Covered butter dish
Medium
Pressed purple marble glass
Dimensions
H. 7 5/8 in. (19.4 cm); Diam. 7 1/8 in. (18.1 cm)
Classification
Butter dish
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Emily Winthrop Miles, 1946
Accession Number
46.140.641a, b
Art Historical Context
This elegant covered butter dish, crafted by the British firm Challinor, Taylor Company between 1870 and 1890, exemplifies the artistry of late 19th-century pressed glass. Made from vibrant purple marble glass—a technique that mimicked the luxurious veining of natural stone—this American-made tableware object measures 7⅝ inches high and 7⅛ inches in diameter, perfectly scaled for Victorian dining tables. The firm's innovative molding process allowed for intricate, affordable designs that brought opulence to everyday households. Pressed glass boomed during this era as industrialization made hi...
About the Artist
Challinor, Taylor and Company · 1866–1891
Challinor, Taylor and Company was an American pressed glass manufacturer founded in 1866 and based in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, a community along the Allegheny River that was home to several of the nineteenth century's most innovative glassmakers. The firm operated until 1891, when it was absorbed into the United States Glass Company as Factory C — part of the great industrial consolidation that res...