No series on the Ysart family would be complete without a chapter on their contribution to the history of Scottish paperweights. While the Vasart team and Paul Ysart (who by this era was estranged from his father and brothers, having remained at Moncrieff Glassworks) had vastly different outlooks on paperweights, each branch of the Ysart […]
Decorative Glass: Ysart Family Paperweights Continue Reading »
The small but passionate segment of the antique art glass community who become devoted collectors of Monart glass soon run into a perplexing phenomenon: Many of the “lookalikes” that pass for Monart glass are not in fact modern fakes, but are instead the work of the same family responsible for creating the pieces Moncrieff glassworks
Hand Crafted Glass: Ysart’s Vasart Years Continue Reading »
Monart Glass: Designs and Production Techniques The designs used for Monart glass pieces are, by and large, typical of the handmade art glass of the era; what truly sets Monart apart from its contemporaries is its use of colour. Monart glass is, for example, much loved by collectors for the distinctive iridising of the white
Handmade Art Glass: Monart Glass Continue Reading »
Monart glass has, in recent years, finally begun to garner some much-deserved attention on the antique market, with rare pieces fetching as much as £2000 at auction. While this trend reflects an overall growth of interest in, and appreciation for, Scotland’s plentiful contribution to modern glass art, many Scottish glassworks still remain shrouded in a
Modern Glass Art: Ysart’s Monart Years Continue Reading »
Salvador Ysart, patriarch of the famous Ysart clan of Scottish art glass makers, was born Salvador Isart in Barcelona, Spain, on the 30th of January in 1875. While Salvador was the son of a glassmaker (it was actually his mother, not his father, who worked with glass—she was employed in finishing glass pieces), he did
Ysart Glass: The Ysart Family’s Early Years Continue Reading »
If you have ever been lucky enough to visit the seashore near an area of relatively high human population, you might well have noticed—and perhaps took for granted—the plethora of brightly coloured glass “pebbles” that washed up with the surf, intermingling with nature’s own stones. These bits of glass are known as “sea glass” (or
Sea Glass: A Vanishing Treasure Continue Reading »
Today, glass is ubiquitous; we see it everywhere we go, bottling items at the supermarket, filling window frames, tumbling from careless hands into ditches, and eventually showing up as polished, colourful pebbles that shimmer across our beaches. Prior to the Romans, however, glass was as rare as gold and precious gemstones owing to the limited
Roman Glass: The Art of Glass Blowing in the Roman Empire Continue Reading »
The Art Nouveau and Art Deco Eras After the Napoleonic Wars drew to a close in 1815, Bohemia was once again free to begin a steady ascent towards the pinnacle of glassmaking, and retake the crown that had by then been passed to England. It would take some time before the Bohemian glass artists caught
Czech Art Glass Continue Reading »
The Baroque Period: While the Thirty Years War has since been largely supplanted in the collective consciousness by more recent calamities (i.e. the two world wars), at the time it raged, it was one of the longest, bloodiest, and most devastating conflicts Europe has ever known. What began as a war between Protestant and Catholic
Bohemian Art Glass: From Baroque to Classicism Continue Reading »
The term “Bohemian glass” is one that frequently leads to confusion for those just entering the world of art glass collecting; the word “Bohemian” is, after all, most strongly associated today with the romantic 19th century French movement that championed embracing a state of artistic poverty. Yet, upon delving into the realm of Victorian glassware,
Bohemian Glass: The Enduring Legacy of Czech Art Glass Continue Reading »