Brilliant cut glass.(Current and coming)(cut glass exhibition at the Mint Museum of Art)

American cut glass from the so-called brilliant period (1876-1906) is the subject of a gorgeous exhibition organized by Brian Gallagher open now through the summer at the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, North Carolina. From the last quarter of the nineteenth century to about 1915, cut glass was a popular luxury product for the country's elite. Champagne glasses, punch bowls, decanters, serving trays, and candlesticks in colored and colorless glass, sometimes with silver mounts, were among the items that filled the tables of families such as the Vanderbilts, the Fricks, and the Astors. Even among the less well-heeled, cut glass ranked as the first choice for wedding, anniversary, and birthday gifts. Such objects could be purchased from upscale retailers such as Tiffany and Company in New York City and John Wanamaker in Philadelphia, or ordered directly from a handful of glass factories, the majority of which were located in Corning, New York.

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Cut glass from the brilliant period is characterized by elaborate, deeply cut patterns that often cover the entire highly polished surface to produce a brilliant prismatic sparkle. Typically, several highly skilled craftsmen worked on each object. First the designer marked the outlines of the pattern on a glass blank, then a rougher, a smoother, and a polisher made increasingly refined cuts by holding the blank against a series of rapidly turning wheels. Additional techniques included engraving; casing two distinct layers of colored and colorless glass together and then ...