above: Milk Glass with
intaglio designs
If you are looking for
Intaglio Glass there
is always some for sale
on eBay. See what there
is just now - click
Intaglio Glass
|
Intaglio Glass: A short explanation
Intaglio is a form of design/decoration where the picture is below the surface of the glass. This effect may be achieved by cutting away the glass to form the shape of the design, or by pressing the molten glass into a mold. It is the opposite of cameo glass, where the design is raised above the surface by cutting away the background.
The two milk glass sugar bowls shown on the left have intaglio designs, and you can see that the design is lower than the surface of the surrounding glass. These are examples of high quality pressed glass with intaglio cutting.
A popular form of pressed glass design in the early to mid 20th century was to impress an intaglio picture of fruit into the base of glass bowls and plates. This was a fairly common practice in England (eg Bagley), the USA (eg Imperial) and Australia (eg Crown Crystal) glassworks.
When this form of design is used with opalescent glass, it has the effect of showing a clear glass image in a milky opalescent background, because the thicker parts of opalescent glass show the opalescence more.
Intaglio cutting is just one of the techniques used by glass engravers, and has been done with engraving wheels as long ago as Roman times. It was widely used in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries and is part of the repertoire of techniques used by contemporary artists, especially those from Scandinavia.
The Orrefors glasworks in Sweden is renowned for its engraved glass, and for highly-skilled techniques like Graal and Ariel which incorporate casing, intaglio cutting, cameo cutting and coating in crystal glass.
|
