On the Lamm

 

QUESTION: My grandmother has been collecting fancy cups and saucers for several decades. Some in her collection are simple in design, but others are artistically decorated. Two sets have an unusual shape with pedestal cups decorated with ornate paintings. The mark on the bottom of the cup and saucer is a blue lamb with the word "Dresden" below it. Who produced these cups and saucers and when were they made?

ANSWER: Chances are that the two cups and saucers in your grandmother’s collection are from Dresden, Germany. Ceramic factories such as Rosenthal and Meissen produced blanks that were later decorated by independent studios. Ambrosius Lamm owned and operated one of the top decorating studios, producing consistently high quality wares. 

The city of Dresden became a leading cultural center in the 17th century. In the 18th century, the city became known as the "Florence on the Elbe" because of its magnificent Baroque architecture and its outstanding museums. Artists, especially  porcelain decorators, took up residence there.

Between 1855 and 1944, more than 200 painting studios existed in the city. The studios bought porcelain white ware from manufacturers such as Meissen and Rosenthal for decorating, marketing and reselling throughout the world. Ambrosius Lamm owned one of the top decorating studios consistently producing high quality wares.

Lamm operated a porcelain painting studio and arts and antique shop from 1887 to 1949. It was located at Zinzendorfstrasse 28 in Deesden. He had approximately 25 employees by 1894, which grew to about 40 in 1907. 

 studio became well known for painting in the Meissen, Vienna, and Copenhagen style. Lamm's specialties included Old Dresden flowers, Watteau and mythology, as well as decorated luxury and utility articles in the old and new styles. Lamm bought blanks from a number of manufacturing firms, including Meissen, Rosenthal, Hutschenreuther and Silesia.

Lamm used at least three different marks by Lamm, including a pensive angel with Dresden and Saxony, an L within a shield, and the most common mark, an outline of a lamb with Dresden underneath.

He also produced cabinet cups and saucers. Middle and upperclass Victorians often had display cabinets in their dining rooms in which they displayed fine decorated plates and cups and saucers. A set of six flared cups with scrolled handles, hand painted with French court beauties, such as Mme. Lebrun, sell for between $3,000 and 4,500.

Collectors can still find desirable cabinet cups, as well as sherbets and goblets can be found, decorated  on Rosenthal blanks with a gilt cutout star or flower inside the cup. Usually, well-painted portraits of men and women in period dress appeared on the outside with heavy gold paste work.

Lamm often used rich cobalt blue and luster glazes for his ground colors. His favorite decorative techniques were jeweling and beading. His studio was well known for using heavy intricate gold paste work on borders of plates and cups.

 also enjoyed painting cherubs or putti. Many of his pieces featured cherubs holding fruit, flowers, and playing musical instruments. He often portrayed them floating amid fluffy clouds.

His paintings on porcelain cups and saucers and cabinet plates rivaled the quality of Royal Vienna and Sevres porcelains.  For example, he pronounced a series of 12 plates portraying ones from various oil paintings displayed in the famous Scamper Gallery in the Zwinger Palace. These plates had cobalt blue borders with elaborate gold paste gilding.

Lamm’s excellent reputation as a top porcelain decorator encouraged wealthy families in Germany and abroad to commission demitasse sets and dinner services from his studio. These sets included the monogram of the owner in intricate gold work. Examples for sale today include dinner plates and serving items with one to four hand-painted courting scenes within medallions on the border.

 occasionally decorated dinnerware with the floral and gilt patterns typically used by other Dresden studios. But he preferred to be more creative in his designs. His studio produced a line of dinner and tea ware featuring bold, large vibrant flowers covering each piece. Lamm’s studio was particularly known for its artistic rendering of flowers.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about militaria in the 2022 Fall Edition, with the theme "After-Battle Antiques," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Capturing the World in Bronze

 

QUESTION: Recently, I attended an antique show where one of the dealers had a modest collection of what he called Vienna bronzes. These little sculptures of mostly animals were like nothing I had ever seen. The prices of these bronzes seemed a bit high. What can you tell me about these little bronzes? How old are they, who made them, and did they really come from Vienna, Austria?

