BRISTOL AND NAILSEA GLASS
It is a matter of regret that Bristol’s ancient fame for making and
cutting glass should have so completely disappeared. In the palmy days
of its glass industry it boasted no fewer than fifteen “glass-houses,”
and it had no rival in the country either as regards the quantity or the
quality of its output. This was in the year 1760.
Thirty years later the first glass-maker appears on the roll of the
city’s freemen. But seven years previously we read that a certain
townsman was admitted a freeman of the city upon his undertaking to
train a city schoolboy, as his apprentice, in the difficult art of glass
“grinding” without the usual premium of £7. But as early as 1666 an
order was made by the City Council to the effect that “no stranger or
foreigner should presume to open a shop, _either with or without glass
windows_, under a penalty of £5”--a fact which seems to indicate that,
although glass windows may still have been a novelty, there existed
facilities for their supply if required.
Apart from casual references like these, the history of Bristol glass is
entirely obscure. But as the trade returns for the year 1695 show that
the duty on glass for that year amounted to £17,642, and that a
“drawback” allowed on exported glass amounted in the case of Bristol to
no less a sum than £2976, it is pretty clear that by that time the
industry in Bristol had assumed very considerable dimensions.
Bristol glass is certainly the most beautiful of all Old English glass,
and there is no doubt that many of the fine specimens one sees, both
coloured and plain, were actually produced in the factories of that
city. The colouring of Bristol glass is exceptionally brilliant,
especially its deep blues. The opaque milky-white ware, which is most
common, is often “ribbed” with white streaks or ornamented with flowers
in colours and gold, or daubed with red, blue, and yellow, or with one
of these colours only. Fig. 29 shows specimens of both kinds.
It is a matter for great regret that the factories renowned in early
times for the beauty and finish of their output did not maintain their
existence for a longer period. The exact date at which the famous opaque
ware was made is open to considerable doubt, but the year 1760 cannot be
very wide of the mark, for reasons to which I have already referred.
In any case, the records of the city show that in that year its glass
furnaces were in full blast. We find recorded in 1715 a bequest of china
and glass, and in a long account of a feast given to commemorate the
accession of Queen Anne there is included among the expenditure of the
corporation an item of £6, 14s. for glasses.
At first glass was extremely costly: the corporation was called upon to
pay no less than £4, 16s. for “a glass to be placed in Mr Alderman
Laroche’s coach, which was broken at the gaol delivery.” Fine specimens
of the glass-worker’s art fetched extremely high prices.
The glass itself was exceedingly brittle and easily broken as compared
with other English and Irish glass. It was frequently decorated with
enamelled colouring, and many specimens are found with finely curved and
twisted handles. It was, in my opinion, the object of the Bristol
glass-houses to imitate white porcelain, and, in support of this idea,
we find manufactured in Bristol glass such articles as vases, cups and
saucers, plates, mugs, and other utensils usually made from porcelain
and earthenware.
Of course, the art of manufacturing this opaque white or milky glass was
well known abroad. The white glass of Venice, of Orleans, and of
Barcelona was already famous. The characteristic feature of its
manufacture was the large amount of lead and the small quantity of tin
employed as ingredients--quantities altogether out of proportion to
those used in the manufacture of ordinary transparent glass.
It is no very difficult task for an enthusiast to find to-day excellent
specimens of Bristol ware. Its characteristic features are an
extraordinary fineness in colour and texture, coupled with a delicate
taste both in hue and form. The ware, too, has a peculiar softness to
the touch which is quite characteristic, and provides the amateur
collector, once he has recognised it, with an excellent test as to the
genuineness of the specimen under consideration. The smaller pieces are
often beautifully decorated with painted or enamelled flowers,
maidenhair fern, and the like.
The illustrations (Figs. 25-26) give an excellent idea of the kind of
decoration adopted by the master craftsmen of Bristol. The designs found
upon Bristol glass were also, now and again, copies of those found on
Venetian and French pieces. But, generally speaking, the decoration of
Bristol glass was entirely English in conception and execution. This is
particularly the case where the pieces were made for some special
occasion or purpose, as, for example, the commemoration of some event of
national importance.
Many examples from the Bristol factories are to be found in the various
museums, especially at South Kensington, where in the famous Schrieber
Collection are some of the finest examples extant. There is, for
example, a “Venetian glass”--purely Bristol, of course, but on a
Venetian model, which is reproduced as a frontispiece to this
volume--and also a pair of candlesticks beautifully ornamented with
butterflies, wild flowers, and leaves. They stand out as most admirable
specimens from the Bristol factories.
