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In Sparkling Company

News from the Corning Museum of Glass

on its 2020 Spring Exhibition

Sourced from CMoG press releases on the exhibit and its accompanying book
In Sparkling Company, Reflections on Glass in the 18th Century British World

he Corning including Thomas Pitts (1723–1795) and Paul Storr (1771–1844)
Museum of produced dazzling wares to suit new practices in dining and the
TGlass (CMoG) consumption of fashionable “hot liquors,” while the British ceramics
announced its spring industry defied the odds in competing with its European and Asian
exhibition In Sparkling counterparts, rendering equally ingenious designs in a native porcelain.
Company: Glass and Social Life The success of international mercantilism and colonial expansion
in Britain during the 1700s brought a plethora of new commodities to the market—consumable,
will open May 9, 2020. With material, and human. Arriving in a climate of increasing
exhibition design by Selldorf industrialization, technological advancement, and scientific inquiry,
Architects, In Sparkling Company these wares were joined by a multitude of innovative British-made
will present the glittering goods conveying modernity, pleasure, and sociability.”
costume and jewelry, elaborate
tableware, polished mirrors, and dazzling With this introduction, Maxwell lays out the founding elements
lighting devices that delighted the British that drove the creation of this important exhibit that shows how glass
elite, and helped define social rituals and cultural values of the period. became much more than a utilitarian accessory for this manner of living
Through a lens of glass, this exhibition will show visitors what it meant and transformed into veritable works of art designed to enhance the
to be “modern” in the 1700s, and what it cost. overall life experience of this era. Maxwell goes on to discuss how the
British glass industry exploded during the 1700s as part of a recreation
Establishing the Groundwork of society following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the
Great Fire of London in 1666.
As Christopher L. Maxwell, the curator of European glass and The 1700s were a time of reconstructing the luxury and society of
creator of this exhibit noted in the introduction of the accompanying times past as well as setting the tone for the future. Glass sellers
book In Sparkling Company, Reflections on Glass in the 18th Century continued to import from the established areas including Venice and
British World, Bohemia, but the introduction of lead glass “crystal” in the latter half
“For scholars of European architecture, art, design, and material of the 1600s helped to establish the success of glassmakers in the 1700s.
culture, the 18th century is considered to have been a golden age. In By the start of the 18th century, almost half of the glassmakers in
Britain, architects such as William Kent (about England were producing leaded glass.
1685–1748) and Robert Adam (1728–1792) The absence of lead glass manufacture in much
undertook projects for a reinvigorated aristocracy, of continental Europe gave the British prime
transforming their country estates into thriving position in the export market, bolstered by the
resorts of politics and sociability while bringing demand from their colonies. By 1694, one-third
order and dignity to burgeoning towns and cities; of the annual English production was exported. In
painters such as William Hogarth (1697–1764), the first half of 1714, 23,000 pieces of glass were
Joshua Reynolds(1723–1792), and Thomas exported to France, which did not develop its own
Gainsborough (1727–1788) immortalized the lead glass until the 1780s.
age in paint and print; and furniture makers such
as Thomas Chippendale (1718–1779) and
Thomas Sheraton (1751–1806) gave their names Glass in the Age of Politeness
to designs that remain familiar today. Goldsmiths “In Britain, developments in glass formulas

Above: Ornamental vases, gilded copper-green lead glass.
England, probably decorated in the London workshop of
James Giles (1718–1780), about 1765. Each: H. 39.3 cm.
The Corning Museum of Glass (2003.2.4A, B; 54.2.4A, B)
Left: Casket with glass panels, fused, gilded, and molded
nonlead glass; metal. Probably England, possibly James Cox,
about 1760–1770. H. 19.6 cm, W. 17.8 cm, D. 26.7 cm.
The Corning Museum of Glass (84.2.54).
Right: Pair of girandoles, tooled and cut lead glass; ceramic
(jasperware), gilded metal. England, probably Etruria,
Staffordshire, Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd. (plaques),
about 1785. H. 68 cm, W. 43 cm, D. 29 cm.
The Corning Museum of Glass (2014.2.7A, B).
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