Ball Stopper

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Ball Stopper
Datec. 1850–1900
Possible placeConnecticut, United States
Possible placeNew Hampshire, United States
MediumNonlead glass
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.27.4.2
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Pine Room
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Jars with wide mouths, as seen here, were used to store fruit preserves or pickled products. Preservation of these foods was essential, and these jars were normally sealed with cork and pitch or wax, which was then covered by a piece of leather that was tied on around the neck. The globular balls that have been with these jars since at least the 1920s are, in fact, glassmakers’ whimsies. It is unlikely that these stoppers, called witches balls in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, were always used with these jars. Indeed, only one stopper was purchased  with the jars. The other, which probably dates to the late nineteenth century; was presumably acquired later.

Related examples: Wilson 1972, p. 90, fig. 65; p. 133, fig. 94 and fig. 95 illustrate a globular whimsey.

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.


Provenance[The Maple Antique Shop, Darien, Connecticut]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1927; given to MFAH, by 1966.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Jar with Ball Stopper
c. 1790–1830
Nonlead glass
B.27.4.1
Jar with Ball Stopper
c. 1790–1830
Nonlead glass
B.27.3.A,.B
scan from file photograph
c. 1800–1850
Nonlead glass
B.69.459.2
Closure Ball
c. 1800–1850
Nonlead glass
B.69.460.2
Pocket Bottle
c. 1785–1825
Nonlead glass
B.58.29
Jar
c. 1830–1870
Nonlead glass
B.61.73
Creamer
c. 1800–1825
Nonlead glass
B.69.473
Toilet Water Bottle
c. 1815–1840
Nonlead glass
B.69.472
Pitcher
19th century
Nonlead glass
B.69.480
Tankard
c. 1840–1860
Ruby-stained, nonlead glass with pewter
B.2007.24
Bottle
18th century
Nonlead glass and enamel with pewter mount
B.69.479
Toilet Water Bottle
c. 1825–1840
Nonlead glass
B.69.478.A,.B