Flask c. 1860

This is an olive-green glass flask, its maker remains anonymous, held here at the Art Institute of Chicago. The embossed eagle and oval reading "Kenne" speak to the flask’s origins in the United States, likely produced at the glassworks in Keene, New Hampshire. These flasks are more than simple utilitarian objects. They were made and used within a specific socio-political moment of nation-building and economic expansion. As such, these flasks tell tales of labor, trade, and consumption in early America. Each vessel, once filled with whiskey or gin, traveled through the hands of laborers, merchants, and consumers, weaving a complex web of social relations. The flask served as a kind of witness, silently observing the unfolding drama of a burgeoning nation. Consider the hands that shaped the molten glass, the workers who toiled in the factory. This flask is an artifact of everyday life in a bygone era.