Description
c1910 Quezal Iridescent American Art glass diminutive bowl 4.5" wide with great<br>iridescence, no cracks, chips, or restorations.<br><br>toothpickdrawer<br><br>Quezal Art Glass – The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles – April 2003<br><br>By Malcolm Mac Neil<br><br>Some of the most beautiful and alluring art glass made in America during the<br>early part of the 20th Century was made by the Quezal Art Glass and Decorating<br>Company. Often in the shape of blossoming lilies with brilliant gold interiors<br>and colorfully decorated with floral and other motifs inspired by nature, Quezal<br>art glass ranks right alongside the iridescent glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany<br>and Frederick Carder. Quezal artisans created an extensive range of decorative<br>and useful items, including vases, compotes, finger bowls, open salts, candle<br>holders, and shades for lighting fixtures, which are equivalent in terms of<br>beauty and quality of craftsmanship to Tiffany’s Favrile and Carder’s Aurene<br>glass. In recent years, glass collectors have discovered anew the special charms<br>and appeal of Quezal art glass, and collector desirability for this lovely<br>glassware has increased dramatically.<br><br>The Quezal Art Glass and Decorating Company was incorporated a century ago, on<br>March 27, 1902. It was founded by Martin Bach, Sr., Thomas Johnson, Nicholas<br>Bach, Lena Scholtz, and Adolph Demuth. The factory was located on the corner of<br>Fresh Pond Road and Metropolitan Avenue in Maspeth, Queens, New York. In October<br>1902, the trademark “Quezal” was successfully registered. By 1904, roughly fifty<br>glassworkers were employed at the works.<br><br>Martin Bach, Sr. was the president, proprietor, and guiding force behind this<br>successful company. Born in 1862 in Alsace-Lorraine to German parents, he<br>emigrated to the United States in 1891. Before his emigration, Bach worked in<br>Saint-Louis, France, at the Saint-Louis Glass Factory. After Bach arrived in<br>this country, he was hired by Louis C. Tiffany as the latter’s first batch-mixer<br>or chemist at the newly established Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, in<br>Corona, Queens. After a period of about eight years, Bach left Tiffany and<br>established his own glassworks. By this time, Bach had already started his small<br>family. He and his German-born wife, Anne-Marie Geisser, whom he married in the<br>fall of 1889, in Paris, France, had three children. Two daughters, Jennie and<br>Louise, were born in France and a son, Martin, Jr., was born in Corona.<br><br>Bach was assisted by Thomas Johnson, an English immigrant, and Maurice Kelly, a<br>native of Corona, both of whom were gaffers or master glassblowers. Johnson and<br>Kelly helped pave the way for Quezal’s early accomplishments and later<br>recognition. Thomas Johnson, like Bach, was a founding member and also<br>previously employed by Louis C. Tiffany. Johnson’s association with Quezal,<br>however, was relatively short lived. Around 1907, Johnson left for Somerville,<br>Massachusetts, where he became involved in making Kew Blas glass, under William<br>S. Blake at the Union Glass Company. Maurice Kelly’s tenure with Quezal was also<br>brief. Kelly worked at Quezal from January 1902 until July 1904, but by November<br>1904, he was making Favrile glass at Tiffany Furnaces, where he would happily<br>remain until 1918.<br><br>To this day, the belief still exists that there once existed a man named Quezal,<br>who worked for Louis C. Tiffany, and it is after him that Quezal glass is named.<br>In truth, however, the founders of the Quezal Art Glass and Decorating Company<br>named the company and its products after one of the world’s most beautiful<br>birds, the elusive and rare quetzal, which dwells in the treetops of the remote<br>tropical forests of Central America. A rare company promotional brochure<br>provides a vivid description of the quetzal: Of all the birds of the America’s,<br>it is the most gorgeous. No more splendid sight is to be seen in all the world<br>than a quezal, flying like a darting flame through the depths of a Central<br>American forest. Its back is of a brilliant metallic green, so vivid it shines<br>even in the twilight of the woods like a great emerald and its breast is a<br>crimson so deep and bright that every motion of the wonderful creature is a<br>flashing of rubies among the trees and giant creepers. It bears a true golden<br>crown upon its head – a helmet of bright yellow and green, shaped just as the<br>helmet of old Aztec kings were shaped. Its tail is composed of lacelike plumes,<br>extending more than two and one-half feet beyond its body.<br><br>The quezal was certainly an appropriate designation for the company’s<br>resplendent glassware. One of the most prized characteristics of Quezal art<br>glass is the shimmering and dazzling brilliance reflected in the iridescent<br>surfaces on the interior as well as exterior of the glass. The radiant rainbow<br>colors in metallic hues, including gold, purple, blue, green, and pink, to name<br>only a few, were certainly inspired by the quetzal and its feathers. Not<br>surprisingly, lustrous feathers, in shades of opal, gold, emerald, and blue, are<br>among the most common decorative motifs encountered on Quezal glass.