ANSWER:  Vienna bronzes are antique bronzes made by artists from Vienna. They became popular in the 1850s. Known for their extremely great detail, many were painted in beautiful colors. Many of the bronzes took the form of animals, such as dogs,, cats, pigs, and foxes.. Though Vienna bronzes come in all sizes, but are most popular with collectors in the smaller sizes due to their high cost. 

Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, but it can also be an alloy of copper and another metal. The word “bronze” originated from the Latin Word “Aes Brundisium” = ore from Brindisi, and came via Italian and French into the German language.

Franz Bergman, a professional chaser from Gablonz who came to Vienna, founded a small bronze foundry in 1860. It later became one of the most famous of the Vienna bronze factories under the leadership of his son, Franz Xavier Bergman, who based many of his designs on ones from his father's workshop.

The younger Bergman was an artist who became well known for the many sculptures produced at his foundry in Vienna. He inherited the foundry from his father but had such success with his work that he opened a second one in 1900. Often referred to as a sculptor by historians, Franz Xavier Bergman was actually a designer who hired other sculptors to carry out his ideas. He had his designs made in bronze and cold painted with many layers of vivid colors. The majority of his figural sculptures for sale featured Arab subjects, animals, mythological creatures, and figures in erotic poses.

He expanded the production by adding Art Nouveau objects, seals, and erotica. Bergman disguised sensuous poses of young women in the Art Nouveau style by a covering that revealed all when the viewer pushed a button or moved a lever. Often carefully sculpted animals, such as bears, could be opened to reveal an erotic figure inside. To avoid punishment by immorality laws  for his erotic sculptures, he signed them with either the letter “B” in an urn-shaped cartouche or produced them under the pseudonym Nam Greb—the name Bergman backwards. 

Franz Xavier’s son, Fritz, graduated from the Vienna Art Polytechnic Institute and took over the company in 1927. As did his father, he commissioned models from many Viennese sculptors and modelers and continued production during the economic crisis of the 1920s. The models survived World War II undamaged in the cellar of his house which had been completely destroyed. 

Stylized cats, frogs and dogs were Viennese specialties. They were treasures of the Biedermeier Era with their pleasure in caricatures, mockery and satire. Published political and satirical cartoons of the time had become very popular and also served as models for the bronzes. Today, the life-like statues of pets and forest animals are more popular with collectors.

After the turn of the 20th century, hunting had become accessible to the middle class. The passion for hunting made animal bronzes popular. In the early 19th century, Vienna residents could admire exotic animals in the Imperial Zoo, known as the Imperial Menagerie. In 1818 the first giraffe at the zoo caused a big sensation, and artists   spent hours in front of the cages to model wild cats, elephants, monkeys and parrots.

In the mid 19th century, when traveling was still a big adventure, the Viennese discovered their passion  for the mysterious Orient. Even if people didn’t dare to set out on expensive and dangerous journeys to far off Asia, they could bring a taste for the Orient right into their parlor with Vienna bronzes. 

Expeditions of Austrian explorers in the mid 19th century brought back early photographs of a new world. Due to the construction of the Suez Channel and the trip to the Orient of Crown Prince Rudolf, the Viennese enthusiasm for the Orient grew. The famous and remarkable “Turkish Room” of the Crown Prince's apartment in Vienna’s Hofburg illustrates the trend of fashion during that period. 

In the late 19th Century a number of Austrian bronze foundries situated in Vienna and the Austrian-Bohemian border began to specialize in the technique of “cold painted” processes. Women, working at home, achieved this naturalistic finish by painting the raw bronzes with several layers of special and secretive enamel colors called “dust paints,” which resulted in fine lifelike studies of the various models and sculptures. They often applied the paint when the cast was still warm, the natural shrinkage on cooling adding to the permanency of the color as it annealed the paint firmly into the metal. As the color was not ‘fired’ this process came to be known as “cold painted.” Unfortunately, the knowledge for mixing this kind of paint has been lost. 

The Bergman foundry normally stamped with a capital 'B' that is placed in a twin handled vase. They are also often inscribed “Geschutzt” which refers to the model/design being 'registered' or copyrighted, along with its mark.

