"Lacy" Hairpin pattern compote
Probably Boston & Sandwich Glass Company American
Possibly New England Glass Company American
Not on view
Glass pressing was one of the most important developments in glass technology, following the invention of the blowpipe some thousands of years earlier. Beginning in the 1820s, with small items, including the bases to candlesticks and bowls, this mode of manufacture became a special strength of American glassmakers, especially the New England firms of the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company in Sandwich, Massachusetts, and the New England Glass Company in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. There were technical difficulties during these early years, such as wrinkles created when the cold plunger of the pressing machine came into contact with the hot molten glass. To conceal those flaws, many of the examples dating to the second quarter of the nineteenth century feature an all-over stippled effect, achieved by the tiny and closely spaced dots, which also gave the works an exceptional brilliance and delicacy with a silvery effect.
