The entwined histories of glass and wine extend back thousands of years, from lavish feasts of ancient Rome, to the polite society of Britain in the 1700s, to formal dinner parties of postwar America, to an essential experience within our contemporary food culture. The strength, impermeability, and versatility of glass has played an important role in every step of wine’s journey, from the production, distribution, sale, and ultimately the enjoyment of this intoxicating beverage.
The exhibition "Fire and Vine" includes a rare 2,000-year-old fragment of cameo glass depicting a grape harvest, a still-sealed bottle of wine found in a shipwreck off the coast of England, and an exceptional 400-year-old document describing an “almost unbreakable glass jar” that could prevent wine from spoiling.
Accession Number: 2001.3.57
Place Made: probably Belgium, Liege
Date: about 1670
Technique: blown, tooled, applied
Dimensions: Overall height: 24.3 cm
Description: Light blue glass; blown, tooled, applied. The carafe or decanter consists of a mold-blown and tooled bulbous body with kicked base, a narrow shoulder, and a long, straight-sided neck. The body is tooled into a pattern of "nipt diamond waies."
Accession Number: 2006.3.71
Maker(s): Behrens, Peter (German, 1868-1940), designer; Rheinische Glashutten-Actien-Gesellschaft (1872-1937), factory
Place Made: possibly Germany, Cologne or Ehrenfeld
Date: 1900-1901
Description: Colorless and transparent ruby glass; blown, tooled, applied. Colorless bowl with flared rim sits atop a red, open cylindrical, stem that widens slightly to domed foot.
Color: colorless, transparent ruby
Technique: blown, tooled, applied
Dimensions: Overall height: 15.9 cm; diameter (max): 7.5 cm
Accession Number: 2011.2.5
Place Made: England
Date: about 1690
Color: dark translucent olive green
Technique: blown, tooled, applied
Dimensions: Overall height: 14 cm; width: 14.8 cm; diameter (max): 14 cm
Description: Dark translucent olive green glass; blown, tooled, applied. Onion shaped serving bottle with applied handle and thumbpiece.
Accession Number: 2017.3.41
Maker(s): Salviati Dott. Antonio (f. 1877), manufacturer; Venice and Murano Glass Company (1872-1877), manufacturer
Place Made: Italy, Venice
Date: about 1872-1895
Color: colorless, opalescent
Technique: optic-molded, blown
Dimensions: Overall height: 17.9 cm; diameter (max): 9.2 cm
Description: Goblet with conical optic-molded cup and foot joined with a stem consisting of a hollow molded lion mask flanked on top and bottom with waisted elements.
Function: Tests for the presence of harmful bacteria that could turn wine into vinegar.
Accession Number: 2021.8.1
Maker(s): Adams & Chittenden Scientific Glass Coop (f. 1993), manufacturer
Place Made: United States, CA, Berkeley
Date: 2021
Materials: glass, metal, plastic, rubber
Technique: blown, assembled
Dimensions: Overall height: 61.5 cm; width: 24.5 cm; depth: 31 cm. Base width: 23 cm; depth: 14 cm
Accession Number: 50.2.59
Place Made: Ireland
Date: about 1785
Materials: lead glass, pewter, cork, metal
Technique: blown, cut
Dimensions: Overall height: 65.8 cm; base diam: 21.75 cm
Description: Dark colorless lead glass; blown and cut. (a) Deep ovate bowl having on one side, at bottom, a cylindrical nozzle fitted with pewter spigot set in cork, and at bottom a metal mounting and rod passing through knopped stem of standard with domed circular foot. (b) High domed set-in cover with stemmed- cone finial. (c) Standard -- hexagonal paneled stem, flat cutting on foot.
Watch as master flameworkers Eric Goldschmidt and Caitlin Hyde, along with Curator of Ancient Glass Katherine Larson, explore the theme of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and agriculture. Alongside Larson's curatorial perspective, Goldschmidt and Hyde team up at the torch to sculpt a compositional glass portrait of Bacchus from borosilicate sheet glass and rods.
Watch as Hot Glass Demo Team gaffer George Kennard and Curator of Ancient Glass Katherine Larson, PhD, explore the topic of wine consumption in upper-class English society in the 1700s.
Check out wine-related merchandise in The Shops at The Corning Museum of Glass. Need help? Contact The Shops online or call 800-723-9156.
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