Wine Glass c. 1765

Curator: Here we have an example of Georgian glassware. This wine glass, dating from around 1765, is currently housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The precise origins of the craftsman are not known, the object being created by an anonymous glassmaker. Editor: There's a haunting quality about it, isn't there? The long, slender stem makes it seem almost…fragile. As if a breath could shatter it. Like something ephemeral captured for a moment. Curator: The act of creation is so important. Picture the workshop; the heat, the skilled labour turning raw material into a coveted item, how the social function of glassmaking has changed, as have standards for what a common household should posess. Consider its materiality: silica sand, soda ash, lime... then blown and shaped under incredible conditions, each of these contributing elements are part of what the object becomes and tells us of our historical material realities. Editor: I agree! Looking at the elegant form it brings to my mind parties and fancy social circles. Imagine holding this, feeling the delicate balance, toasting to triumphs and whispered secrets. Even just sitting there now in a brightly lit museum against a plain white background. Curator: The tooling marks visible on the base speaks to its handmade production and craft. Each of the minute, almost imperceptible to the eye features speaks of what happened and when. Editor: In those imperfections, though, lies the art. It’s like seeing the maker’s touch preserved forever. The fact we have no provenance attatched makes this piece speak more generally to class consumption as well as human history. I also feel a connection, wondering what kinds of things filled this glass, the occasions it celebrated, maybe even witnessed, its presence an unassuming voyeur within historical, and familial context. Curator: Thinking of the production techniques that went into shaping this delicate object has provided me with a deeper insight into the craftspeople whose labour shaped material and also contributed to class stratification and distribution through history. Editor: And for me, seeing that ghostly glass it really triggers a lot of reveries— a moment out of time, a sip from the past, a toast to those who shaped our world, so to speak.