Antique Irish Glass Decanter Probably Edwards Belfast

Description

Heading : An antique Irish Glass Decanter
Date : c1800
Period : George III
Origin : Ireland. probably Belfast. see below
Colour : Clear. good grey tone
Stopper : Lozenge.
Neck : Three notched double neck rings
Body : Prussian shape. Engraved with thistle motifs between swags suspended from bows above engraved EF
Base : Dip moulded finger bottoms
Glass Type : Lead.
Size :    27.0 cm to top of stopper. base 9.3cm diameter
Condition : There is a large piece of clinker below the engraved F and a small star shaped annealing crack emanating from this. There are some flecks of clinker within the stopper and some fine scrattched thereon
Restoration : The stopper may be a replacement although it fits well and is contemporary
Weight :  731grams

This antique Irish glass decanter has been problematic. In the absence of any moulded marks on the base then any attribution has to be based on the form and engraving. There are numerous examples within the readily available texts ( Irish Glass- Philps Warren and The Decanter- Andy McConnell see plate 331 for identical engraving) engraved with identical thistle motifs and all are attributed to Edwards Belfast. It is also worth noting the slanted notch moulding on the upper half of each double neck ring is another feature that is uniquely Belfast.

The fact that there are three pairs of neckrings presents the first problem in that there are no known marked Belfast examples with this feature. The next logical option would be The Cork Glass Company (1783/4 – 1818) who did apply three seemingly divided neckrings but these are all vertically feathersed rather than notched and the decoration is visible on both upper and lower halves of the neck ring.

It would be foolish to definitively attribute this decanter to Benjamin Edwards and Belfast. however on the balance of probabilities it is probably a rare example of their output.