Set of six verre de fougère wine glasses

Expand

IIIFView PDF

Set of six verre de fougère wine glasses

Date18th century

DimensionsH 13.5 cm to 14.4 cm (5.3" to 5.6")

MediumGlass, blown, pattern molded, tooled

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with Museum Art Funds

Object number

2016.243A-F

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 27

DescriptionA set of 6 nearly identical verre de fougere wine glasses. The glasses feature a slightly domed base with the foot rim folded up, and a slender columnar stem attached by small pads to the stem and a truncated, conical pattern-molded bowl with two rows of impressed circles, a third row drawn out towards the stem to form vertical flutes. The glasses are transparent with a slight green tinge due to the addition of fern ash to the batch.

Label TextThis set of glasses represents an important moment in French glass, when glassmakers were beginning to move from the fashion for Venetian glass towards developing a new, more "patriotic" style for wine glasses suitable for drinking French wines. As shown here, the glasses could be chilled when inserted into a wine cooler filled with icy water. The term “verre de fougère” translates to “glass of fern” and references the fact that fern ash was used as a source of potash in making the glass.Published ReferencesBlanquiere, Yves, Les Verreries de Moussans. Matériaux pour une histoire, Saint-Pons-de-Thomières, Parc Naturel Régional du Haut-Languedoc, 2009.Comparative ReferencesSee also Page, Jutta-Annette (ed.), Beyond Venice: Glass in Venetian Style, 1500-1750, Corning, NY, Corning Museum of Glass, 2004, pp. 162-163.

See also Besombes, Jean-Paul. "Le verre à boire français du musée du verre de Sorèze," Musee du Verre, Sorèze.