Connoisseur Magazine

In Gazette # 1245 (March 26, 2014) we quoted, in part, an article by the late Thomas Buechner. We omitted part of what we meant to quote, starting at page 46. So here is the entirety of what we meant to reproduce with the quotes from page 46.

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The Connoisseur Year Book 1961, p.39 by Thomas S. Buechner

“Carder entered the glass-making business in 1881 at Stevens and Williams after three years of work at his father’s pottery, G. Carder and Sons. He was hired as a designer, being responsible for both form and decoration. The table services, ornaments and vases in which the firm specialized were typical of the period. Frequently overlaid, or flashed and hen cut and engraved, they were generally embellished with classical elements or floral forms.
“At Stevens and Williams he was apparently the initiator of rock crystal engraving in which the rough surface left by the abrasive on the engraver’s wheel was polished to the same brilliance as the unadorned matrix. Inspired by an exhibition in Paris of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century rock crystal carving, this technique was introduced after Bohemian competition made the production of coloured glass unprofitable. To Frederick Carder also is attributed the introduction in this firm’s line of objects bearing acid-etched decoration. These were of two sorts; low lineal intaglio, generally classic in style on clear glass; and acid cameo in which an outer layer of glass of one colour was eaten away in a pattern to reveal the second layer of another colour. This process was partly responsible for the revival in England of the ancient art of glass cameo.”

p. 42
(In 1903 the Steuben Glass Works began to produce glass for direct retail sale under its own name) “The variety was enormous. The emphasis was on colour (selenium ruby being particularly worthy of mention), and even the fine crystal was frequently flashed, enameled and overlaid in a wide variety of colours. Ornate Venetian-style pieces have survived to bear witness to the competence of the workmen and the versatility of the designer. Cutting and engraving were the main decorative techniques in the beginning and were still employed when operations ceased in 1933. Acid-etching was introduced in 1906 and glasses were enameled from 1913 to 1915. In 1925 sculptured glass became important. A decorative panel was cast for Rockefeller Centre and an experimental head four feet high for Carl Milles. At one time or another the techniques of millefiori, latticinio and pate de verre were employed. Air, cotton, and colour twist stems supported the bowls of many Steuben glasses, and spiral air traps heightened the brilliance of objects in both clear and coloured glass. More than 200 acid-etched cameo designs were included in the line in addition to a vast selection of linear patterns etched on table services. Although all of these types were known before Fred Carder’s time, he had to rediscover most of the techniques for himself. He added a screw cutting lathe to the threading machine developed by Stevens and perfected by Northwood. His millefiori plates were sometimes made without the use of the ‘clear pick-up gather’ and so come close to their Alexandrian prototype. He made his own models for all pattern and pillar molds and, unlike Stevens and Williams with their French, Brocard-trained enamellers, he had to instruct his own craftsmen in the art.”