The value of a Vienna Bronze depends on the detail and subject of the sculpture. It also helps if the bronze is marked Vienna or Austria. These marks usually occur on the side or bottom of the bronze. In addition to the country there may also be an artist signature. The Bergmans, most notably Franz Bergman, were the most popular bronze artists. Generally, his bronzes sell from $800 to over $10,000 each.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about art glass in the 2022 Summer Edition, with the theme "Splendor in the Glass," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Simplicity and Comfort Rolled into One

 

QUESTION: Some time ago, I bought a simple chair at a country estate auction. I love that chair but know very little about it. Someone told me that my chair was Shaker. Since I didn’t know much about the Shakers, I couldn’t tell. It just looked like a simple country chair. What can you tell me about my chair? 

ANSWER: Your chair certainly looks like a Shaker chair. But you need to know a bit about the Shakers to know for sure. 

Mother Ann Lee, who led the Shakers to America in 1774, had enough to do to get her sect organized. She began with a community in Albany, New York, and sent out missionaries to establish Shaker communities elsewhere in New England. But it wasn’t until Mother Lee had died and another generation of leadership took over the Shakers that the idea of producing items for sale as a way of supporting the communities came to be.

The Shakers attracted skilled cabinetmakers and craftsmen to their ranks, so it was a natural to use their skills to produce furniture for the communities. By this time, the Shakers were totally self-sustaining. In the early 19th century, the sect began to attract large numbers of people, mostly those who were discontent with society in general or were out of work. The communities offered security and food and lodging to people who might otherwise not have had it.

To support all these people became a major problem. So the elders of each community came up with ways to produce items for sale. Some made chairs, others produced seeds, clothing, especially wool capes, or took in mending and such. Many members were very creative and invented unique items such  as the electric washing machine. They were extremely organized as well, so mass-producing items like chairs wasn’t a problem.  

Those who called themselves Shakers—officially the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing—eventually numbered over 17,000. As the number of communities, referred to by the Shakers as “families,” their furniture making flourished. At their peak of production, the Shakers produced chairs at more than 50 locations. From their first base in New York, the Shakers expanded their communities to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and even Florida.

The Shakers made many of their chairs along straight and simple lines to be light weight, strong, easy to clean, and comfortable, not every piece of furniture made by Shaker hands is a design masterpiece: Some pieces were poorly crafted. Some were beautifully crafted but poorly proportioned. And some exhibit such bare-bones functionalism that they’re awkward and ugly. Often they’re barely distinguishable from country furniture of the same time and place. Indeed, unscrupulous dealers and auctioneers often promote plain country pieces as Shaker and sell for several times more than they would otherwise bring.

For use in their communities, the Shakers created three kinds of chairs—dining chairs, side chairs and rocking chairs. They designed the dining chairs with low backs so that they would stand clear under the table when not in use. Or they could be hung on a peg rail against the wall while someone cleaned the floor. And to make sure the chair seats stayed clean, they hung them upside down. 

Side chairs came in several different styles. A sister’s chair had a lower seat than the brother’s chair. The dining chairs had two back slats while the side chairs usually had four, all of which were slightly slanted for extra comfort.

As early as the 1820s, many communities began mass producing chairs for both community use and for sale. They used the same designs from the 1840s to the early 1900s. Chairs produced in the early 19th century were mostly for community use. But during the last quart of the century, the Shakers heavily marketed their chairs to the “Outside World.”

The chairs that the Shakers designed to be sold to the public were lean and severe and produced in huge quantities that ended up on back porches and summer cottages across America. Their popularity led other manufacturers to copy their look, and these pseudo "Shaker" chairs appear in quantity at country auctions and small antiques shows. Each of the endless variety of styles has its own Shaker-designated model number. Most were originally stained dark brown, and slat-backs predominate. 

Even though the largest Shaker chair didn’t weigh over 10 pounds and the smallest less than 5 pounds, both could support the weight of the largest person. 