<br><br>The enduring hallmark of Quezal art glass is its unique expression of the Art<br>Nouveau style, based on organic shapes and naturalistic motifs coupled with<br>technical perfection in the . Vases, compotes, drinking vessels, and shades for<br>lighting fixtures were often fashioned to resemble flowers such as crocuses,<br>tulips, calla lilies, casablanca lilies, and jack-in-the-pulpits. Variously<br>colored inlaid threads of glass, pulled and twisted by hooks, simulate<br>naturalistic floral and leaf patterns, lily pads, clover leafs, and vines. Opal,<br>gold, and green colors prevail and the glass is generally opaque. Red is the<br>rarest color of all. Compared with Tiffany’s Favrile glass, the crisp, vivid,<br>and colorful decoration of Quezal art glass is distinctively precise,<br>symmetrical, and restrained.<br><br>Other Quezal wares recall shapes and styles favored in ancient Egypt, Persia,<br>Greece, and Rome, as well as the Italian Renaissance and the Georgian period in<br>England. This is especially true of classic-shaped vases and bowls of<br>translucent amber glass, which have a single surface color such as iridescent<br>gold or blue. Still, others were inspired by traditional Chinese and Japanese<br>forms.<br><br>The Gorham Manufacturing Company in Providence, Rhode Island, and the Alvin<br>Silver Manufacturing Company in Sag Harbor, Long Island, purchased Quezal art<br>glass, which they in turn embellished in their shops with silver overlay<br>decoration in the fashionable Art Nouveau style and later resold. Gorham’s<br>silver overlay designs mostly include stylized floral motifs. Alvin’s silver<br>designs are wonderfully organic. One sumptuous design is of a group of sinuous<br>iris blossoms with carefully articulated petals surrounded by attenuated<br>meandering vines. Collectors should note that not all silver-deposit pieces are<br>marked with a maker’s mark since the silversmith had to be quite careful not to<br>damage the glass underneath.<br><br>A rare 1907 retail catalog survives from Bailey, Banks, and Biddle Company, a<br>luxury goods retailer in Philadelphia, which reveals original retail prices of<br>Quezal art glass. A surprising revelation provided by this catalog is that<br>Quezal art glass was nearly twice as expensive as comparable French imported<br>glass made by such renowned firms as Gallé and Daum. Hock glasses, a stemmed<br>glass used primarily for drinking German white wine, were sold by the dozen and<br>retailed between $50 and $75. Fingerbowls were also sold by the dozen and<br>retailed between $50 and $100. These high retail prices were nearly the same as<br>those charged for Tiffany’s Favrile glass, and suggest Quezal art glass was also<br>marketed towards the high-end or luxury market.<br><br>Electricity was a brand new invention in the late 1800s and American glass<br>manufacturers developed novel approaches for concealing the electric light bulb,<br>which was rather harsh to the eye and perhaps unflattering to the domestic<br>interior. Tiffany, Steuben, and Quezal responded to this need with the most<br>extraordinary and beautiful art-glass shades, all of which were hand-made and<br>exquisitely fashioned. Many other companies also made art glass shades for table<br>and floor lamps, electroliers, hallway fixtures, and wall sconces, but it was<br>Quezal that excelled in this area and was the most prolific.<br><br>Quezal art glass shades were available in an infinite variety of shapes, sizes,<br>colors, and decorations. Some shades are formed and decorated as lilies while<br>others are bell-shaped and have ribbed or textured decoration. Rims are usually<br>plain but sometimes are notched or ruffled. Common motifs include feather or<br>hooked feather, leaf and vine, applied flowers, drape, fishnet, King Tut, and<br>spider webbing. The workmanship shown on most Quezal shades is of the highest<br>caliber. The sale of these shades represented a significant portion of the<br>firm’s revenue. Many manufacturers and retailers of electric lighting fixtures<br>purchased Quezal shades to sell with their fixtures, including Edward F.<br>Caldwell and Company in New York City, Stuart-Howland Company in Boston, and The<br>David J. Braun Mfg. Co., in Chicago. The 1907 Bailey, Banks and Biddle retail<br>catalog mentioned earlier, reveals Quezal art glass shades retailed between<br>$7.50 and $22.50 per shade. Today, Quezal shades are actively collected and<br>prices are considerably higher, especially for the rarest, largest, and most<br>elaborately decorated ones.<br><br>Amazingly, little is known about the original names for each of the company’s<br>products – for they certainly had them. One most satisfying exception is an<br>attractive and distinctive line introduced by Quezal in 1917, which was<br>appropriately named “The Glass That Looks Like Pottery.” The subtle color<br>blending and soft finish of the glass has all the rich color tones of the finest<br>contemporary art pottery produced in America or abroad. In 1919, Quezal’s new<br>sales representatives, Dela Croix & Wilcken, who were located at 19 Madison<br>Avenue in Manhattan, changed the name to “Innovation.”