Punch Bowl and Stand
Artist: John Rufus Denman (American)
Artist: Patrick H. Walker (American)
Manufacturer: Libbey Glass Company (American, 1892-1919)
Date: 1903-1904
Dimensions:
H together 54.6 cm (21 1/2 in.); D rim bowl 61 cm (24 in.); D stand base 43.3 cm (17 in.)
Medium: Thick colorless glass. Bowl and stand blanks blown, probably in molds, and finished by tooling. Cut with a variant of the Grand Prize pattern.
Place of Origin: Toledo, Ohio
Classification: Glass
Credit Line: Gift of Libbey Glass Company, division of Owens-Illinois Glass Company
Object number: 1946.27A
Label Text:Produced as a showstopper for the 1904 St. Louis World Fair (the Louisiana Purchase Centennial Exposition), this punch bowl set employed all of the skill and artistry of the Libbey Glass Company’s best glassmakers. Proclaimed the largest single piece of cut glass in the world at the time, the blown, bowl-shaped “blank” of glass that would become the punchbowl weighed 143 pounds. The design was roughed out with iron wheels that cut away chunks of the glass (ultimately some 30 pounds of glass would be cut away from the blank). Two of Libbey’s premier glassworkers, J. Rufus Denman and Patrick W. Walker, did the labor-intensive fine cutting that finished the design.
A drama unfolded during the making of the punch bowl: a flaw caused the bowl to crack during the final stages of cutting and polishing, and the glassmakers—now several weeks behind—had to scramble to produce a new bowl in time for the World’s Fair. The end result dazzled both fairgoers and the judges, who awarded Libbey the Grand Prize Medal for cut glass (the original medal is displayed here).
A drama unfolded during the making of the punch bowl: a flaw caused the bowl to crack during the final stages of cutting and polishing, and the glassmakers—now several weeks behind—had to scramble to produce a new bowl in time for the World’s Fair. The end result dazzled both fairgoers and the judges, who awarded Libbey the Grand Prize Medal for cut glass (the original medal is displayed here).
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