.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Frederick Carder was an English designer, artist, and glassmaker, and notably the manager of Steuben Glass Works from its founding in 1903 until 1932 and then director of Corning Glass Works from 1932 to 1959. He was born in Wordsley, near Stourbridge in Staffordshire, England. At age 14, he left school and worked at his family’s pottery business, Leys, in Brierley Hill, England. From early on Carder was drawn to classical artwork and glass. In 1879, he visited the studio of John Northwood where there was a replica of the Portland Vase, the most famous piece of ancient Roman cameo glass. The original is held within The British Museum’s permanent collection (inv. no. 1945,0927.1). The following year, Carder started as a designer at Stevens & Williams, a large English glassmaking company, at the recommendation of Northwoods and became his chief assistant.
In 1903, Carder moved to Corning, New York at the invitation of Thomas G. Hawkes, owner of Steuben Glass Works. It was under Carder’s direction that the company became known for a wide array of luxury crystal wares – vases, bowls, goblets, candlesticks – in a variety of more than 140 colors, selling quickly in departments stores from New York to San Francisco.
In 1918, Steuben was acquired by Corning Glass Works, now Corning Incorporated, and in 1932, the new president shifted the company’s focus to colorless glass, prompting Carder into a director position. In this role he oversaw many large-scale projects such as the cast panels of Rockefeller Center. He continued to work in his own private studio well into his 80s creating one-of-a-kind works. In 1959, Carder retired at the age of 96, marking the end of his glassmaking career.
From 1945 to 1959, Carder created a series of Diatreta vases. Diatreta, or cage cups, date back to the 4th-century as Roman luxury glass vessels. They are composed of an inner cup and a decorative, reticulated outer shell. The intricate and fragile nature of these vessels have left few intact examples for modern viewers to appreciate. One such rare example is the Lycurgus Cup in The British Museum, London (inv. no. 1958,1202.1) illustrating the death of King Lycurgus through delicately carved dichroic glass mounted in gilt silver. Works like this provided Frederick Carder inspiration for his series of Diatreta vases, formed with a similar reticulated, pierce-work design using the cire perdue, or lost wax, method to make the molds and the pâte-de-verre technique to create the objects. Except for the grinding of the bases, these works were made entirely by Carder.
This present vase is an exceptional example executed in a periwinkle blue glass with intricately formed raised latticework surrounding the central cup. The vase comes from two distinguished collections, originally held by Ray and Lee Grover in Naples, Florida and then acquired by Dr. Edward and Helen McConnell, American glass connoisseurs from Athens, Georgia, in 1987. Once again, collectors are offered a chance to acquire an exquisite example of Carder’s work from his later years.
Another example of Carder’s Diatreta works can be found in the permanent collection of the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York (inv. no. 1953-05-18) and the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia (obj. no. 2015.12).
In 1903, Carder moved to Corning, New York at the invitation of Thomas G. Hawkes, owner of Steuben Glass Works. It was under Carder’s direction that the company became known for a wide array of luxury crystal wares – vases, bowls, goblets, candlesticks – in a variety of more than 140 colors, selling quickly in departments stores from New York to San Francisco.
In 1918, Steuben was acquired by Corning Glass Works, now Corning Incorporated, and in 1932, the new president shifted the company’s focus to colorless glass, prompting Carder into a director position. In this role he oversaw many large-scale projects such as the cast panels of Rockefeller Center. He continued to work in his own private studio well into his 80s creating one-of-a-kind works. In 1959, Carder retired at the age of 96, marking the end of his glassmaking career.
From 1945 to 1959, Carder created a series of Diatreta vases. Diatreta, or cage cups, date back to the 4th-century as Roman luxury glass vessels. They are composed of an inner cup and a decorative, reticulated outer shell. The intricate and fragile nature of these vessels have left few intact examples for modern viewers to appreciate. One such rare example is the Lycurgus Cup in The British Museum, London (inv. no. 1958,1202.1) illustrating the death of King Lycurgus through delicately carved dichroic glass mounted in gilt silver. Works like this provided Frederick Carder inspiration for his series of Diatreta vases, formed with a similar reticulated, pierce-work design using the cire perdue, or lost wax, method to make the molds and the pâte-de-verre technique to create the objects. Except for the grinding of the bases, these works were made entirely by Carder.
This present vase is an exceptional example executed in a periwinkle blue glass with intricately formed raised latticework surrounding the central cup. The vase comes from two distinguished collections, originally held by Ray and Lee Grover in Naples, Florida and then acquired by Dr. Edward and Helen McConnell, American glass connoisseurs from Athens, Georgia, in 1987. Once again, collectors are offered a chance to acquire an exquisite example of Carder’s work from his later years.
Another example of Carder’s Diatreta works can be found in the permanent collection of the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York (inv. no. 1953-05-18) and the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia (obj. no. 2015.12).