Politics, diplomacy, and militarization would prompt the production of cut glass in the United States during the first decades of the 19th century. The country’s fledgling industries benefited from Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo Act of 1807 that ceased foreign trade and encouraged domestic production. In Pittsburgh and South Boston, Benjamin Bakewell and Thomas Cains embarked on the manufacture of sophisticated cut glass.            

Conceived and executed with diamond panels and prism cuts, the celery glass closely corresponds to a pair of decanters the Bakewell firm produced for James Madison in 1816. Engraved on the side of the celery glass are an American eagle and stars, as well as the initials “J/RCA.” The latter introduces a clue for whom the vessel was made and perhaps for clarifying its origins. While the attribution to the Bakewell factory seems logical, there is the possibility that it was produced at Cains’s South Boston glasshouse.

The celery glass is equally distinguished for being part of an extensive service, as confirmed by the existence of six matching finger bowls (see B.2005.19).

Celery was a great delicacy in the 19th century and called for a vessel fitting its status. At the time, its cultivation was labor intensive and therefore expensive. Usually, the celery glass was a container with a wide mouth and raised on a stem, which offered the vegetable greater prominence on the dining table.