'Everglade' bowl made by the Cambridge Glass Co.
Category
Glass
Date
1929 - 1958
Materials
Coloured glass
Measurements
410 mm (Diameter)90 mm (H)
Order this imageCollection
Greenway, Devon
NT 121352
Summary
Bowl centrepiece, emerald-green glass, set on boulder-like feet, the underside acid-etched and impressed with images of North American Indigenous figures hunting buffalo (North American bison) on horseback. Part of the 'Everglade' range, designed and made by the Cambridge Glass Co. Ohio, U.S.A.,1929-58.
Full description
Bowl centrepiece, emerald-green glass, set on boulder-like feet, the underside acid-etched and impressed with images of North American Indigenous figures hunting buffalo (North American bison) on horseback. Part of the 'Everglade' range, designed and made by the Cambridge Glass Co. Ohio, U.S.A.,1929-58. Designed and made by the Cambridge Glass Co. (Cambridge, Ohio, U.S.A.) it was described in their catalogues as part of an eclectic, Art Deco, ‘Everglade’ range made c.1929-58. There is artistic license here as the imagery derives from paintings of Indigenous people of the Midwestern or Plains Region of North America by artists such as Peter Rindisbacher (1806-1834), F.O.C Darley (1822-1888) and Frederic Remington (1861-1909) - cactus and buffalo are not found in the Florida Everglades. The representation of buffalo on this 20th-century bowl holds a particular significance; by the time it was made they were virtually extinct. Numbering about 60 million in the 18th century, the buffalo were reduced to mere hundreds by the end of the 19th century due to government sanctioned culls. This was part of a concerted effort to subjugate the Indigenous American peoples who relied on the buffalo for their way of life and for whom the animal holds spiritual importance. A highly romanticised view of North American history made for the domestic market, the bowl was probably bought by Greenway’s owner, the author Agatha Christie, or possibly a gift from her American family – her father was born in N.Y.C. Just one of many layers of American history associated with the property.
Provenance
Part of the collection at Greenway, the holiday home of Agatha Christie, her children and grandchildren. The house was transferred to the National Trust in 2000. The collection was transferred in 2006.