The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-05-14

and gradations. Some of the paste still battle
them, SUCH for instance as the famous dUUentt-
rinO, which is only PRODUCED by Bigaglia and
Zecchn in perfection. The ingredients, and
even the proportions, are known to ALL but do not,
in different cases produce, the desired result.
Only last month saw n large block just re-
moved from the furnace, as dull and lifeless rs
mahogany. The chemists and workmen-who,
by-the-way, shut out masters and proprietors
when they are making an eXperiment-were Bit
terlv disappointed, and declared that they had
found out everything save the right heat to be
secured at the moment that the gold crystnlizes
These experiments are too costly to be often re-
peated; and in these departments artistic en-
thusiasm is considerably tempered by the repre-
sentative of the English Shareholders who has
brought into the concern measure of worldly
wisdom the only element formerly wanting to
insure success.
| As soon as he had established his mosaic works
on n sure foundation, Salviati turned his atten-
ton to the revival of Venetian blown glass
and i'm this department has exceeded the eXpee-
tation of his most sanguine admirers. In the
eighteenth century this art was so utterly lost
that Giuseppe Briatie, in order to recover some
of the secrets worked porter in a glass
factory i'm Bohemia, and on his return obtained
from the Republic the exclusive right of manu-
facture, and a law prohibiting the introduction
of any foreign glass into Venice. His manu-
factory existed until 1890, after which period
if we except a few successful attempts
of a very interesting little pamphlet entitled
Lies celebres Verreries de Nenise ct de Mu-
rano, the art of glass, seemed hopelessly lost
As late as June, 1866, Mr., Chaffers i'm his paper
on early Venetian glass, speaks of its chief
beauties as things of the past
The methods of manipulating reticulated
glass, he tells us, "are yet undiscovered and all
attempts at imitation have been hitherto unsuc-
cessful." He speaks of the rich sapphire color
as lost, and gives an engraving of cup, regarded
as quite unique, for which Mr.. Slade paid
5000 francs. At the present moment you nav
set before Antonio Seguso, orsAntono and
Giovanni onN linn, y,g H..
tian glass, and they will copy it with all its
perfections, and, if you choose, its imperfec-
tions, and hand you a fac-simile in color, FORM
and weight made under your own eye. Both in
1866 and 1868 spent hours in the work-room
OF Murano, fascinated despite the binding heat
by the fairy forms and rainbow hues evolved be-
fore my eyes, by the intense, grave, silent en-
thusiasm of the workmen, which extends itself
even to the small children admitted to watch the
proceedings; by the impossibility of quitting the
scene of labor until the piece in hand could be
secured from failure by completion. On
my first visit the head workman was re-
quested by Salviati to make me any article /
might fancy; | chose n winc-glass with deep
bowl initial stem, and broad, ruby-tinted foot.
The man dipped his hollow iron rod into pot of
molten white glass caught up q lump rolled il
ON an iron slab popped it into furnace, blew
through his rod, tossed it aloft, and n hollow
ball appeared. His assistant handed him rod
OF metal, in which a green serpent seemed
coiled in white cage; this he caught and
quick as lightning, formed two initials, touching
the bowl with the tip of the NJ, to which it adj
hered. Then his assistant offered more white
glass, which was joined to the bottom of the NJ
spun around, opened with nippers and so the
foot was formed. Again in the fur
mace, and then the shears opened and
followed the deep and slender bowl
Then the assistant handed n scrap of ruby
molten glass, of which the master caught hair
as it were, wound it round the rim of the bowl
and of the foot Once more into an upper oven
where it must remain till the morrow to COOL
and then drew n long breath of relief; for
knowing that If the metal be too hot or too
cold if too much or too little be taken on the
rod, the weight and color will be faulty; that
too quick or too slow action on the part of
the assistant, in presentingOr Withdrawing his
rod, may spoil the whole-one cannot watch such
processes without intense excitement. This eX-
citement the worlmen share in their own silent
fashion; and when any rare experiment is going
on, all gather round the master in breathless anX-
iety, while no sound comes from the parted lips
save in the form OF a hint or caution. During
my last visit the question was how to remedy
defect in an exquisite antique ever of white
and sapphire, lent by the Brescian Museum to be
copied. The scroll handle, in the original, had
pinch, and the pinch was renewed in the
copy. The workman said that it was necessa-
rily produced by the assistants shears in hand
ing the scroll to be fixed. Let him hold it
higher" said one 'then shall fix the handle
awry." And such was the result He tried
again, and this time the proper curve was
not attained. Once more, and by deXterous
seemed to me, and fixed it in its right place,
producing the sapphire ever exactly minus only
the detective pinch.
But these men by no means restrict their
efforts to servile copies. Salviati used to allow
them two hours for original attempts; and Ian-
netti sort of superintendent, now that the heat
of the furnace is too much for his eyes, is most
fertile in producing new designs. The immense
lampadarO-one of five ordered by Prince Clio
vanelli, to adom the ballroom of his palace-is
a sort of cooperative design. 1t is OF white
glass; the candlesticks ruby-tinted seemingly
hung by frail, transparent links OF purest glass;
pinis and tulips, with their spiked upright leaves
blossom between the tiers; Whlle-lnd thls
is the neutrality-suspicious. of leaves and howers,
are hung beneath the Bosses which are gene
rally ugly and forlOrn. The hanging lampadaro
is by far the largest ever blown, and is composed
of innumerabe different pieces; so that, II any
get broken, they can be at once replaced sal
Watt imagined the garlands, Iannettl designed
the chandelier. Baroyier greI1 the field hoWers,
| and Segoso wrought the parts. Such is the per-
fectiOn to which this master has attained, thaL
he will turn out any given number OF pieces OF
precisely the same size, form, and weight. ms
perfect obedience of the hand to the eye Is the
ne plus ultra of the artist in glass In the same
room with their fathers are two young lads, VINO
work together, one week as master, the next as
assistant. | watched them MS they stood aI Glie
furnace mouth-one sedate, stern, intent MS ms
father: the other the master of the week, bright
eyed restless but the deftest little imp magma
Bile Beakers of nebulOus opal, ewers, vases,
and urns spun from his fairy rod; but as his
father pointed out, he could not make TWO
things alike neither could he yet manage TO
| 9n0y5y the colors This is one OF the modern
| triumDhs of Murano. For two side cOrnices OF
| tbe Casino Borghese Zannctti had designed two
evouisite chandeliers. A broad raised loot OF