Pair of Emerald Green Rum and Brandy Decanters c1810

Description

Heading : Pair of emerald green rum and brandy decanters
Date : c1810
Period : George III / Regency
Origin : England
Colour : Green
Stopper : Lozenge
Neck : Tapered
Body : Gilt Lables of Rum and Brandy along with a band of fruiting vines
Base : Ovoid polished pontil
Glass Type : Lead.
Size :   25cm cm to top of stopper
Condition : Excellent. no chips or cracks
Restoration : None
Weight : 840 grams

Far rarer that the Bristol Blue versions. Please note that we refrain from using the term “Bristol Green” on the grounds that there is no evidence to support this ever being made in Bristol. The opposite being true for blue glass.

William Cookworthy would undoubtedly have been aware of at least the basic theories behind producing green glass. as he would have come across it in his work on a daily basis; as a chemist and apothecary he would have used any number of glass vessels – beakers. phials and vials – and the convention for these items at the time was for them to have been imported from Germany (or to a lesser extent made locally by William Dunbar’s at Chepstow) where they were made of a relatively pale green glass. The Quaker pharmacist would also know that oxide of chromium was the base for green colouration used in his own nascent porcelain business. but that this was a costly material to obtain. and available in only limited quantities.  French alchemist. Monsieur Fontanieu. worked with distillates of copper oxide (knowns as “crystals of verdigris”) and his results were good enough to produce rich. deep green glass that “approximated artificial emeralds”. but not of a volume anything like substantial enough to be of any commercial value.

By the time that Cookworthy died in 1780. it seems that there had been some experimentation with the use of chromium oxides. but it they were still not widely available and it was not until the turn of the century that definitive. properly-coloured green glass production is documented. This manufacturing took place at the Nailsea glassworks of John Lucas. son of a Bristol cooper. which had been set up in 1788 and primarily produced window and bottle glass in its early years. The works flourished. and Lucas was able to attract capable craftsmen who were encouraged to “do their own thing” once standard production quotas had been fulfilled and commissions completed for the week. and it seems likely that this is sort of environment where the first erroneously named “Bristol Green” wares may have seen the light of day.

References : Similar examples.

Glass By Geoffrey Wills – Page 36 Plate 53.

Glass Source Book By Jo Marshall – Page 76.

Coloured Glass By Derek C. Davis & Keith Middlemas – Page 67.