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Inside Antiques, by Robert Reed   Inside Antiques: Steuben Glass - brilliant and deeply-toned glassware   By Robert Reed Perhaps the most brilliant and deeply toned glassware in history appeared in the early 20th century through the genius of Frederick Carder at the Steuben Glass Works.   It was turn-of-the-century art glass where free-spirit creation met technical inventiveness, and it was Steuben glass which may have simplified it best.   Carder was a native of England and, according to Robyn Peterson the curator of collections at Rockwell Museum, "his experience lay in the production of flamboyant and colourful decorative glassware appealing to the tastes of the English middle class of the Victorian era."   In 1903, he established the Steuben factory at Corning, New York, and named it after the county in which it was located. The plant had the financing of T.G. Hawkes and one of its main purposes was to provide cutting blanks for the Hawkes Company.   Beyond that, however, Carder began experimenting with the new effects of art glass using then untapped technology of the 20th century.   Carder's most famous result was Aurene glass, made in iridescent blue or iridescent gold. Its brilliant surface came from the use of glass containing metallic salts, which were hurled to the surface when heated in a special manner. The glassware was later sprayed with a metal chloride solution, which drew the surface into fine, reflective lines.   As with fabled Tiffany glass, the base was transparent, since opaque would not have allowed the wondrous bending of light through the different layers of density.   Steuben's Aurene glass, for example, was used in the lavish DeVilbiss perfumizers, usually in gold or blues. According to Jean Sloan in Perfume and Scent Bottle Collecting, "they were blown into simple shapes and left undecorated because the beautiful glass truly needed no other adornment."   Most of the perfume containers were marked on the base with Devilbiss in gold script.   The craftsman artist also provided single pieces of brilliant cut glass, ranging from those individual pieces with matching pairs of pheasants, to decanters with special wheel motifs.   "Carder tried his hand at an astonishing variety of techniques," notes Emma Papert, author of An Illustrated Guide to American Glass, "including hand-treated glass, shaded glass and acid-etched wares known as acid cutback, which often resembled Chinese lapidary cutting."   Besides Aurene, his other specialties included Verre De Soie, which was a transparent glass with a delicate, shifting rainbow of colors, the pinkish Rosaline and various other iridized glassware. His products included lamps, vases and candlesticks, as well as tableware and perfume bottles.   In 1918, the Corning Glass Company acquired the firm and thereafter it became the Steuben Division of that company, moving into more extensive production of fine handmade glass. Beautiful Aurene glass continued to be made into the early 1930s at the plant.   In 1931, the Philadelphia Museum of Art was in the process of restoring a lovely 19th century house known as Strawberry Mansion. They set about in search of suitable tableware for display and found it at the Steuben Glass Works. By the following year, the Strawberry pattern glassware was included in Steuben's catalog.   Steuben came under the direction of Arthur Amory Houghton, Jr., the great-grandson of the founder of Corning Glass Works, in 1933. Together with architect John Monteith Gates and sculptor Sidney Waught, Houghton led the firm into very extensive production of fine free-blown lead glass.   "Their efforts resulted in some of the finest pieces of American glass ever made," confirms author Papert, "distinguished by strength and simplicity of line, elegance of shape and undeviating high quality of glass metal."   Steuben provided both two-handled vases for flowers and dining room tableware for the United States building at the New York World's Fair in 1939. After the fair closed, the glass and china, including an urn in the Strawberry Mansion pattern, were given to the White House.   The firm's increasingly refined copper-wheel engraving and the use of international recognized artists endeared Steuben to the country and it was even the choice of American presidents as gifts of state.   In 1947, a bas-relief decorated merry-go-round bowl was presented by the U.S. to Princess Elizabeth on the occasion of her wedding.   In 1959, after 82 years of working with glass, Carder retired at the age of 96, leaving a legacy of genius through his skill and artistry.   Robert Rockwell, a friend and avid Steuben collector, contributed much of his own spectacular collection to the Rockwell Museum in Corning in the ‘70s.   Many pieces are now on loan to the Corning Museum in New York and can be viewed in the Carder Gallery.   Photos, courtesy of the Rockwell Museum:   1 - Decorated gold Aurene lamp, ca. 1914 Stueben Glass Works   2 - Acid-etched vase, 1920s, Steuben Glass Works   3 - Rouge Flambe vase, ca. 1916, Steuben Glass Works   Robert Reed has written on antiques and collectibles for more than two decades. He has also authored 15 books, including his recently released Antiques and Collectible Dictionary, available from collectorbooks.com     Return to top of page   This Is Livin' Publishing © 2011 581 8th Line West, RR1 Hastings, ON, K0L 1Y0 Phone/Fax: 705-696-1833   webmaster