Decanters and Carafes
The
production of Victorian decanters and pitchers, flasks and jugs, carafes and
ewers seem to have been an area where Victorian glassmakers were able to cast
off the shackles of convention and produce some beautiful pieces using all the
different techniques which they had at their disposal.
If clear crystal pieces were not extravagantly engraved, trailed or facetted
then late 19th century examples were cut and polished to the maximum
extent. The exemplar is in the form of ‘porcupine decanters’ with their myriad
diamond cuts and angular prisms. If clear glass was considered altogether too
old hat, then any number of chromatic fashions could be followed, from the
blues and greens of Bristol colouration in the earlier part of the 19th
century, through the inevitable uranium glass pieces and ultimately ruby glass,
perhaps the quintessential Victorian colourway. All or any of these tints can
be found in conjunction with different production techniques – cased and cut to
clear examples, gilt finishing (which is particularly striking in conjunction
with amethyst glass), cameo and other opaque or translucent finishes or
whole-coloured decanter bodies fitted with clear handles and stoppers – you can
take your pick from any number of combinations.
For pure ostentation, the latter part of the century takes some beating, with
the influx of Bohemian decanters to the fore – bold designs, colour
combinations which bordered on gaudiness and finishing which was joy to behold
on such large vessels. Then there are the Art Nouveau decanters, particularly
those from France, where pewter or silver - and green glass - pieces couldn’t
be a more perfect embodiment of the rise of absinthe in its role as the
nation’s intoxicant of choice, although such examples were also intended for
use with red wine, and not exclusively for ‘la fée verte’.
On this side of the channel there had been an earlier preference for marrying
metal fitments with cobalt blue glass, and for producing silver stands which
would hold two or more decanters made of this same luxuriant material; these
pieces – as with the use amethyst and gold – featured a near perfect
combination of complementary colours, and thus make for some really very
striking sets indeed.
So, although the scope for collecting Victorian decanters and other similar
vessels is very wide ranging, it also includes some far from common examples of
19th century craftsmanship at its finest, both in execution and design. And, of
course, the fruits of your labours should you choose to collect such objects of
desire can very easily be put to excellent use
