VENETIAN ERA
By Robert Mueller

When I was a young kid, my mother had a strong interest in Venetian glass created from the late 1800’s to the time of Venetian Glass at Mr. Carder’s Steuben Glass Works 1916-1923.

The Venetian glass she collected from before 1900 had many different types of animals and decorations applied to the pieces. She had a pair of 20 inch candlesticks that were close to a Bristol Yellow with gold flecks in the glass. But what made this pair really interesting was that the center of the stems was about 5 inches in diameter with amethyst birds in the center of the circle. They were “Beautiful”. See some examples at: http://www.kddkcom/alans/Pre1900sVenetian.pdf

Other pieces she had, had dragons, serpents, prunts and trailings wrapped around the piece or stem. You didn’t need to be an expert to appreciate this glass; it spoke for itself. http://www.kddk.com/alans/MuellerVenetian.pdf

Now fast forward to 1916-1923 at Steuben Glass Works. Mr. Carder was a man who could greatly appreciate great workmanship, and with the Venetian glass now being popular with the public, Mr. Carder responded by producing his version of Venetian glass.

The public would start to see pieces being made with prunts, applied fruits, different color trim and color combinations not theretofore seen. Mr. Carder’s Verre de Soie would become a huge hit. You might see a covered urn with an applied fruit to the cover lid, with wafers and trim also having some Venetian influence to the piece. As you have seen from my collection, Mr. Carder also used the basket weaving effect on his Venetian glass.

If you want to see what I feel was one of Mr. Carder’s most influenced pieces he made, look at page 46 in Paul Gardner’s book. The compote at the right top photo is pale Green-Celeste Blue compote. At one time I had the matching candlesticks to the compote. The colors were a very mellow tone; soft yet very appealing to me.

One area I feel Mr. Carder was strongest at during this period was with covered urns and vases. When you look at the shape index in Paul Gardner’s book, page 306,307 it shows us a great number of different ways Mr. Carder used decorations applied to this era of glass. The applied rings and fruit prunts are just a few items that add great beauty to Mr. Carder’s glass.

As public taste changed from time to time Mr. Carder showed how he could continually respond to public taste. He produced not only what the public was interested in then, but through his classical designs he produced art glass that has been timeless and continues to be appreciated by collectors through today.