Nizet Liege Wine Glass c1780

Heading : 18^th Century Nizet-Liege Wine glass
Date : c1780
Origin : Liege. Belgium
Colour : Clear. Slight violet tinge. this has beed doped with manganese oxide to remove green tinges caused by iron oxide within the glass
Bowl : A round funnel bowl with diamond moulding
Stem : Plain with blade shoulderknop and small basal cushion knop
Foot : Conical
Pontil : Snapped
Glass Type : Low lead
Size : 13.2cm tall with a 5.7cm bowl and a 6.8cm foot
Condition : Excellent. no chips or cracks
Restoration : None
Weight : 112 grams

Some time around 1710. Nizet. formerly a wine dealer. established a glasshouse in Liege which rapidly overtook the fine glass business from the Bonhomme glasshouse. His USP was to introduce a thicker (more durable) and more limpid glass than that used by the Bonhommes. who still produced glass in the Façon d’Altare. Nizet was inspired by the English lead glass and his glasses (except those produced when production first began) contain a low level of lead oxide.

During the second half of the 17th century. the Bonhommes generated most of their revenue from the production of simple. small glasses. The production of luxury Façon de Venise glasses was already on the wane. This may in part be attributed to poor economic conditions due to a series of French invasions of Southern Netherlands. the last wave of which took place in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). Consumers desired practical smaller glasses in which to enjoy their wine and in economical portions. With the coming of Nizet. the production of the most luxurious “verres d’apparat” was ceased altogether in the Low Countries and was left mostly to Bohemia. Germany and later England.

These glasses are successors of thinner verres de fougère produced in France. the Southern Netherlands and within the Sussex and Kentish weald. In the Low Countries they were made to enjoy Burgundy wine. This was imported from Burgundy by the river Meuse. It is believed that the ships returned to France loaded with Nizet glasses from Liège. It seems that they were very popular within the region and goes some way to explain why many reside in French collections.