  
  About the Artwork
  
  
  The Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, founded by Deming Jarves in 1826, flourished in the market for domestic glass tableware in New England and was a leader throughout the country. The company&acirc;&#128;&#153;s early production focused on utilitarian objects, but in the 1840s and 1850s, they began to produce luxury goods and large presentation pieces, such as these compotes.1 Only one other pair is known to exist (Bennington Museum, Vermont), and a limited number of single examples are extant.2
 
Compotes, decorative objects that could have held fruit or flowers, would have been displayed prominently in a dining room, either on a sideboard or table. The pair&acirc;&#128;&#153;s Gothic elements, the pointed arches separated by vertical openwork, and deep amethyst color were popular at the time they were made. Openwork basket designs, seen in nineteenth century American ware, originate from eighteenth century European porcelain examples.
 
To create the openwork basket and hexagonal base of these compotes, glass was pressed into two separate complex molds. The basket and base were then fused together with molten glass. Fine cracks, caused by the glass cooling and shrinking during this manufacturing process, are found throughout the compotes&acirc;&#128;&#153; baskets.3 Michael E. Crane
 
Adapted from Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 81, nos. 1&Acirc;&shy;&acirc;&#128;&#147;2 (2007): 18&acirc;&#128;&#147;19.
 
Notes
 
1. See R. W. Lee, Sandwich Glass: The History of the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company (Framingham, Mass., 1939), 97.
2. Ruth Webb Lee, author of the major text on the company, commented about the compote type, stating: &acirc;&#128;&#156;It is a fortunate collector indeed who can add one to his collection, to say nothing of a pair.&acirc;&#128;&#157; Additionally, the pair she described as being a particularly fine shade of deep amethyst are likely these. See Lee 1939, 358, pl. 143. Single examples can be found in the Art Institute of Chicago, Henry Francis duPont Winterthur Museum, Delaware, and the Sandwich Glass Museum, Massachusetts.
3. DIA conservation report, dated 3 March 1997, by J. Steele.
  
  
  Title
  Compotes
  
  
  Artwork Date
  between ca. 1845 and 1870
  
  Artist
  Attributed to Boston &amp; Sandwich Glass Company
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1826 - 1888
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  American
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
  ----------
  
  
  Medium
  Pressed lead glass
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 8 1/16 &Atilde;&#151; 8 1/2 inches (20.5 &Atilde;&#151; 21.6 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Glass
  
  
  Department
  American Art before 1950
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, Gibbs-Williams Fund, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, Joseph H. Boyer Memorial Fund, Eleanor Clay Ford Fund, Director's Discretionary Fund; gifts from Mr. and Mrs. Edsel B. Ford, Mrs. Ernest Kanzler, Robert H. Tannahill, Mrs. Rene Muller, Mrs. George Kamperman, Mrs. D. M. Hollingsworth, Mrs. Lewis M. Parrot, Jess Pavey, Mrs. E. B. Gibbs, Mrs. C. L. Williams, Winfield Foundation, Lillian Henkel Haass, Virginia Harriman, Mary Chase Stratton, Mrs. J. Willard Babbit, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Littler, Florence Babbit, Julius Carlebach, E. P. Richardson, Mary F. Stevens, Mrs. Gustavus D. Pope, Mrs. M. L. Hastings, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Ladue, Mrs. Katharine De Mille Campau, Mrs. Charles Willim, Helen Keep, City of Detroit by exchange
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum&acirc;&#128;&#153;s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems&acirc;&#128;&#148;no longer assigned&acirc;&#128;&#148;that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  1997.9
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
  
  
  
