Steuben Glass Works

Minna Rosenblatt Antiques, Brooklyn, New York

Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1973

Paul Gardner, The Glass of Frederick Carder, New York, 1970, p. 285, no. 6766 (for a sketch of the model)

Paul Gardner, Frederick Carder: Portrait of a Glassmaker, Corning, NY, 1985, p. 78

Tom P. Dimitroff, Frederick Carder and Steuben Glass, Corning, NY, 1998, p. 48, fig 4.20 (illustrated)

Named for the mineral it attempts to replicate, Steuben’s Rose Quartz glass is very similar in nature to the company’s Cintra and Cluthra lines. Crushed and powdered glass was marvered into a gather of transparent glass that was slightly enlarged on the blowpipe and then cased with a thick layer of the same clear glass. Although the predominate color used was a reddish pink, Steuben also made Quartz pieces in alabaster, amethyst, blue, green, peach and yellow.

The Rose Quartz example offered here demonstrates how the forms could be further embellished. A Japanese-inspired decoration that Carder referred to as Matsu-no-ke was formed with applied and tooled sprays of Asian flowers, leaves and vines in thick clear glass. The entire object was than briefly submerged in an acid bath that provided a matte acid finish as well as forming a few cameo leaves in low relief.

-Paul Doros