This talk places the decanter within glassmaking history, charting its stylistic evolution and the life & times of its users. The decanter occupies a unique position in glass history. Though its name was not coined until around 1700, it was the fount of wine drinking for 2000 years, and it remained the principal vessel in the British table-glass repertoire between 1770-1970.
1745-70. Three English mid/late 18th century
decanters.
The subject is rich and the talk examines the decanter’s
ancient antecedents, the development of the robust ‘English
bottle’ [from the 1650s]; Ravenscroft’s perfected formula
for lead crystal [1676]; the earliest decanters, and 18th
century drinking and dining rituals, both in taverns and
the Great Houses.
1899. Amber globular decanter with a silver-mount
sporting an ivory netsuke monkey. Designed: Harry
Powell for Whitefriars, London. [Miles Hoole].
During the Georgian and Victorian eras the decanter
enjoyed pre-eminence as the iconic centrepiece of British
drinking and dining. However, when Britain’s wine
consumption fell to a historic low in the 1950s & 60s,
the decanter got lost in the shuffle. In the absence of
wine, they were filled with the nation’s then-favourite
tipple, sherry, and the bond was broken.
The fact that decanting improves the flavour of most wines
is widely accepted, and British wine consumption has now
rebounded to historic levels. And yet it is decanted in
probably less than 1% of homes.
1927. Amber Marienthal decanter with sculpted
stopper. Designed: René Lalique, Paris.
Is the decanter finished: a redundant relic of a bygone
age? Do only former officers in the Bengal Lancers still
decant wine?
No! That’s the resounding answer, and this talk has proved
a popular catalyst in encouraging those who attend it to
dust off their examples and, wait for it…actually
use them!
1990s. Trojan Carriage decanter sculpture.
Designed: Markku Salo for Nuutäjarvi,
Finland. [Bukowski, Helsinki].