Isabel De Obaldía, Crocodiles in Troubled Waters (Cocodrilos en aguas turbias)
A Panamanian painter and printmaker, Isabel De Obaldía creates images that reflect those of a long line of modern “primitive” painters—from Paul Gauguin to Diego Rivera—who explored the art of ancient and tribal cultures. Crocodiles in Troubled Waters takes the form of a four-legged rectangular metate with the heads of two crocodiles at either end, a glass version of the traditional stone mortars used for grinding maize and grains. De Obaldía’s totemic animals are semi-magical in feeling, with a powerful, almost shamanic presence. Colored with glass powders and engraved with deep cuts and gashes, the artist emphasizes the strong, raw, and earthy quality of her sculptures, which look ancient, as if excavated after years of burial. This object will be on view in the new North Wing Contemporary Galleries opening December 2014. (2014.5.1, H: 21.6 cm, W: 101.6 cm, D: 34.3 cm.)

Guggenheim Cup
In 1875, an article in the New York Herald described the Salviati & Co. glassworks located in the courtyard of the Palazzo Da Mula on Murano. The article recounts that the company had two furnaces, each with several glory holes. The Barovier family labored at one, and members of the Seguso family at the other. A lively competition developed between the younger members of both glassmaking dynasties. Venetian furniture manufacturer Michelangelo Guggenheim often lent items from his collection of antique Venetian glass to the industrial art school in the Palazzo Revedin, Venice, in order to inspire young glassblowers, including members of the Seguso and Barovier families. In 1875, 17-year-old Isidoro Seguso (1858-1897) reproduced the Coppa Guggenheim, a 17th-century Venetian goblet in Guggenheim’s collection (the goblet is now lost). Twenty-two year old Giuseppe Barovier (1853-1942) made another copy within the same year. The Coppa Guggenheim recently acquired by the Museum was probably made by Giuseppe Barovier. It is a remarkable feat of glassmaking since the cup itself is supported solely by the applied ornament—there is no central stem. (2013.3.19, Purchased in part with funds from the F. M. Kirby Foundation, H: 47.6 cm, Diam: 10.4 cm.)

Obelisk
The European fascination with Egyptian culture reached new heights following the expedition by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) to Egypt in 1798-1801. This recently acquired obelisk made by Werner and Meith around the years 1800-1810 epitomizes the resulting Egyptomania. Only three other Werner and Mieth–made obelisks are known to have survived. The fact that this artifact is one of only four known underlines its rarity. The Corning obelisk was most likely a royal commission; the Werner and Mieth ormolu mounts give this claim added validity. A potential link to the French royal house under Napoleon is a strong possibility: one major client of Werner and Mieth was Joséphine de Beauharnais, Napoleon’s wife. At least one of Werner and Mieth’s glass objects has survived in her home, Château de Malmaison. (2013.3.13, H: 69.2 cm, W: 19.6 cm, D: 19.5 cm.)

Deckelpokal (Goblet with Cover)
This recently acquired deckelpokal is the only known object in decorative arts that connects Goethe, Count von Radziwill and Alexander Wolff – three cultural luminaries of their time. The goblet came from the personal collection of the German actor Pius Alexander Wolff (1782-1828), to whom it was given by Count Anton von Radziwill (1775-1833), a talented singer, virtuoso cello player and composer. Radziwill’s most important composition was the musical version of the renowned German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s (1749-1832) tragedy Faust. The goblet was a gift to commemorate the musical premiere of Goethe’s Faust in the Berlin palace of Count von Radziwill. The premiere took place during the occasion of the 50th birthday of Radziwill's wife, Princess Luise of Prussia on May 24, 1820. (2013.3.11, gift of the Ennion Society, H: 34 cm, Diam: 16.9 cm.)

Forget-Me-Not, Lilac and Morning Glory Vases
Union Glass Company was located in Somerville, Massachusetts and operated from 1854 through 1927. It was the first glassmaking venture for the Houghton Family, who owned and operated the company until 1864. The company’s product changed over the years from utilitarian glass such as lamps, pressed tableware, silvered glass, and industrial objects, to a more luxurious product of fine-quality lead blanks for cutting and colored art glass. These three green vases, although plain, represent an important aspect of Union’s business. Amongst the miscellaneous art glass produced at Union was a lucrative series of glass marketed to florists. “Garden” glass, as this line was also termed, comprised vases, bowls, decanters, and pitchers available to complement floral arrangements. The unique part of this line was designating names to certain shapes that held correlating flowers such as “Morning Glory,” “Lilac,” and “Forget-Me-Not.” Luxury goods like cut glass and exotic flowers were powerful symbols that conveyed social status in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The choice of flowers and the method in which they were displayed were the subject of many articles and books geared toward women in the mid-late nineteenth century. (2014.4.4; 2014.4.5, and 2014.4.6, purchased with funds from the Martha J. Herpst Estate. Dimensions vary.)

Plinianae exercitationes in Caji Julii Solini Polyhistora (Extracts from Pliny in the Polyhistor of Gaius Iulius Solinus)First published in 1629 by Claudius Salmasius, Plinianae exercitationes is a commentary on the Roman author Gaius Iulius Solinus’s Polyhistor, written about 200–250. Polyhistor, also known as De mirabilibus mundi (The wonders of the world), is a geographical survey of the history, customs, and products of different regions; it is best known today for introducing the term “Mediterranean Sea.” Solinus copied extensively from earlier authors, particularly Pliny’s encyclopedic Natural History, which includes the earliest and certainly the most complete contemporaneous account of glassmaking in the ancient world. Salmasius’s text comments on Pliny, including his description of glassmaking, through Solinus’s Polyhistor.

Plinianae exercitationes is considered one of the finest commentaries ever written about an ancient text. The Rakow’s recently acquired copy is the definitive second edition, printed in 1689. In the late 19th century, it was owned by classical scholar Robinson Ellis, who is noted for his work on the Latin poet Catullus; Ellis signed his name on the frontispiece with the date 1895. In the 20th century, the book was owned by renowned scholar George P. Goold , chief editor of the Loeb Classical Library series for 25 years. The book thus evokes nearly two millenniums of classical scholarship, beginning with Pliny’s Natural History, and reflects the continuum of the scholarly process to which the Museum’s former executive director David Whitehouse dedicated himself throughout his life. (CMGL 136005, Gift of Susan W. Schwartz in memory of David Whitehouse.)