It is a well-known fact that the Bristol product, so admirable was it in
quality and appearance and so closely did it resemble the real Venetian
glass, was often passed off as the product of the Venice
glass-makers--the pastmasters of the art. Many a collection, ostensibly
hailing from Venice, must, on a closer scrutiny, be attributed to a
place of origin much nearer home. This form of substitution was
particularly prevalent in the case of glass ornamented with white
twisted threads and in the case of ruby-coloured glasses and mugs.
Many of the earliest specimens were left “raw” at the base, and if the
finger be drawn across the ends the existence of sharp edges will become
apparent. This is a test of reasonably good value, as I have found on
more than one occasion when I have been in doubt. Also, and with the
smaller pieces in particular, it was almost universal with the Bristol
manufacturer to leave untouched the “mark” or place where the piece was
nipped from the blower’s tube. Modern reproductions, whilst faithfully
observing and imitating all the beauties of the model, have generally
their bases perfectly smooth. Even where the “mark” has been imitated to
give an added air of verisimilitude to the specimen, the thing has been
overdone, and that so
[Illustration: A BRISTOL GLASS DECANTER DECORATED WITH OPAQUE WHITE
ENAMEL. THE WORD “MOUNTAIN” BEING THE NAME OF A KIND OF SPANISH WINE
USED IN THIS COUNTRY, CIRC. 1760.]
[Illustration: EARLY SPECIMEN OF BRISTOL GLASS MUG, WITH THE WORD
“LIBERTY.”
FIG. 25.]
awkwardly as inevitably to lead to detection. Sometimes, too, in the
imitation, the colours used to produce the milky-white tone cease
abruptly, leaving the “mark” perfectly transparent. In genuine old
Bristol the colour fades gradually, leaving only the very tip of the
“mark” clear.
Another good test is to place the specimen in a strong light, preferably
sunlight. If, when examined, the colour is mixed, the piece is of
doubtful authenticity. Spurious specimens often run “cloudy” or patchy,
possibly because of bad mixing. This is, of course, a useful test,
provided one does not rely upon it entirely, for certain specimens of
undoubted authenticity display somewhat similar features. In particular,
I remember an old drinking flask marked with irregular streaks of white,
where this test would have proved absolutely misleading. Possibly the
“feel” of the glass is the best criterion, genuine old Bristol being
much softer to the touch than any modern imitation.
So many pitfalls await the average collector of Bristol glass that I
should hardly advise anyone to make this his sole hobby, for although it
is still possible to find small pieces--cups, salt-cellars, small
bowls, finger basins, mugs, and the like--the really important pieces of
Bristol glass are few, and they and their owners are pretty well known
to the _cognoscenti_. At any rate I have not met anyone, in recent
years, who could boast of a considerable find in this direction.
A very fine specimen, described as “Old Bristol, 1760,” was put up for
sale some eighteen months ago, near London. Its genuineness was further
guaranteed by a label pasted on the base, showing that it had passed
through a well-known London auction-room. The owner, a dealer in a small
way, failing to find a customer in London, had put it into the sale of
the effects of a cottage. It was bought in by its owner for £3, 3s., and
eventually at the end of the day realised only 36s. I saw the piece
subsequently. It was obviously a reproduction, though a very good one,
and certainly worth what was given for it; but as he had purchased it as
real old glass, and at a proportionate figure, it will, I fancy, be a
long time before he again endeavours to secure a bargain in Old Bristol.
I have known many such instances, and as a result of my experience I
have come
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--SPECIMENS OF BRISTOL GLASS.
(Enamel Colouring by Michael Edkin.)]
to the conclusion that, while pieces of Bristol can be picked up now and
again, particularly in the west of England, it will not pay the amateur
collector to confine himself to this particular variety.
I am indebted to Mr Cole of South Molton Street, London, for the
illustration (Fig. 26) of a pair of very fine early Bristol vases which,
although undecorated, are exquisite in colour and form, and a beautiful
example of the maker’s art. The frilling round the base deserves special
notice.
The central piece in the photograph is a long-necked vase decorated with
coloured enamels, and known to be the work of Michael Edkin, a Bristol
enameller of distinction. If carefully examined, it affords ample
evidence of the skill and painstaking care to which the best specimens
of this ware owe their artistic merit.
