Located in Downingtown, PA
English Regency Amber Cut Glass Straight-Sided Decanter and Stopper, Circa 1825
Circa 1820–1830
This English decanter of straight-sided cylindrical form is blown in glass of a rich, deep amber tone, colored throughout the metal, and retains its mushroom stopper. The lower body is cut with closely set narrow vertical flutes that rise from the base to a plain band, above which a narrow band of fine vertical fluting is set between incised lines beneath a second plain band, and below the shoulder runs a bold band of large relief diamonds, each facet catching the light against the warm ground. The sloping shoulder is slice-cut with broad flat panels, with a band of small fan cuts at its foot just above the diamonds, and rises to a panel-cut neck carrying two broad, flat-cut rings, one at the junction with the shoulder and one at mid-height, beneath a flat everted lip. The stopper is of mushroom form, its shallow domed head cut with radiating flutes to a notched edge, and it rises from a ball knop on a short waisted stem. The base is finished with a ground and polished pontil mark.
The shape, the pattern of cutting and the stopper are all typically English and were made in great numbers in clear glass; it is the color that makes this decanter rare. Very little English cut glass of the early nineteenth century was colored at all, and an amber example of this pattern, retaining its original stopper, is a considerable rarity.
Dimensions
Height: 10 inches (25.4 cm)
Diameter: 4 1/2 inches (11.4 cm)
Provenance
The collection of Robin Butler (d. 2021), Bristol, antiques dealer and author of The Book of Wine Antiques
Delomosne & Son Ltd., London
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge, Inc.
The Richard Scaife Collection
Private West Coast collection
Condition
Perfect
References
Andy McConnell, The Decanter: An Illustrated History of Glass from 1650, Woodbridge, 2004, for the development of the cylindrical decanter and Regency cutting.
Charles R. Hajdamach, British Glass 1800–1914, Woodbridge, 1991, pl. 42.
Hugh Wakefield, Nineteenth Century British Glass, London, 1961, revised edition 1982.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London: a clear cut glass decanter, England, circa 1830, C.14B, C-1970; a decanter and stopper in green-tinted glass cut in the broad style, Stourbridge or London, 1830–1840, CIRC.222&A-1965, illustrated in Hajdamach, pl. 42; and a purple and gilt rum decanter...
Category
1820s English Antique Regency Furniture