‘The coloured vases display most of the hues made at Venice; ruby, purple, green, and blue, as well as an opalescent white and an opaque white, the latter often diversified with splashes of other colours. To these may be added various imitations of agate, avanturine, &c. |Franks, as above.| Another peculiar fabric of Venice is well illustrated, the frosted glass belonging generally to an early period.
‘In the production of millefiori glass the Venetians did not equal the ancients, either in harmony of colour or variety of design. The rosettes were formed of sections of canes, such as were employed in making beads. The specimens of this glass are rare, but there are not less than seven pieces so ornamented in the collection.
‘Of lace glass, one of the most remarkable productions of Venice, and which nowhere has been carried to such perfection, there are many fine specimens, both in form and delicacy of pattern, as there are likewise of the variety called reticelle. Among the latter is a tall covered cup with snakes on the cover and in the stem; there should also be noticed a drinking glass, in the stem of which is enclosed a half sequin of the Doge Francesco Molino, 1647.
‘Of unquestionably ancient French glass but few specimens are known. This adds much to the value of a goblet in the collection, with enameled portrait of Jehan Boucau and his wife Antoinette, made about 1530.
‘German glass is fully represented: the earlier specimens are richly decorated with enamel, chiefly heraldic devices; they are dated 1571, 1572, &c. A few are painted like window glass, and among them is a cylindrical cup, dated 1662, on which is depicted the procession at the christening of Maximilian Emmanuel, afterwards Elector of Bavaria. The later German specimens are engraved, and some of them by artists of note. Of ruby glass, another production for which Germany was famed, there are good specimens; one bears the cypher of John George IV, Elector of Saxony, another that of Frederick the First. Kunckel, to whom these glasses are attributed, was successively in the service of both princes.
‘Though glass was early made in Flanders, the most ancient specimens in the collection under this head have been regarded as Venetian glasses decorated in the Low Countries. If made at Venice, they must, from certain peculiarities of form, have been designed for the Flemish and Dutch markets. The ornaments are etched, and contain allusions to the political events of the country: for instance, the arms of the seventeen provinces chained to those of Spain, and dated 1655; a portrait of Philip IV; William II of Orange; his wife, Mary of England; Olden Barneveldt, &c. Some of the later specimens are engraved on the lathe in a very ornamental manner, and others delicately stippled. One of the latter bears the name of F. Greenwood, and others are attributed to Wolf.
‘In English glass the collection is not rich, the difficulty of identifying such specimens being very great; some of them are referred to the works at Bristol, which produced ornamental glass about a century ago.
‘Some valuable additions to the collection of glass have been received from the Executors of Mr. Slade, purchased by them out of funds set aside for the purpose. They are nineteen in number, and among them may be especially noticed a very fine Oriental bottle with elaborate patterns in gold and enamel, together with figures of huntsmen, &c. It may be referred to the fourteenth century, and was formerly in the possession of a noble family at Wurzburg. Two specimens of Chinese glass, dated in the reign of the Emperor Kien-Lung, 1736–1796; and several ancient Flemish and Dutch glasses.
Franks, as above.
‘By the acquisition of the Slade Collection the series of ancient and more recent glass in the British Museum has probably become more extensive, as well as more instructive, than any other public collection of the kind, and it will afford ample materials for study both to the artist and the antiquary.