Vase

Art Historical Context

This exquisite blown glass vase, created around 1888 by the New England Glass Company and Mount Glass Company, stands a modest 6 1/4 inches (15.9 cm) tall. Now on view in The American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of—thanks to the generous gift of Mrs. Emilythrop Miles in 194—it captures the refined elegance of late 19th-century American decorative arts. blown glass medium was a hallmark of the era's glassmaking innovation, where molten glass was gathered on a blowpipe and skillfully shaped with breath and tools to form delicate, luminous vessels. New England Glass Company, a pioneer since 1818, and Mount Washington Glass Company, renowned for experimental techniques, together represented America's Gilded Age push toward artistic glass production, rivaling European imports. Though small, this vase embodies the cultural shift toward affordable luxury in American homes, blending industrial precision with handcrafted beauty. A charming survivor of its time, it invites us to appreciate the anonymous artisans who transformed silica into shimmering heirlooms.

About the Artist

New England Glass Company|Mount Washington Glass Company · 1818–1888

**The New England Glass Company: Pioneers of American Flint Glass** The New England Glass Company was established on February 16, 1818, in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, by a quartet of prominent local businessmen: Amos Binney, Edmund Munroe, Daniel Hastings, and Deming Jarves. Jarves, drawing on his dry goods background and talent for recruiting Europe's finest cutters, served as operational man...