Each community made their chairs a bit different from those of other communities, changing or adding little details. And while they all began with the same design template, each community’s craftsmen added their own touches for their community. For instance, many people believe that all Shaker chairs have tiny acorn finials and arms that terminate in mushroom-shaped turnings. Not so. It’s possible to tell which community made which chair by the shape of the finial alone. The back slats were also often slightly different. The Number 7 rockers, for example, have mushroom arms, four slats, and a shawl rail connecting the backposts that replaces the more common finials. The Shakers often attached a decal identifying the piece as Shaker to the back of a slat or leg. But pieces meant solely for use within the Shaker communities didn’t have decals. 

During the second half of the 19th century, the Shakers painted some of their chairs and woven brightly colored tapes into their seats. Often they combined colors, such as red and black and tan and maroon. Most colors, however, had more conservative names like Trustee Brown, Meetinghouse Blue, and Ministry Green.

In addition to the colorful tape, the Shakers also used cane, rush, and woven splint for their seats.

The woods used in chair construction varied according to the regional supply. But it was always of top quality and well cured. The most commonly used woods included walnut, cherry, butternut, and birds-eye maple, as well as pine and fruitwood if the others weren’t available.

Although for years Shaker chairs never sold for more than $500, now even the most common three-slat rockers bring $600 to $800 or more. Some even go as high as $1,700 to $2,200. 

Pieces from Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana—often less austere, less "Shaker-looking" than their eastern counterparts—often have a Victorian feel and sometimes resemble local country furniture even more closely than classic eastern designs. .

The quality of many reproductions of Shaker chairs, made using the same tools and techniques, is often so good that they sell for as much as the originals.

For over a century, the creation of Shaker chairs was but a simple fulfilling of the motto of their faith, “Hands to work and hearts to God.”

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about art glass in the 2022 Summer Edition, with the theme "Splendor in the Glass," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Antique Air Fresheners

 

QUESTION: Recently, my father died. For as long as I can remember, my father gave a small ceramic fantasy-like cottage pride of place. My mother said he wanted me to have it. There’s a large hole in the back. At first I thought it was a candleholder, but my mother told me that an older woman friend of his send it to him from Haiti, where she had gone on a cruise. The odd thing about this gift was that it took a long time to be delivered and arrived after the woman had died. Can you tell me anything about this little cottage—how old is it, what was it used for?

ANSWER: What your father received is called a pastille burner–-a little device that made rooms more fragrant in the past. By its appearance, it probably came from one of the potteries in Staffordshire, England. 

Times past weren’t always fragrant. While air fresheners come in all shapes and sizes today, back then people used various ways to cover up the noxious odors which permeated the environment. Scent vinaigrettes, pomanders and perfumed handkerchiefs were effective enough while out and about in the streets of a city.

Bronze pastille burner Regency

By the 16th century, a special device had been developed to release a pleasant scent into the air in the home. These devices, called pastille burners, had become quite popular in aristocratic homes during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. By 1811, most upper class homes had at least one pastille burner, and some of the better ones had  more than one.

The word pastille dates back to the 15th century. It takes its name from the Latin word, pastillus, meaning a small roll or little loaf of bread. Initially, pastilles were tiny lozenges compounded of aromatic herbs blended with a sweetener which people used to freshen their breath. In the mid-16th century, pastille makers produced them to be burned in order to release pleasant scents into the air of an upper class home.

Ceramic pastille burner Wedgwood

But these new pastilles weren’t made commercially until well into the reign of Queen Victoria. Before that, servants made pastilles in the still rooms of the homes of the aristocracy and the gentry using a recipe provided by the lady of the house. These scent pastilles consisted of finely ground charcoal, saltpeter, a binder, and a fragrance. People preferred charcoal made of willow wood because it could be finely powdered and burned evenly without an abundance of smoke. They blended this with saltpeter to ensure the charcoal would continue to burn once it was lit. The binder was most often Gum Arabic or Gum Tragacanth, either of which they added to the powdered charcoal and saltpeter mixture in the amount necessary to create a stiff dough. The addition of either of these gums would ensure the pastilles remained firm once they had dried. 

