Cake Stand

In the third quarter of the nineteenth century, glass pressing technology had much improved, in both technique and materials. The aesthetics were the result of the designer, and not the craftsman. Early patterns tended to be of geometric shapes in imitation of those on cut glass, as seen in this cake stand’s “diamond thumbprint” pattern. The period also saw a new evolution in dining, whereby numerous different forms were introduced to be used in table service and consumption—in silver, ceramics, and glass. As pressing greatly facilitated production, glass forms included not only drinking vessels, now of different sizes and shapes, but also various serving pieces, such as this cake stand. Monumental in size at 12 ½ inches in diameter, it is in an unusual canary yellow color, perhaps the only known such example, and provides a striking contrast and complement to the colorless glass forms in the same pattern.