Punch Bowl and Stand, duplicate stand, with 23 cups

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Punch Bowl and Stand, duplicate stand, with 23 cups

Artist John Rufus Denman (American)

Artist Patrick H. Walker (American)

Manufacturer Libbey Glass Company (American, 1892-1919)

Date1903-1904

DimensionsOverall: 21 1/2 x 23 7/8 x 23 7/8 in. (54.6 x 60.6 x 60.6 cm)

MediumThick colorless glass. Blank blown, probably in a mold, and finished by tooling. Cut with a variant of the Grand Prize pattern.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Libbey Glass Company, division of Owens-Illinois Glass Company

Object number

1946.27A-Y

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 29A

Label TextThis punch bowl set, produced as a showstopper for the 1904 St. Louis World Fair (the Louisiana Purchase Centennial Exposition), 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).Published ReferencesScientific American, New York, April 30, 1904, repr. cover (ill. of this bowl being cut).

cf. Libbey Trade Catalog, no. 3, Toledo Museum of Art Archives4, n.d. (1905), p. 1 (Grand Prize pattern).

cf. See documentary files, under The Libbey Glass Company, 1900-1920, ("Star and Diamond,") also other pertinent info.

Art in Crystal, A Historical Exhibition of Libbey Glass, 1818-1951, a TMA Fiftieth Anniversary publication, 1951, repr., cover.

Spaeth, Eloise, American Art Museums and Galleries, New York, 1960, Harper, p. 132.

Rogers, Millard F., Jr., "American Glass 1608-1900," Toledo Museum News, New Series, vol. 4, no. 3, Summer 1961, repr. p. 69.

Marsh, Tracy H., The American Story Recorded in Glass, Minneapolis, 1962, p. 397, repr. p. 398.

Revi, Albert Christian, American Cut and Engraved Glass, Thomas Nelson & Sons, London, New York, Toronto, 1965, repr. p. 37.

Daniel, Dorothy, Cut and Engraved Glass, 1771-1905, M. Barrows & Co., Inc., New York, 1965, repr., p. 180, repr. pl. 70.

Rogers, Millard F., "The Story of American Glass," Toledo Museum News, New Series, vol. 9, no. 3, Autumn 1966, pp. 51-55, repr. p. 68 (b&w), (also published as handbook).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum News: A Guide to the Collection, Toledo, 1966, repr. p. 79.

Rogers, Millard F., "The European and American Glass Collection," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, repr. (b&w) fig. 19, p. 485.

Labino, Dominick, Visual Art in Glass, Dubuque, Iowa, W. C. Brown, 1968, pp. 103-104, repr. fig. 88.

Mills, John Fitzmaurice, "Problems and Solutions: II," Connoisser, vol. 169, no. 681, November 1968, repr. p. 165.

Davidson, Marshall, American Heritage history of antiques from the Civil War to World War I, New York, 1969, p. 267, repr. fig. 362.

Pearson, J. Michael and Dorothy T. Pearson, A Study of American Cut Glass Collections, Miami Beach, Fla., authors, 1969, repr. p. 96, pl. 89; p. 99, pl. 92.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Art in Glass: A Guide to the Glass Collections, Toledo, Ohio, 1969, repr. pp. 108 (color), 120.

Jones, Dorothy-Lee, "The Toledo Museum's New Glass Gallery," The Glass Club Bulletin, nos. 93-94, March-June 1970, repr. p. 11.

"Art in Glass," The Glass Industry, vol. 51, no. 7, July 1970, repr. p. 314.

Carl U. Fauster, "Libbey Cut Glass Masterpieces," Impresario, vol. 10, no. 5, July-August 1971, pp. 13-15, repr. p. 13.

"Toledo Art Museum's rare collection of glass," Travelodger International, vol. 16, no. 8, October-November 1971, repr. p. 12.

"Home of glass masterpieces," The Shield (LOF), vol. 4, no. 2, February 1973, repr. p. 15.

Fauster, Carl U. , "Libbey Color-cased Glass circa 1920," Glass, vol. 1, no. 2, January-February 1973, p. 31.

Fauster, Carl U., "Libbey Cut Glass Exhibit St. Louis World's Fair 1904," Journal of Glass Studies, vol. 19, 1977, pp. 162-164, repr. figs. 1, 3, 4.

