Rare Bristol Blue Diamond Moulded Bonnet Glass c1780

Description

Heading : Cobalt Blue Diamond Moulded Bonnet Glass 
Date : c1780
Period : George III
Origin : England
Colour : Blue
Bowl : Double ogee – diamond moulded; inward-curving towards the rim
Stem : Short vestigial
Foot : Conical
Pontil : Snapped
Glass Type : Lead
Size : 7.7 cm tall – 5.8 cm diameter rim – 5.0 cm diameter foot
Condition : Excellent; no chips. cracks or flakes; slight mossing to the underside of the foot
Restoration : none
Weight : 138 grams

This may quite rightly be called “Bristol Blue’ glass. Cobalt “smalt’ was imported via the port of Bristol from Saxony and was used by Cookworthy and Champion for porcelain glazes. Blue glass was produced nationwide and it is the source of the colourant that gives the colour its name.

Bristol green is a widely misused term. There is no evidence to link green glass with manufacture in Bristol nor the oxides used to colour glass that were imported via the port of Bristol. Chrome bearing minerals were mined in the Baltic and the Urals and imported via London. Kings Lynn and for the most part ports in the East.