally imitations of the
Venetian glass, and many of the Dutch drinking-glasses were very
graceful in design.
In Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, and throughout the Low Countries
generally Venetian glass had been imported in great quantities in the
time of and prior to the seventeenth century, and it is difficult to say
how much of the old glass found at those places is Dutch, Flemish, or
Venetian.
Engraving on glass was much practised in Holland, and many Dutch goblets
have well executed portraits of kings, queens, and other persons.
Glass making has been practised in Germany, like in most European
countries, from the days of the Romans downwards, especially in the
Rhenish Provinces, but German examples dating from the Middle Ages are
very rare.
[Illustration: Fig. 304.—German Glasses. (S.K.M.)]
There is documentary evidence which proves that glass was made at Mainz
as early as the beginning of the eighth century.
The earliest example of German glass in this country is a _wiederkom_,
or cylindrical drinking-vessel, which bears the date of 1571, but an
older one, of the date of 1553, is preserved in the Künstkammer at
Berlin.
A favourite decoration on the German Wiederkoms is the arms of the
emperor or electors, those of the different states of the empire, and of
private owners (Fig. 304).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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