Chestnut Glass Hyacinth Vase

Chestnut Glass Hyacinth Vase

Dark amber glass bulb forcing vase. This type of vase was popular in the mid 1700’s to early 1900’s. A flower bulb sits within the top rim, the base is filled with water, and the roots grow down into the water.

In France, at the court of Louis XV in 1759, , Madame de Pompadour had 200 hyacinths forced on glass bulb vases. The antique vase style was re-made briefly in the 1950’s – 1960’s. Today hyacinth vases are made new, but they are obviously new, made in modern styles.

Forcing vases from the 18th & 19th century have shallow tops, made for the smaller, natural bulbs. They are hand-blown or blown from mold. Today’s bulbs are huge, and the forcing vases made today have deep bulb holders. Contemporary bulb vases are made with machined glass, they are easily identified as new. In the mid 20th century, hyacinth vases with shallow tops were made in the antique style, and they were also made in the new style with deep wells for the larger bulbs and mass-produced machine glass.

This vase was blown from mold, no seams with a swirled pontil mark on the base. The rim is folded. It has light bottom-wear. The rim shows evidence of hand-tooling. There are straw marks within the glass and seeded with a few unintentional bubbles (both resulting from old cooling methods) The color was popular in the Victorian era. We believe this vase is from the late 1800’s to early 1900’s.

In excellent condition. Glass is clear and clean, has been well-cared for. This vase has no liquid stains. It is important to empty the water every other day and completely dry the interior of the vase before it is refilled with fresh water. Standing water causes cloudiness in old glass.