Posts Tagged ‘american war of independence’

Antique American Silver Styles POST RENAISSANCE (1650-1690) When the first silversmiths crossed the ocean around 1650 they took the style of the late Renaissance with them from Europe. People such as John Hull and Robert Sanderson were immigrants from England and started making in the English style until the Puritans stuck a spoke in the wheel. Silver destined for Protestant homes and churches needed to be simple and practical. A puritanical hybrid style arose that blended simplicity with post Renaissance that retained as much of the Renaissance as possible. EARLY BAROQUE (1690-1720) Early Baroque is a heavy style with large proportions, solid arched forms, with florid three dimensional details. The Dutchman Jurian Blanck of New York was one of the first to experiment with Baroque. Jeremiah Dummer of ...

Antique American Glass The Native Americans had not made glass before the Spanish conquered Mexico and established a glassworks there. The ingredients of sand, lime, and soda were present in abundance. The native Americans did make arrow heads and amulets of quartz and obsidian. The first colonists discovered that the native people liked to use coloured glass beads for their wampum or necklaces. Wampum were made of beads, stones, and shells which were also used as a form of currency. The first efforts to make glass in the colonies was therefore directed at making coloured glass beads. The first group of professional glassblowers consisted of eight Dutch and Polish settlers who were invited by the businessman John Smith to carry on their trade in Jamestown, Virginia ...