The makers added the fragrance last, in the form of an essential oil, which had been distilled in the still room at some time prior to the making of the scent pastilles. Among the most popular scents were lavender, rose, jasmine, sandalwood and cedar, though there were a few recipes which included more expensive fragrances, such as myrrh, frankincense and orris.

Pastille cones

After blending the fragrance oil into the pastille dough, servants pressed it into a number of small, conical molds. In most cases, these molds would produce scent pastilles which were about a half inch in diameter and about one and a half inches tall, though there were some which were larger. They then left the scent pastilles  in the molds to dry for at least two days, though for larger pastilles, it took three to four days. Once the scent pastilles were fully dry, the small, hardened cones could be removed from the molds. They would then be ready to use. The fully dry scent pastilles were most often stored in air-tight containers to keep them dry and to help retain their fragrance until needed.

Early bronze pastille burner

Early pastille burner makers used bronze or brass and sometimes silver to make them. But by the second half of the 18th century, potteries began producing them in porcelain, which didn’t get as hot as the metal ones. Also, potters could easily mold porcelain, offering a wide variety of shapes to work with. And the growing palette of glaze colors made it possible to produce very colorful and highly decorative pastille burners.

At first, porcelain manufacturers produced burners in the same shapes as those of the early metal burners. Soon wealthier customers asked for pastille burners to complement the garnitures, or fireplace mantel sets, so as to camouflage the purpose of the burners. Others wanted decorative burners for their bedrooms. By the 1760s, many porcelain manufacturers began producing shapes molded to represent things of every day life, such as fruits and vegetables, animals and flowers. They also took inspiration for their burners from various buildings, from rural churches and cottages to ancient castles. Wealthy landowners commissioned porcelain copies of interesting buildings on their properties.

Building shapes offered open windows, enabling the pastille itself to burn steadily. And one with a chimney allowed a way for the white smoke given off by the pastille as it burned. By the end of the 18th century, rustic buildings such as the cottage orné became a popular as a form for pastille burners. Cottages orné were typically rustic cottages set in an attractive and secluded rural setting.

During the first decade of the 19th century, dove cotes, gate-keeper’s lodges, dairy houses and intricate, flower-covered summer houses had become popular forms for pastille burners. Other country building types included toll houses, churches, and castles, often covered with vines and colorful flowers. 

Sliding tray pastille holder

There were several ways the pastille could be placed inside the burner. In some, the user could remove the roof of the building, in others, the entire building could be lifted off its base. And in others the user could pull out a flat tray for the pastille out of one side of the building. Burner manufacturers often concealed these small slides as a bow window, an external chimney breast, or the gable wall side of a building.

Removeable chimney pastille holder

Back in the early 19th century, matches hadn’t been invented yet, so people used a spill, a long, thin sliver of wood or a twisted length of scrap paper, usually stored in small vases made especially for them and kept on the mantle near the pastille burner. The user would light the spill from the fire in the room, or by use of a tinderbox, and then hold it to the tip of the pastille cone until it caught fire. A one and one half inch tall pastille cone would usually burn for about 20 minutes, giving off its scent along with a thin white smoke. The scent could linger in the room for another 20 to 30 minutes once the pastille had burned out.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about art glass in the 2022 Summer Edition, with the theme "Splendor in the Glass," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Rustic Can be Beautiful

QUESTION: Recently I bought a pair of chairs at an outdoor antique show that seem to have been made of rough-hewn logs and branches. The dealer said they came from the Adirondack Mountains in New York State. They’re well-built and with a couple of pillows on each are rather comfortable. What can you tell me about this style of chairs?

ANSWER: Your chairs are what’s known as rustic furniture, also known as Adirondack furniture, even though it wasn’t restricted to just the Adirondack Mountains.

Rustic furniture is furniture made of sticks, twigs, or logs for a natural look. The term “rustic” came from the Latin “rusticus,” meaning “peasant”.

The idea for rustic furniture came about in the late 18th century at the beginning of the back-to-nature movement, a change from the world of classic, predictable furniture patterns to one of more fanciful design using natural materials.  

Little summer shelters appeared in city gardens, often covered in vines or surrounded by trees and shrubs. These summerhouses also provided a small green refuge that shut out the discomfort and ugliness of city life. 

