Philadelphia Antiques Show 2018

15 Mary Mills, “Digging I-95: Early American Glass Discoveries in Philadelphia,” Glass Club Bulletin of the National American Glass Club , no. 225 (Summer 2014): 4. 16 Arlene Palmer, Glass in Early America: Selections from the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum (Winterthur, DE: Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1993), 9-10. 17 Mills, 4. 18 George S. McKearin and Helen McKearin, American Glass (New York: Crown Publishers, 1941), 331. 19 Mills, 12. 20 Graham Hood, Bonnin and Morris of Philadelphia: The First American Porcelain Factory, 1770–1772 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2012); “Archaeological Excavation at Site of New Museum off the American Revolution Traces Philadelphia Transformation Since the 17 th Century,” Museum of the American Revolution, updated May 23, 2016, https://www.amrevmuseum.org/press-room/press-releases/ archaeological-excavation-site-new-museum-american-revolution-traces; “‘Holy Grail’ of American Ceramics Found During Archaeological Ex- cavation of New Museum Site in Philadelphia,” Museum of the American Revolution, updated January 3, 2017, https://www.amrevmuseum.org/ press-room/press-releases/%E2%80%9Choly-grail%E2%80%9D-american-ceramics-found-during-archaeological-excavation-new. Attributed to Union Flint Glass Works, Philadelphia, 1824 - 1844 Pitcher c. 1826-1830 Mold blown, non-lead glass 7 × 7 × 6 inches (17.8 × 17.8 × 15.2 cm) Purchased with the American Art Revolving Fund, 2017 2017-127-1 T ravelling north on I-95 from the site of Zoe Strauss’s exhibitions, one moves parallel to the Delaware River and passes the famous Sparks Shot Tower, the havens for summer recreation at Penn’s Landing, and familiar spires rising from the blocks of Old City, eventually arriving in the neighborhood of Kensington. Between the 1770s and the 1920s, at least five glass factories, including the Union Flint Glass Works (1824–1844), were based in Kensington, where many of their employees and their families lived as well. 15 The larger Philadelphia region, including southern New Jersey, had an established history of glass making dating back to the efforts of Caspar Wistar (1696–1752) and Wilhelm Stiegel (1729–1785). 16 Recent archeological work completed in preparation for an expansion of I-95 uncovered the remains of one of the Kensington factories, the homes of several known glass workers, and an “exceptionally large amount of early American glass,” including fragments of the same design as this pitcher. 17 Though the distinctive undulating pattern seen on this three- mold blown pitcher has been of interest to collectors since the 1940s, surviving pieces with this pattern could not be attributed to a particular maker. 18 In an exciting new development, however, the large number of fragments with this and a very similar pattern found during the I-95 excavation attribute this pitcher and other surviving pieces with this pattern to the Union Flint Glass Works. 19 Archeological work in Philadelphia like the I-95 excavation project continues to challenge assumptions about the worldly goods that were a part of life in the early city. From efforts like Graham Hood’s excavation of the site of one of the first manufacturers of porcelain in the American colonies to the excavations recently completed at the site of the newly opened Museum of the American Revolution, artifacts found in situ complement our knowledge of this historic city garnered from documentary sources and surviving objects in museum collections. 20 This pitcher is the first example of three-mold blown glass made at Union Flint Glass Works in the Museum’s collection. Though some forms of glass from this period, such as mold-blown flasks or stamped cut plates, occasionally included the name of the manufacturer in their design, more elegant wares like tumblers, glasses, and pitchers are often unmarked. The careful archeological work of the I-95 survey allows us to identify the probable manufacturer of this pitcher, strengthening the Museum’s ability to explore of the nexus of art and industry in antebellum Philadelphia. Union Flint Glass Works, Pitcher W 124 W