Half-pint flask 1830 - 1838

Curator: Let’s take a look at this beautiful object. It’s a “Half-pint flask” produced by Dyottville Glass Works between 1830 and 1838, currently held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The flask is crafted from a delicate, almost ethereal, light green glass. Editor: It has an immediate, cool calmness about it. That muted green and the smooth oval shape are so soothing. It gives an air of understated elegance. Curator: Definitely. The process itself is noteworthy; this wasn't mass-produced like we think of things today. Skilled glassworkers used molds, probably multiple-piece molds, to create these portrait flasks. Imagine the care required! Also, notice the seams and imperfections. These weren't flaws but testimonials to the hands-on making, and also how the act of production intertwines craftsmanship and nascent industry. Editor: It’s fascinating how they chose to imprint a Neoclassical profile. It looks like it may represent a popular historical figure? A symbol of virtue perhaps or early republicanism? Its placement suggests this bottle wasn’t just functional, but was meant to carry social and political weight beyond its practical function. Curator: Exactly, and consider the societal context. In that era, alcohol consumption was very common, even normalized, in social and business environments. Having a flask like this, adorned with a portrait reminiscent of classical ideals, allowed people to align even quotidian habits to social ambitions. Editor: Right, by evoking that symbolic image it elevates even such mundane materials as liquor to communicate status, refinement, even cultural allegiances. You know it reminds me too that there were several waves of Temperance Movements during the 19th century, maybe it can also function to show what sort of historical counter reaction existed. Curator: Precisely. The interplay between social habits, ideological currents, and artisanal production techniques becomes tangible in this one vessel. This flask stands as a testament to its production process in the social currents that swirled around its use. Editor: It gives one so much to contemplate! What started as a beautifully serene design opened onto to an examination of its political symbolism. Curator: Agreed. Such intricate crafting processes coupled with their role as social signifiers offers an unparalleled point of view to material reality in its moment of fabrication and first deployment.