<br><br>“Innovation” is distinguished from Quezal’s other art glass because it is not<br>iridescent. In addition, the high-gloss body of the glass is always opaque and<br>usually consists of a subtle and artistic blending of colors that include dark<br>and light brown, olive green, gray, pale blue, lavender, dark orange, and pale<br>yellow. Previously this glass has been referred to as “stone,” “agate” or<br>“laminated” glass, which are the different terms used to designate a similar<br>type of glass by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company. No two pieces are<br>alike. The over-all effect is otherworldly and sometimes reminiscent of a<br>tropical sunset. In some cases, the shape and coloring are strikingly similar to<br>ceramics; in others the decoration is bold and distinctive.<br><br>Fortunately, a few of the line drawing sketchbooks, trade catalog pages,<br>bill-heads, correspondence and other papers from the Quezal glassworks have<br>survived. In 1994, these papers were donated by the children of Martin Bach,<br>Jr., Gladyce Bach Wells, and Clifford Bach, to the Museum of American Glass at<br>Wheaton Village in Millville, New Jersey. One of these documents reveals the<br>original pattern designations, which included diamond, curl, hammered, frill,<br>block-a-dot, reed, feather, leaf, heart, and spider. The “spider” decoration is<br>certainly an appropriate designation for this type of glass. It is easily<br>recognizable by the very thin threads of amber glass randomly wrapped around<br>some vases and shades, much like a real spider would weave its web. Detailed<br>line drawings exist for a wide variety of items and demonstrate the high level<br>of technical skill required by Quezal artisans, who manufactured these items<br>according to clearly prescribed specifications.<br><br>Most companies that produced art glass in this country followed the lead of<br>Louis C. Tiffany and marked their products with an identifying signature or a<br>paper label to distinguish their products from those of their competitors. The<br>Quezal glassworks was no exception. Quezal art glass is usually signed so it can<br>be more easily distinguished from similar items, including those marked Tiffany,<br>Steuben, Kew Blas, Imperial, Fostoria, Lustre Art, and Durand. A few of the<br>different marks that are sometimes found on genuine Quezal items include “Quezal<br>N.Y.,” “Quezal,” accompanied by a decorative scroll underline, and “Quezal”<br>together with a prefix letter and numeral. Two variations of the mark, “Quezal,”<br>by itself, are known: it appears either engraved into the surface of the glass<br>or else a special pencil or stylus was used, which left a platinum or silver<br>signature. Vases and other tableware items are generally signed on the underside<br>in the area of the pontil mark. The signature on a Quezal shade is usually found<br>along the interior of the fitter rim, which is the part of the shade that<br>adheres to the lighting fixture.<br><br>Martin Bach, Sr. was often given to generous actions and gave away a good many<br>pieces of his beautiful Quezal glass to neighbors, friends, and even settled his<br>local debts with his wares. When he died of cancer on August 1, 1921, at the age<br>of fifty-nine in the Greenpoint Hospital in Brooklyn, unfilled orders for Quezal<br>art glass totaled some $350,000 – a considerable sum in 1921. Complicating<br>matters, Quezal was experiencing financial difficulties under the management of<br>Robert Robinson, president, and Martin Bach, Jr., vice-president.<br><br>Dr. John Ferguson, a close friend of the Bach family and their family physician,<br>was brought in as an investor. Dr. Ferguson, together with three other wealthy<br>friends, raised the capital necessary to keep the factory operational. The<br>investors contributed an undisclosed sum of money and promised additional<br>financing if Martin Bach Jr. could show a profit of $1,000 at the end of the<br>year.<br><br>Notwithstanding the infusion of capital, in December 1923, the Quezal Art Glass<br>and Decorating Company was sold to Edward Conlan, a personal friend of Dr.<br>Ferguson, and in January 1924, the Quezal Art Glass and Decorating Company was<br>reorganized as the Quezal Glass Manufacturing Company. Dr. Ferguson served as<br>president and Martin Bach Jr. served as general manager. The reorganized company<br>continued to make both commercial and artistic glassware and even introduced<br>many new articles.<br><br>Several important glass artisans were employed in the art glass shop, including<br>Harry and Percy Britton, William Wiedebine, and Emil Larson, a gaffer hired in<br>1923. Sadly, by early 1924, the majority, if not all, of Quezal’s artisans from<br>the art glass shop had left the factory, which closed soon thereafter. These<br>individuals and Martin Bach, Jr., who was in possession of his father’s<br>glassmaking formulas, moved on to other glass manufacturers, including the<br>Imperial Glass Company in Bellaire, Ohio, and the Durand Art Glass division of<br>the Vineland Flint Glass Works, in Vineland, New Jersey.<br>tw210
