Glass flower |
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Object Description
| Brief description | Three glass whimsies, William Franzen and Son, Milwaukee, early twentieth century. |
| Object name | Whimsey |
| Maker | William Franzen and Son, 1900-1922 |
| Date | 1900-1920 |
| Dimensions |
Green flower = 3 1/2"H x 10 3/4"L Purple flower = 3 1/2"H x 6"L Hat = 2"H x 3 5/8" diam. |
| Materials and techniques | Free-blown colored glass |
| Original location | Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin |
| Current location | Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin |
| Description | This group of three glass whimsies includes a long-stemmed flower in green glass, a purple glass flower with a curving stem and a green glass hat. |
| History | The professional glassblowers who worked in factories to produce jars, bottles and window glass sometimes created glass "whimsies" during slow work periods or with materials left over at the end of a shift. These ornamental, one-of-a-kind objects included canes, chains, ladles, and fanciful shapes such as the flowers and hat shown here. According to the records of the Milwaukee Public Musuem, these whimsies were made by employees of William Franzen and Son, a Milwaukee glass manufactory. They may have been made as gifts for the young boys hired to work as assistants in the factory. |
| Sources | For more on the Milwaukee glassworks and its use of child workers, see Nicholas J. Hoffman, "Miniature Demons: The Young Helpers of Milwaukee's Glass Industry, 1880-1922" Wisconsin Magazine of History 91, no. 1 (2007): http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wmh,49378 For more on early glassmaking in Wisconsin, including Franzen's predecessors, see Peter Maas, "The Wisconsin Glass Company" Mr.Bottles.com (accessed January 20, 2009): http://www.mrbottles.com/files/wisconsin%20glass.pdf |
| Owner | Milwaukee Public Museum |
| Object # |
Green flower = E47809/14032 Purple flower = H16513/21578 Hat = E47807/14032 |
| Rights | (c) 2007 by the Milwaukee Public Museum. Contact the owner for more information. http://www.mpm.edu/collections/dept/history.php |
| Digital collection | Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database |
| Digital identifier | MPM017 |
| Digital format | XML |
| Type | Physical object |
| Keywords | Glass; Whimsey; Knicknack; Miniature (toy); Toy (recreational artifact); Recreational artifacts; Furnishings and equipment; Art |
| Date digitized | 2007-07-02 |
| Date modified | 2009-03-10 |
Description
| Object name | Glass flower |
| Rights | (c) 2007 by the Milwaukee Public Museum. Contact the owner for more information. http://www.mpm.edu/collections/dept/history.php |
| Digital collection | Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database |
| Digital identifier | MPM017a |
| Digital format | image/jpeg |
| Type | Physical object |
| Date digitized | 2007-07-02 |
| Date modified | 2009-02-03 |
