Footed Dish

Art Historical Context

This delicate footed dish, crafted 1888 by the Richards and Hartley Flint Glass Co., the ingenuity of American glassmaking during late Victorian era. Produced pressed colorless and opalescent, it measures just 2⅝ inches high and 3¾ inches in diameter, making it a perfect petite serving piece for desserts or condiments. The opalescent finish—creating a soft, iridescent shimmer—adds a touch of luxury, mimicking the costly hand-cut crystal favored by the elite. Pressed glass, a revolutionary technique perfected in 19th-century America, allowed factories like Richards and Hartley in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, to mass-produce intricate designs affordably. Molten glass was forced into molds under pressure, enabling complex patterns and the subtle play of light in opalescent hues derived from chemical additives. This innovation democratized beauty, bringing elegant tableware to middle-class homes amid the Gilded Age's booming industrial economy. Now gracing The American Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art—thanks to a 1946 gift from Mrs. Emily Winthrop Miles—this dish invites visitors to appreciate how everyday objects embodied artistic ambition and cultural refinement in post-Civil War America.

About the Artist

Richards and Hartley Flint Glass Co. · 1867–1890

**Richards & Hartley Flint Glass Co.** Nestled in the heart of Pittsburgh's thriving flint glass industry, Richards & Hartley Flint Glass Co. was established in 1865 as a partnership producing pressed tableware. Founded by Joseph Richards, William T. Hartley, and John Wilson, the firm leased property on Locust Street near Pride Street, capitalizing on the region's abundant natural gas and skilled...