Wine Glass
ca. 1885–87
Medium
Blown glass
Dimensions
H. 4 5/8 in. (11.7 cm)
Classification
Wine glass
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Emily Winthrop Miles, 1946
Accession Number
46.140.506
Art Historical Context
This delicate wine glass, crafted by the Hobbs, Brockunier and around 1885–87, exemplifies the finesse of late 19th-century Americanmaking. Produced in Wheeling, West Virginia—one of America's glassmaking hubs—this blown glass piece stands just 4 5/8 inches tall, perfect for intimate toasts at Gilded Age dinners. The company's innovative techniques helped elevate U.S. glass from utilitarian wares to elegant tableware, rivaling European imports during a booming industrial era. Blown glass, the medium here, involves gathering molten glass on a blowpipe and shaping it with breath and tools, allo...
About the Artist
Hobbs, Brockunier and Company · 1863–1891
**J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company**, a pioneering American glass manufacturer, traces its origins to 1845 when John L. Hobbs and James B. Barnes, both former supervisory employees at the prestigious New England Glass Company in Massachusetts, leased the idle South Wheeling Glass Works in what is now Wheeling, West Virginia. After several reorganizations amid partner changes—including the addit...