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Tableware Mrs Beeton was the Victorian equivalent of Martha Stewart or Delia Smith. She emphasised the importance of presenting food in the appropriate dishes and any self respecting housewife would live by these rules. Pressed glass allowed the working and lower/middle classes to have whole suites of dished ranging from egg cups and toast racks for breakfast, to tazzas for cakes and biscuit barrels for tea and a multitude of dishes and glasses in all sizes for dinner.
Davidson's hobnail suite The colour and texture of the glass also played an important part in the domestic use of pressed glass. The hobnail suite above has obviously been created to imitate cut lead glass, but etching and stippling added a frosted look to the dishes which had the illusion of being chilled and cold in the days before refrigeration as these butter dishes below show.
Lidded and Butter dishes
Sowerby Stippled flint toast rack Biscuits were a luxury item and biscuit barrels were seen as something of a status symbol. Mostly this was for show as they are not airtight and the biscuits went soggy.
From Left to Right - Davidson, Sowerby, Edward Bolton, Sowerby and Davidson Many collectors of pressed glass, specifically collect jugs and sugar bowls (also known as creamers and strawberry bowls)
Clockwise Davidson, Molineaux and Webb, Davidson, Molineaux and Webb, Greener In the Victorian times it was bad manners to reveal how much alcohol was left in your cup, which was usually made out of pewter, so coloured glass - in most cases the marbled coloured glass was often used by the middle classes who saw drinking ale as a sign of the working class. Below are some shot glasses in the shape of a thimble, the one on the left by Sowerby, the amber thimble on the right attributed to Davidson. Both have "Just a thimbleful" around the edge showing typical Victorian humour.
Unknown French Gothic sherry glasses, Sowerby Just a Thimbleful shot glass, Davidson Just a Thimbleful shot glass, Davidson mugs Blanched celery was an essential for any Victorian table, and every glass suite included a celery vase. This could also be turned upside down, with a plate, or dish balanced on the top to provide a stand for a dish.
Greener, Derbyshire, Davidson and Greener Cakes were displayed on tazzas and cake stands. On these items you can see the scratches and wear where cakes have been cut at tea time for hundreds of years. When collecting, if there are not any scratches of wear on an item that could be hundreds of years old it could be a fake.
Molineaux and Webb, Greener, Molineaux and Webb, Molineaux and Webb unknown Stemmed bowls were important at tea times, and contained sugar, fruit, or jams.
Top Row - Derbyshire and Davidson But pressed glass wasn't just used for
tableware, it was also a way of packaging items. Both Davidson and Sowerby
made special glass items for companies such as Cadbury's, |
FAQ -What is Pressed Glass
Manufacturers What
was it used for?
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