{"product_id":"amberina-pressed-glass-bowl-ruby-shading-to-amber-vertical-ribs-with-a-bead-and-scallop-rim-and-a-rayed-star-foot-american-c-1955-1980","title":"Amberina Pressed Glass Bowl, Ruby Shading to Amber, Vertical Ribs with a Bead-and-Scallop Rim and a Rayed Star Foot, American, c. 1955–1980","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eA low round bowl in \u003cstrong\u003eamberina\u003c\/strong\u003e — glass that runs from deep ruby at the rim to clear amber at the foot, in one continuous passage with no seam and no edge where the colours meet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe body is \u003cstrong\u003epressed in vertical ribs\u003c\/strong\u003e, thirty-odd of them, rising from the foot and finishing in a \u003cstrong\u003ebead-and-scallop rim\u003c\/strong\u003e that rolls over in a row of rounded lobes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eIt stands on a \u003cstrong\u003elow moulded foot\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the underside carries a \u003cstrong\u003erayed star\u003c\/strong\u003e pressed into the base inside a raised bearing ring.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe colour is in the glass, not on it.\u003c\/strong\u003e Ruby holds the top third, breaks into orange through the middle, and clears to pale amber by the foot. There is no line anywhere in that transition, which is the whole point and the thing that separates real amberina from imitations of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePut a light above it and it stops being a bowl.\u003c\/strong\u003e The ribs act as lenses and throw a rosette of red and gold across whatever it stands on — a disc of alternating light and shadow considerably wider than the bowl itself. It is the best thing this object does and no photograph taken in flat light will show it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAmberina was patented in 1883\u003c\/strong\u003e by Joseph Locke and Edward Libbey at the New England Glass Works in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and it is one of the few genuinely American contributions to the history of decorative glass.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe trick is gold and heat.\u003c\/strong\u003e The batch carries colloidal gold, invisible in the amber glass as it comes from the furnace. The finished piece is then \u003cstrong\u003ereheated at the top before it cools\u003c\/strong\u003e, and wherever that heat reaches, the suspended gold precipitates and strikes to ruby. Everything the heat missed stays amber. One object, one batch of glass, two colours, and no join — because there is nothing to join.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis is why the transition has no edge, and why the colour is permanent.\u003c\/strong\u003e Imitations of amberina are \u003cem\u003eflashed\u003c\/em\u003e: a red layer laid over an amber blank, which stops at a visible line, wears thin on raised edges and can be scratched through at the rim. Struck amberina cannot be scratched off, does not wear at the high points, and \u003cstrong\u003ewill not fade in sunlight\u003c\/strong\u003e. The colour is a structural property of the glass rather than a coating on it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAmberina was made both blown and pressed from the beginning.\u003c\/strong\u003e The New England Glass Works produced blown art glass; Hobbs, Brockunier \u0026amp; Co. of Wheeling were licensed under the patent and made theirs chiefly as pressed ware. Mt. Washington produced a version under the name Rose Amber until an injunction in 1886 stopped them. So pressed amberina is not a later corruption of the idea — it was part of it from the first years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe pattern came back in the twentieth century\u003c\/strong\u003e, when the American pressed-glass houses revived amberina for the mid-century table and gift market. That revival is where this bowl belongs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eDated on the construction rather than the colour: a moulded rayed star to the base, a moulded bead-and-scallop rim, and regular mould ribs with rounded tops place it in the \u003cstrong\u003etwentieth-century American pressed amberina revival\u003c\/strong\u003e rather than among the blown art glass of the 1880s. \u003cstrong\u003ec. 1955–1980.\u003c\/strong\u003e The bowl carries \u003cstrong\u003eno maker’s mark\u003c\/strong\u003e of any kind and is offered \u003cstrong\u003eunattributed\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003ctable\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePressed amberina glass bowl\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDimensions\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eApproximately 8 in across by 3½ in high\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eLow round bowl on a moulded foot, pressed in vertical ribs, with a bead-and-scallop rim and a rayed star pressed into the underside\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eGlass\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAmberina — struck, not flashed. Deep ruby at the rim passing through orange to clear amber at the foot, with no line at the transition.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eNone. No maker’s mark, label or signature. Offered unattributed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ec. 1955–1980. Dated on the pressed construction — moulded rayed star base, moulded bead-and-scallop rim, regular mould ribs — placing it in the twentieth-century American pressed amberina revival rather than the blown art glass of the 1880s.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eExcellent. \u003cstrong\u003eNo chips, no cracks, no bruises, no repairs and no restoration.\u003c\/strong\u003e The rim is complete with every scallop intact and smooth to the touch the whole way round. The colour is strong and even, and the ruby is unworn at the rim and the high points of the ribs — as it should be in struck glass, and as it would not be in a flashed imitation. \u003cstrong\u003eThe underside carries fine, faint linear marks across the base\u003c\/strong\u003e, consistent with a bowl that has stood and been moved on hard surfaces for decades. They are on the foot and the underside only, invisible when the bowl is upright or in use, and they do not affect the clarity of the glass. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003ePut it under a light. Everything else about this bowl is secondary to that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eA downlight, a picture light, a table lamp with the shade above it, a window with afternoon sun — and the ribs throw a wide rosette of red and gold across the surface beneath, wider than the bowl and considerably more interesting than it. Most glass looks good lit. This one draws.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eIt is an unusually useful shape. Eight inches across and three and a half deep is the size that holds oranges and lemons on a kitchen counter, or clementines at Christmas, and the colour flatters fruit in a way a clear bowl cannot. Fill it and the amber base disappears under whatever is in it while the ruby rim stays.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eOn a hall table it takes keys, sunglasses and post. On a dresser it takes jewellery. In a bathroom it holds soaps or rolled flannels. It is heavy-bottomed enough not to skate and shallow enough to reach into without looking.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eEmpty, it is a colour object. Red is the hardest colour to introduce into a room without committing to it — paint it and you have made a decision, but a red bowl can be moved. This one reads warm rather than loud, because it is ruby resolving into amber rather than a flat red, and it sits well with brass, walnut, oak and cream.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eIt also earns a place on a Christmas table with no seasonal decoration required. Ruby and gold in one object, doing it honestly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eAnd the colour will outlive you. \u003cstrong\u003eStruck amberina does not fade\u003c\/strong\u003e, because the ruby is precipitated gold suspended inside the glass rather than a stain on the surface. A window seat will not hurt it, which is not true of most coloured glass and is not true of any flashed imitation of this one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eA note on care. \u003cstrong\u003eHand wash only, in warm water with a little dish soap, and dry it with a soft cloth.\u003c\/strong\u003e Never a dishwasher: the detergent and the heat cycle together etch glass permanently, and a bowl whose entire appeal is optical clarity is exactly the wrong thing to cloud.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAvoid sudden temperature change.\u003c\/strong\u003e Do not take it from a cold room and fill it with hot water, and do not put it in an oven or a freezer. Pressed glass holds internal stress from the mould and thermal shock finds it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eDo not use abrasive powders, scouring pads or anything gritty. The ribs and the pressed star trap grit and the scratches will not come out. A soft brush gets into the flutes perfectly well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eDry it before it goes away, and store it upright rather than nested inside another bowl — glass rims resting against glass is how scallops get chipped in a cupboard.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48047258861673,"sku":"VE-0745","price":95.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/EA6C4DC0-5FC6-4BFA-B0F1-0474211EE712.jpg?v=1789289283","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/amberina-pressed-glass-bowl-ruby-shading-to-amber-vertical-ribs-with-a-bead-and-scallop-rim-and-a-rayed-star-foot-american-c-1955-1980","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}