The process of making glass pressed by a machine mold was introduced in New England in the 1820s. With typical Yankee ingenuity, the new technology of concurrent shape and ornament enabled the rapid production of a wide variety of objects, often with interchangeable parts. The process could be done by relatively unskilled labor. The complex surface ornament of the pressed mold masked the inherent imperfections of the body that came with the process. This compote, or footed bowl, is made in two parts—the upper section, essentially the same pattern as the base of covered vegetable dishes, is joined to the somewhat plainer octagonal foot by a wafer. The pattern seen here takes its name from the stylized heart and scroll decoration, called princess feather, found on each of the short ends. The leafy scrolled, diapered reserves on the long sides hint at the Rococo revival, while the organic foot that sweeps up to the octagonal stem has Gothic overtones, an eclectic stylistic array that is characteristic of mid-nineteenth century.

Related examples: The princess feather compote, made in yellow, amethyst, light blue, dark blue, and clear glass, is a relatively rare form of pressed glass (Lee 1947, p. 384); examples are at Winterthur (Palmer 1993, p. 243, no. 208); Coming Museum of Glass, Coming, New York (Spillman 1981, nos. 269–71); Toledo (Wilson 1994, p. 372, no. 502); Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire (Doty 1979, p. 139); MMA (acc. no. 57.131.14).

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.