JAMES HERBERT MCNAIR (1868-1955) §
LIQUEUR GLASS, CIRCA 1897
Estimate: £3,000 - £5,000
Auction: Day Two | Lots 253 to 490 | Thursday 17th April from 10am
Description
‘Clutha’ glass, made by James Couper & Sons, Glasgow
Dimensions
12cm high
Footnote
Exhibited: Liverpool, St George's Hall, The Educational Exhibition, The Applied Art Court, 1900
Literature: Morris, Talwin Concerning the Work of Margaret Macdonald, Frances Macdonald, Charles Mackintosh and Herbert MacNair: An Appreciation, unpublished manuscript, Coll. Glasgow Museums
Dekorative Kunst, vol.3, 1898, ill. p.73
Architectural Review, vol.9, 1901, p.40, ill. p.41
Larner G. and Larner C. The Glasgow Style, Astragal Books, London, 1980, where an incomplete variant is illustrated.
This rare liqueur glass, one of two known to exist in complete form, is mentioned in various contemporary publications including Dekorative Kunst in 1898 and Architectural Review in 1901 where they were also illustrated in a group of around 28. The earliest mention of the glasses can be found in an unpublished manuscript by the designer Talwin Morris where Morris expounds on the virtues of the Glasgow Four designers. In anticipation of publication he also alludes to the photograph of the glasses, intending to use it as one of the illustrations of his appreciation. He remarks on McNair's glass designs “The artist's need:- we might fittingly say passion - for expression has lately found vent in various, and beautiful, designs for glass-ware. Dainty, almost ethereal in design, while showing sufficiently the result needful in articles for practical use; these have been executed under their author's personal supervision; with the result that we may obtain a set, uniform in general plan, with each item of general interest; secured by intelligent application of detail, and freedom from mechanical texture. We reproduce here a little cluster of liqueur glass; the most recent result of this development.”