American Pressed Flint Glass Compote, Attributed to Boston & Sandwich Circa 1850–1870

Details

Description

Antique American Sandwich Flint Glass Petal and Loop Compote, Circa 1850–1870
Circa 1850–1870

This handsome mid-nineteenth-century American pressed glass compote … Read more Antique American Sandwich Flint Glass Petal and Loop Compote, Circa 1850–1870
Circa 1850–1870

This handsome mid-nineteenth-century American pressed glass compote has real presence on a table. Twelve tall petal-shaped panels rise from a deep bowl into a boldly scalloped rim, each panel swelling into a rounded lobe with the rim dipping to a point between them, so that the piece reads almost like an opened flower. A band of smaller loops runs around the lower body, the base of the bowl is pressed with a ring of oval printies, and the whole sits on a hollow paneled stem and a fluted circular foot, the bowl joined to the stem by a thick glass wafer in the classic manner of the period.

The glass is heavy, clear flint glass with the faint gray cast and scatter of tiny seed bubbles that mark genuine American lead glass of this date, and it catches the light beautifully. The pattern is the one collectors know as Petal and Loop, closely associated with the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company on Cape Cod and also worked by other New England and Pittsburgh glasshouses. Like almost all pressed tableware of the period it is unmarked, and it is attributed to Sandwich on the strength of its form, its metal and its molded design.

Compotes like this were made for the dessert course, piled with fruit, jellies or sweetmeats at the center of the Victorian table, and that is still where this one shines. Fill it with lemons or pears on a kitchen island, let it hold clementines on a dining table, or set it on a sideboard or mantel where the lobed rim can throw light across the room. It sits as easily in a traditional dining room as in a pared-back modern interior, where a single piece of early American glass adds warmth and history without fuss.

Dimensions
Height: 7 inches (17.8 cm)
Diameter: 9¼ inches (23.5 cm)

Marks
Unmarked, as is usual for American pressed tableware of this period.

Provenance
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge.

Condition
Excellent condition, the glass retaining its original clarity.

Historical Context
The Boston and Sandwich Glass Company grew out of the Sandwich Glass Manufactory, founded on Cape Cod by Deming Jarves in 1825 and incorporated under the longer name in 1826. Mechanical pressing had only just been patented in America, and Sandwich was among the first factories to use it at scale, producing patterned tableware that gave the sparkle of cut glass at a fraction of the price. The works closed in January 1888 following a dispute with the American Flint Glass Workers’ Union.

(Ref: NY9992-irr) See less