Pitcher

Date1890-1894

Mediumglass; gilt

Donor credit lineGift of Louis O. St. Aubin, Jr.

Object number2002.50

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionA Mt. Washington glass pitcher is decorated with three painted, enameled goldfish in brown, orange, and red tones swimming across a clear glass surface. Delicate tracery of crisscrossing gold lines mimic netting, while a gold rim and applied handle featuring decorative gold lines finish the piece. During the 1890's, Mount Washington produced two decorated wares called Napoli and Verona. Verona is a clear glass decorated on the exterior with enamel painted fish and flower motifs, and sometimes outlined in gold or silver. This type of decoration features characteristics of both Royal Flemish and Napoli wares.

Mt. Washington and its successor, the Pairpoint Corporation, were one of America’s longest-running luxury glass companies in operation from 1837 to 1957; for 87 of those 120 years they were located in New Bedford. Constantly reinventing and re-invigorating the business through creativity in texture, decoration, pattern, and color, the companies developed a variety of styles and decorating techniques which were so technically complex that few are practiced today. Mt. Washington and Pairpoint rivaled fine art glass manufacturers like Tiffany and Steuben in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

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