Bristol Blue Glass Museum

Fair Trade Port Bottle

Curator — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:54:14 +0000

Mid 18th. century dark brown bottle with pontil base, showing the modern shape which was just coming in at this time, recovered from the sailing barque “Peggy”, which foundered in 1784.

The sailing barque “Peggy” was engaged in the transhipment of French wine and brandy, and re-bottling it in port bottles in order to avoid the full rate of excise duty, on the orders of a Renfrew merchant, Mr. Duncan. Sailing from Portugal in 1784, the barque reached the western coast of Scotland, having been detected and pursued by the Excise men. The skipper tried to put some of his cargo ashore in the ship’s boat. Overloaded, the boat was swamped, and sank in ten fathoms of water. The bottles remained sunk in mud until discovered in 1986, when a diving team identified the location and began recovering the bottles.

Bottle with Original Contents 2

Curator — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:52:24 +0000

This is of the early 18th. century, recovered from the wreck of the Dutch East India Merchantman “T’Vliegenthart”, which foundered in 1735. It is difficult to say if this bottle is of Dutch or English make.

Bottle with Original Contents 1

Curator — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:48:07 +0000

This bottle dates from the 17th. century, and is typically onion shaped with a pontil base and iridescent surface. The top is sealed, retaining its original contents.

Extra Large Bowl and Vase

Curator — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:19:53 +0000

This matching vase and bowl, designed for use together as a punch bowl, or separately as displayed, is something of a puzzle. It was bought originally in the early 1930s as Waterford glass, and the thickness of the walls and the characteristic patterns of the cutting, are typical of early to mid nineteenth century work, but the shape of the vase and bowl suggest a much later date. It may derive from one of the many small glass-works which flourished in and around the city during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Dessert Glass, ca. 1740

Curator — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:31:26 +0000

This extremely rare glass with a rib-moulded narrow bell-shaped bowl has an applied B-shaped scroll handle over a flattened knop and panel-moulded dome foot. (Tim Udell illustrates an identical glass in his article ‘Glasses for the Dessert’ Glass Circle Journal 5, 1986, which he describes as rare and knows of no other example.)

Three Colour Cameo Vase, ca. 1890

Curator — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:50:05 +0000

The ovoid form of similar citron tint to the above large example, with a slender waisted neck and flared rim, encased in ruby and opaque white, carved with a spray of dog-roses and a butterfly, with banding on the everted foot and rim.

Medieval Inscribed Glass Jug, ca. 12th.-14th.cent

Curator — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:41:29 +0000

Mould-blown in pale green with dark blue bands to shoulder, neck and rim, the body globular with moulded text, the neck tubular with a flared rim and round section handle. This typical jug is in remarkably fine condition.

Roman Glass Vessel Group, ca. 2nd.-3rd. cent. A.D

Curator — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:40:03 +0000

The blue and green glass jars, with flared necks and rims, include pinched decoration and detail and moulded leaf-pattern to the bodies, and the bases have a concave centre which allows the piece to stand firmly. All, save the two round bottomed flasks with everted rims, which would possibly have been used for sprinkling powder or flavourings, were probably used as containers for oil, and are associated with Roman and Hellenistic cemetery sites.

Medieval Rock Crystal Reliquary

Curator — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:35:33 +0000

This extremely rare and fine Fatimid/Mesopotamian crystal jar, (dating to ca. 800-900 A.D.) was re-used in the 12th.-13th. century A.D. as a reliquary. The cylindrical crystal vessel has ribbed bands cut to the upper body and a turned foot; the aperture sealed with a red wax-based compound. Such crystal vessels were commonly looted during the Crusades, and re-used to hold Christian relics, many of them ending up in European Cathedrals. See B.W. Robinson, Islamic Art in the Keir Collection, p.289 for further discussion of this example.

Sweetmeat Glass, English, ca. 1685

Curator — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:34:07 +0000

The flared bowl with folded rim and moulded gadrooned base, is presented on a triple-knopped stem and folded conical foot. A transitional piece, moving from the ‘Venetian’ style of glass fashionable up to the mid-17th. century, it is an early piece in the newly discovered ‘flint’ or lead crystal, which was to make English glass pre-eminent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. See Keith Kelsall, The Footed Salver p.65, for a discussion of a very similar example.