Very Rare Nantucket Cobalt Glass Table Screen, circa 1877

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Very Rare Nantucket Cobalt Glass Table Screen, circa 1877

About the Item

A very rare cobalt glass table screen, made in Nantucket, by James A. Folger, signed and dated 18777, during a 19th century fad which promoted the health benefits of being exposed to light filtered by cobalt blue glass. This trend reached its height in 1877, the year this object was made, and was called 'the blue glass craze'. It was started by Augustus Pleasonton who published a book outlining his pseudoscientific theories entitled, "The Influence Of The Blue Ray Of The Sunlight And Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky" and the subtitle: "In developing animal and vegetable life; in arresting disease, and in restoring health in acute and chronic disorders to human and domestic animals." "General Pleasonton came to a theory that the blue wavelengths from the sun are inherently unique and that the blue rays from the sun are especially influential in the growth of plant and animal life. He also postulated that blue light was especially significant in the health of humans and helped eradicate disease. This theory is pseudoscientific and was never adopted by mainstream scientists, even in his time, but it is often credited as being the birth of modern chromotherapy. Chromotherapy, also called color therapy is an alternative medicine therapy method which states that certain colors can influence the health of a person. His basis for his theory was that plants flourished in the spring time and not in the winter, when the sky was less blue. Between the years 1861 and 1876, he tested this theory by establishing greenhouses to grow grapes and ran experiments on plants and animals. His grape experiment consisted of growing grapes in a greenhouse-like building (which was illustrated in the back of his book) where he alternated direct sunlight with filtered blue light. He claimed that this method greatly increased his production of grapes." Signed on the base by its maker, James A. Folger, and dated 1877, the cobalt blue glass rectangular panel is framed by gilt and ebonized wood frame and supported on a turned and incised baluster form post, ornamented with two swags of a small chain and gilt balls, one metal and one plaster, and mounted on a stepped octagonal base.

Creator:
James A. Folger (Cabinetmaker)
Dimensions:
Height: 19.5 in (49.53 cm)Width: 8 in (20.32 cm)Depth: 8 in (20.32 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Glass,Metal,Plaster,Wood,Ebonized,Gilt
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1877
Condition:
Minor losses. Age appropriate wear. 1 pendant ball old, but replaced.
Seller Location:
Essex, MA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU83771333812