Spiral wine glasses are still often to be found in or near Bristol, and
the fact that these are rarely found in other parts of the country seems
to indicate that they were a favourite form with the Bristol
glass-makers. Among the examples of Bristol ware here reproduced (Fig.
27) is included a pair of vases. These rank among the finest specimens
still extant of Michael Edkin’s work. This talented artist was a painter
of some merit, who gradually drifted into glass painting, and for some
twenty-six years, from 1762 to 1788, was engaged by various firms to
decorate their ware with birds, flowers, etc. He was also, it may be
added, a singer and an actor of no little distinction.
Fig. 26 shows a pair of candlesticks, 6½ inches in height, from the
British Museum Collection. They are excellent examples of Edkin’s taste
and delicacy of execution. Great quantities of glass decorated by him
must have been exported, and I have found undoubted specimens of his
work in Rome and the museums of other Continental cities I have visited.
One of the very finest specimens of his art is a richly gilt and
decorated tea-tray, now in the Museum of Practical Geology. Another
example from the British Museum Collection is the fine mug, ornamented
with a portrait and the word “Liberty” in gold, possibly made by some
sympathiser with the revolutionary spirit which strongly affected
Britain as well as France towards the close of the eighteenth century.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--SPECIMENS OF OPAQUE WHITE BRISTOL GLASS. 18th
CENTURY.
(Decorated by M. Edkin.)]
Edkin also decorated many blue ground pieces, and it is interesting to
learn that his remuneration for the ornamentation of a jug in colour and
gilt, which must have taken a considerable time, was the lordly sum of
8d., a striking commentary upon the value placed upon skilled
craftsmanship in the eighteenth century. Like many other artists he had
to be content with the posthumous reward which fame bestows.
The Bristol factories are said to have made all sorts of articles,
flasks, bells, walking-sticks, bellows, etc., in glass, but there is
much uncertainty on this head, and I doubt if the greater part of such
articles classified as coming from Bristol should not, as a matter of
fact, claim Nailsea as their place of origin. We can certainly ascribe
oil, vinegar, and pepper pots, candlesticks, salt-cellars, and vases to
Bristol, as the daintily decorated pepper and sugar castors, shown in
Fig. 27, prove, so that it is at least possible for the other articles
enumerated also to have been made there, but where there is so much
uncertainty, the collector who desires to be on the safe side had better
refrain from giving Bristol the benefit of the doubt.
It must not be inferred, however, that all Bristol glass is of the
opaque kind. The magnificent piece shown in the frontispiece is quite
transparent, the apparent opacity of the background of the landscape
being due to enamel laid on the glass. The fine decanter reproduced in
Fig. 25 is also an example of what Bristol could do in transparent
glass, the decoration, here again, being in enamel.
_Nailsea Glass._--The glass-works of Nailsea were established in 1788, a
few miles to the south-west of Bristol, and were, for some time, carried
on with success; but the ware was crude and lacking in the finish
characteristic of the best Bristol specimens. The earliest pieces were
made of yellowish or dark green glass, with blotches of white, as in the
jug shown in Fig. 28. They were usually very inferior in style, colour,
texture, and workmanship, and were consequently not greatly sought after
by purchasers; hence the output was restricted, and the factory after a
while seems to have confined its efforts to producing plain white glass
with quaint and curious forms of decoration. A pair of bellows, for
example, was decorated like the fins of a fish, with tiny projections
and spines all over it. Towards the
[Illustration: FIG. 28.--EARLY NAILSEA GLASS JUGS. EARLY 19th
CENTURY.]
end of its career, which closed in 1763, the output was a clear glass of
greenish tint, with faintly coloured streaks. Fig. 29 is a
characteristic example. I have also seen a few pieces gilt. The glass is
now exceedingly scarce, and good specimens command a very high price.
There is a curious charm about Nailsea glass. In appearance, the best
specimens are of a dark toffee-like colour, and when held up to a strong
light exhibit a greenish tinge. The lighter and finer kinds display a
characteristic ground which, if not beautiful, is certainly quaint.
Collectors who are fortunate enough to come across a specimen of Nailsea
at a reasonable figure should undoubtedly seize the opportunity of
acquiring it, but such opportunities are few and, were they more
numerous, it is hardly likely that anyone would wish to form a large
collection of it. The “Simpson” Jug, illustrated in Fig. 28, is
transparent, but of a curious yellowish-green tinge, and is probably one
of the last pieces produced at the old factory.