Bowl 1886 - 1890

This small bowl was made from glass by Dalzell, Gilmore and Leighton, sometime between 1885 and 1898. The firm specialized in novelties like this one, made with complex processes. The body of the bowl is white, overlaid with clear glass that's been shaped with a mold. The exterior has an applied decoration of stylized flowers, each delineated with thin gold lines. It is likely that the firm employed specialist decorators, many of them women, working in an environment not unlike a factory. They were masters of techniques like enameling and gilding. Looking at the piece, you can feel the amount of labor that went into its production. In its time, such glass would have been accessible to a growing middle class, eager to display their good taste. And that taste, of course, was only made possible by the combined efforts of designers, glassblowers, and decorators. So, consider this bowl as more than just a pretty object. It's a record of industrial skill, and of the social aspirations of the late nineteenth century.