Newman, Harold, An Illustrated Dictionary of Glass, London, 1977, repr. p. 253 (bowl only).

Pearson, J. Michael, Encyclopedia of American Cut and Engraved Glass, 1880-1917, 3 vols., vol 1, Geometric Conceptions; vol. 2, Realistic Patterns; vol. 3, Geometric Motifs, Miami Beach, Fla., author, 1975, 1977, 1978, vol. III, repr. pp. 173-174.

Fauster, Carl U., Libbey Glass Since 1818, Toledo, 1979, p. 81, top, pp. 82, 150, 160, repr. color figs. 38, 39.

Corning Museum of Glass, Glass Collections in Museums in the United States and Canada, Corning, N.Y., Corning Museum of Glass, 1982, repr. p. 169.

Fauster, Carl U., "More about Brilliant Cut Punch Bowls," The Hobstar, (American Cut Glass Association), vol. 6, no. 7, March 1984, repr. pp. 5, 6.

Spillman, Jane Shadel, Glass from World's Fairs 1851-1904, Corning, N.Y., Corning Museum of Glass, 1986, pp. 52-53, repr. col. fig. 25.

Swan, Martha Louise, American Cut and Engraved Glass of the Brilliant Period in Historical Perspective, Radnor, Pa., 1986, p. 181.

"One of Libbey's Greatest Achievements-The St. Louis Punchbowl," The Hobstar ,(American Cut Glass Association), vol. 9, no. 5, January 1987, pp. 7-9, repr.

Wilson, Kenneth M., American Glass, 1760-1930: The Toledo Museum of Art, New York : Hudson Hills Press in association with the Toledo Museum of Art, [Lanham, Md.] : National Book Network [distributor], c1994; 2 v. (879 p.) : ill. (some col.) ; 32 cm., 1994, 1994, p. 668, no. 1071, colorpl. 1071, p. 761.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Treasures, Toledo, 1995, repr. (col.) p. 150.

Brill, Robert H., Chemical Analyses of Early Glasses, Corning, 1999, no. 1669, vol. 1, p. 192, vol. 2, p. 444.

McMaster, Julie A., The Enduring Legacy: A Pictorial History of the Toledo Museum of Art, Superior Printing, Warren, OH, 2001, p. 7.

Rademacher, Diane, Still Shining: Discovering Lost Treasures from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, St. Louis, Virginia Publishing Co., 2003, p. 114, repr.

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: map and guide, London, Scala, 2005, p. 50, repr. (col.).

Lynn, Martha Drexler, Sculpture, Glass, and American Museums, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005, p. 202.

Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 168-169, repr. (col.) p. 168.

Putney, Richard H. and Paula Reich, Glass in Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 2007, p. 24, repr. (col.) p. 25.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 290, repr. (col.).

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2009, p. 45, repr. (col.).

Morrin, Peter, "A Place for Contemporary Glass," The Glass Art Society Journal, 2010, p. 31, fig. 4 p. 32.

Davidson, Benjamin and Pippa Biddle, “Looking at the Past through a Lens of Antique Glass,” Magazine Antiques, Jan/Feb 2022, repr. p. 106.

Exhibition HistoryLouisiana Purchase Centennial Exposition, St. Louis, 1904.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Libbey Cut Glass Punch Bowl and Survey of Libbey Glass, 1825-1940, October 1946.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Art in Crystal: A Historical Exhibition of Libbey Glass, exh. brochure, Toledo, Ohio, 1951, n.p. (8), repr. cover.

Libbey Glass Division, Owens-Illinois Glass Company, New York City office, February 1959.

The Toledo Museum of Art, A Festival of Glass: New Design in Glass, 1960.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Libbey Glass: A Tradition of 150 Years, 1818-1968, exh. cat., Toledo, Ohio, 1968, p. 61, no. 111, repr. p. 48.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Libbey Glass: Triumphs of the Factory, 1888-1920, exhibition, August 14-September 25, 1988 (no catalog). St. Louis, MO, Saint Louis Art Museum, Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration, October 3, 2021 - January 9, 2022.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Libbey trade catalogue, no. 3, Toledo Museum of Art Archives4, n.d. (1905), p. 1 (Grand Prize pattern).