Description:
One of a pair of transparent yellow (or "Vaseline"), lead glass candlesticks. After the development of the mechanical glass pressing machine in 1827, glass was made more quickly and efficiently. Middle-class Americans were able to purchase decorative glass objects at a cheaper price. Further improvements allowed glass makers to press the top and bottom pieces separately and join them while hot with a disc of glass. As a result, large numbers of patterns and color combinations could be made with only a few molds for bases and a variety of candle sockets. In this example, the socket and upper part of the stem are pressed in a female mold of three vertical sections by a plain male plunger with a tapered lower end. The upper part of the candle cap ring is shaped as six petals. Joined by a wafer and cushion knop to a hollow hexagonal base surmounted by a solid hexagon that was softened and distorted by reheating. Base pressed upside down in a female mold of two vertical sections by a plain, tapered, cylindrical male plunger that formed the hollow interior and also the bottom of the hexagonal foot. Slight pontil mark around circular edge of foot.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2001.34.1 |
