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Extract from the March 2010 Magazine
March 2010 Magazine Pages 12-13 ORIENTAL INFLUENCES ON VICTORIAN GLASS
by Charles R.Hajdamach
Oriental influences had appeared on English glass during the 18th century in the form of engraved, enamelled and gilded decoration of mandarins, pagodas and exotic birds on wineglasses and scent bottles.
Opaque white enamelled vases and jars made in south Staffordshire and London during the 1760s imitated the shapes and the decoration of Chinese ceramic ginger jars and vases. Even the fashion for keeping goldfish, and the appearance of English glass goldfish bowls, was a direct influence brought back from the East. In the 19th century that influence continued unabated. Glass manufacturers, alongside their counterparts in ceramics, silver and furniture, were quick to incorporate elements from cultures as varied as Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek and Roman, Turkish, Persian, Renaissance, Indian and Islamic, into their designs, with two of the most interesting in glass from the second half of the century being chinoiserie and Japanism. The reasons for this fascination with historic cultures were as varied as the influences themselves but the main ones were the exploration and discovery of hitherto little known parts of the world, the growth of the British Empire, and the rise of the international exhibitions starting with the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 in which products and materials were assembled from every corner of the globe. China's war against the European powers and the T'ai P'ing Rebellion also speeded up the flow of Chinese works of art into Europe. The Opium Wars, for example, seemed to have inspired at least two glass vases from Stourbridge.

March 2010 Magazine P9Figure 11. Cameo vase with 'Dogs of Fo' chasing each other between the waves, white on translucent green. Thomas Webb and Sons, c.1892. The cased blank was designed by George Woodhall. Height 15½in. (Private collection, London)

In the pattern books of the firm of W.H.,B., and J.Richardson, two designs show picturesque Chinese scenes in enamelled and gilded decoration on opaque white glass baluster-shaped vases, reflecting the chinoiserie mania sweeping Europe at the time (figure 2). In 1839 the seizure of opium stocks in British warehouses in China gave Palmerston the opportunity to send out a fleet of men-of-war to Canton. The result was the first of the Opium Wars. Following the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 the island of Hong Kong was ceded to the British, five treaty ports were opened and easier access was suddenly available into China. The botanical collector Robert Fortune visited the country and recounted his vivid descriptions in four books published in 1847, 1852, 1853 and 1857. The Richardson designs may have been inspired by accounts such as Fortune's as the catalogue to the sale of the contents of Richardson Hall in 1953 listed 'China Illustrated (4 Vols)'. The Richardson vases were definitely produced, as evidence shows that the pattern books were only used to record finished items put into production, but at the time of writing no examples have been found. Measuring about 12 inches high they would be an exciting find in a car boot sale or a flea market.
If the 1840s and '50s saw growing links with China, the 1860s saw the beginning of the impact of Japanese design on the decorative arts in Britain. At the 1862 International Exhibition in London visitors saw examples of Japanese porcelain, lacquer and bronze from the collection of Sir Rutherford Alcock, the first British Minister in Japan. By the 1870s the fashion had spread from a few informed individuals to a much larger appreciative group including some of the leading glass manufacturers. One of those individuals who maintained a lifelong interest in Japanese art was Christopher Dresser who was the only designer to visit Japan when, in 1876, he took gifts from English manufacturers, including glass probably made by Thomas Webb and Sons, for the newly founded National Museurr in Tokyo. In the 1870s and 1880s many industrial projec were set up in Japan along Western lines; for example, five English glassmakers helped to establish the Shinagawa glassworks near Tokyo between 1874 and 1883. These developments were highlighted when, following the 1873 International Exhibition in Vienna, a report about the English glass exhibits, including those of Apsley Pellatt and Thomas Webb, stressed 'an infusion of Japanese art which is steadily moving into European designs'.