Description:
Triangular stand with flat base and rounded corners, circular holder for three decanters, and a tall handle with an opened, mushroom-shaped top, which holds three blue glass decanters (HD 54.070.2-4). The upper surface of the wooden base is covered with a paper veneer painted a glossy dark brown; the underside has a plain leather veneer. underside; and the metal and outer edges of the base have a leather veneer painted red. According to Arlene Palmer, there are few references to blue glass in colonial American sources in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, but colored glass did not come into general use until the 1770s. In 1775, New York importer George Ball advertised "Blue quart decanters for port or claret, cut bottoms and tops," and James and Arthur Jarvis advertised "blue and white soy cruets and stands with gilt labels" in 1771. During this period, decanters and condiment bottles had the same shape, with both forms often sold in sets with the bottles placed in frames that ranged from leather-covered tin, such as this example, to sterling silver. Colored glass is traditionally associated with Bristol even though it was manufactured throughout England. The Bristol City Art Gallery has a similar stand and bottles that are inscribed on the base "I. Jacobs / Bristol." Hollands, brandy, and rum were the most commonly named spirits on this type of decanter. Hollands geneva, the contemporary term for gin from the Netherlands, was distilled from grain and flavored with juniper berries; 'gin' is a corruption of "genievre," the French word for juniper berry.
Subjects:
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