Designers copied nature's lines in drawings for chairs and settees for these shelters and the garden paths around them. Their plans called for gnarled, distorted limbs of shrubs and trees to make a chair or bench, instead of the usual marble or plain wooden seats. Gardens, themselves, became more picturesque and less formal, with curving paths taking the place of straight ones. Designers strategically placed rustic chairs, benches, arbors and gates throughout the plantings. 

The rustic furniture movement reached its peak during the mid- to late-19th century. In the 1870s, several American firms specialized in rustic furniture. Adirondack craftsmen produced high quality pieces for new woodland camps of wealthy New Yorkers. These included Camp Pine Knot, Kamp Kill Kare, Camp Uncas and Great Camp Sagamore. The National Park Service also adopted the style for its park lodges. The first and largest manufacturer of such furniture was Old Hickory Furniture Co., established in 1890.

Although basic living conditions were the rule in the camps and cottages that sprung up  in the mountains, the original coarse, primitive furniture evolved into fanciful and rustic as camp owners updated their amenities. 

By the late 19th century, America’s millionaires filled these camp resorts, and although they considered themselves naturalists, they dressed and lived formally in the midst of the rustic furniture, for they had no intention of roughing it.

Some of these naturalists set up their own camps with tents and log cabins and built rustic furniture for them or had local craftsmen do it for them. Eventually, the log cabins became large log houses with all the latest amenities. Soon they became known as compounds or family camps.

Typical pieces of rustic furniture included chairs, love seats, tables, desks, smoking stands, clocks, chest of drawers, rockers, coat racks, mirror frames, beds and lamps.

Rustic outdoor furniture filled the porches of these camp houses and spilled onto the grass. Couches and chairs made of rough pieces of local woods, holding loose cushions, adorned the sitting rooms. Even the beds showed off the rustic style, often with fanciful patterns on the head and foot boards. 

Rustic furniture had a functional style and was made of organic materials, such as the tree or shrub limbs and roots or the trunks of saplings indigenous to the area of the maker. Although roughly made, the style was often sophisticated and imaginative. The more knots there were in the limbs, the more the furniture makers favored them. They even left the bark on the wood whenever possible to give each piece more texture and individuality.

Many of the rustic styles reflected the personality of their maker, with techniques such as chip carving, silver or gold brushwork, milk paint, peeled bark and other decorative enhancements. But people often referred to some rustic furniture as primitive because it displayed a lack of craftsmanship.

Furniture makers used two basic types of rustic-furniture construction—bentwood, for which they harvested fresh sticks or steamed them to make them supple, then bent into a variety of structures and decorative shapes and twig work, consisting of straight, curved, or forked sticks assembled into structures and decorative shapes within a structure. Sometimes, they employed both types in the same piece. Some rustic furniture makers also used mortice and tenon construction while others simply nailed or screwed pieces members together.

For their furniture, makers used many different woods, including willow, hickory, mountain laurel, and Alaska cedar. In the Deep South, some occasionally used palm fronds.

Makers used large, gnarly roots in their furniture designs, making them into table legs and chair arms. To produce a striking veneer for their pieces, furniture makers preferred birch, a slender tree with bark that peeled in strips. These pieces quickly became known for their geometric designs made of the white birch bark veneer, especially on case furniture, such as chests and cabinets. Also, many of the intricate veneered designs included various kinds of split twigs, carefully chosen by color to form patterns. 

Unlike their Adirondack counterparts, Appalachian furniture makers took pride in knowing how to get wood to work for the intricate twists, bends and weaving for their furniture designs. They knew just when and how to bend saplings while they were still growing, letting nature do some of the work before they were ready to use the wood. They preferred laurel, hickory, and willow because of their flexibility and strength. They built their furniture with graceful loops and interwoven curves, weaving each piece of wood to create tension, resulting in a hidden strength disguised by the fragile look of the design.

Today, rustic pieces often appear at higher-end antique shows. Occasionally, they appear at flea markets. But people consigned a lot of pieces to the bonfire after they went out of fashion in the mid-20th century. So prices tend to be on the high side because of the uniqueness of the pieces. Twig rockers can sell for $150 and up, while lounges and settees can go over $2,000.

Case pieces—chests and cabinets—rarely come on the market and when they do, their prices are exceptionally high, often in the four and five figure range. The most common pieces are various chairs and plant stands, priced anywhere from $75 to $600. 

As the 20th century moved forward, individual craftsmen found it hard to keep up with the volume of orders, so factories opened to meet the need. Business remained brisk for the rural craftsmen until the 1940s and by the 1950s, rustic furniture was no longer popular. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the "The World of Art Nouveau" in the 2022 Spring Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

It’s What’s on the Reverse Side

 

QUESTION: Years ago, I purchased a banjo clock with an intricate scene painted on the clock glass. At several recent antique shows, I’ve noticed several other reverse paintings from the early 19th century. What is the origin of reverse painting glass? And when was the technique at its peak?

ANSWER: Reverse painting is done on the backside of the glass and has been done since ancient times. Though there are only some crude artifacts, art historians believe the process dates back to Egypt in 4 C.E.

During the Middle Ages in the 13th century, the art technique appeared in Italy. Shortly thereafter, the French and English also learn of this art-form.  By the 16th century Renaissance, reverse painting reached its peak. To meet the growing demand, glass artists on the Island of Murano in the Venetian Lagoon widely produced small reverse glass paintings to decorate church alters and for other religious purposes. Gradually they began to paint larger landscapes, portraits, and more, making Venice a center of the technique.  

Beginning in the mid 18th century, painting on glass became preferred by the Church and the nobles throughout Central Europe. By the early to mid 19th century, watchmakers used reverse painting for dials on their watches.

Reverse glass painting had been practiced in Europe for several centuries. In France, Rococo decorative arts influenced it. In Italy and Switzerland, landscapes and small figures dominated reverse glass painting. Persian miniatures inspired it in India, Syria, and Iran, drawing attention to Islamic religious themes. German, Italian, and Spanish artists specialized in allegories, regional costumes, and hunting scenes while iconographic painting influenced the technique in Eastern Europe. 

In America, reverse painting enjoyed its greatest popularity during the Federalist Period of the early 19th century. Old-country artisans in the colonial cities used reverse paintings to decorate clocks, mirrors and other items of the time. This art fashion reigned from about 1815 to 1850. Then, with the exception of a brief time before World War I when it enjoyed a comeback, reverse glass painting became all but extinct.

Before an artist can reverse paint on glass, all details must be known. Done with oil paint ground with shellac, varnish, or linseed oil. Often the colored pigments were back by a white ground which reflected light back through the paint and gave the painting a warm and brilliant color. The smoothness of the glass increased the painting’s richness and vibrancy. 

Not only is the painting done on the reverse side of the glass, it must be done in reverse, beginning with the finer details and ending with the background.

Subject matter was mostly religious with paintings done by peasants but also included allegorical subjects, heroes of the day, and landscapes. Many of these paintings, primitive in technique, included Vermillion red, blue, yellow. Religious scenes could be found in peasant homes. These had backgrounds embellished with floral decorations and scrolls. Early paintings had lots of gold but later ones just had accents. These primitive paintings had crude homemade wooden frames. 

During the reign of William and Mary in the 17th century, the frames of mirrors had moldings of glass painted with roses, tulips, and leaves touched with gold. Back in the 14th century, East India Traders brought courting mirrors from China. This type of painting became popular in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, secular subjects became popular, including portraits of women symbolical of spring, summer, fall, and winter, as well as portraits of kings and queens.

Reverse painting spread to America and was popular with the Pennsylvania German immigrants, who carried on the religious traditions. They also painted primitive portraits of famous Americans such as George Washington and Andrew Jackson. Copies of portraits of Washington by Gilbert Stuart were quite popular.

Still life was more popular than portraits in New England. Other subjects included naval battles, such as the Monitor and the Merrimac. Amateurs and itinerant artists painted these paintings, so they call into the folk art category.

One of the most common uses for reverse paintings was on clock pendulum doors. Popular subjects included a floral or fruit still life or a simple flag or eagle design. 

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