Cruet 1880 - 1887

Hobbs, Brockunier and Company made this glass cruet sometime between 1863 and 1891. The company operated out of Wheeling, West Virginia, a location chosen to exploit both the Ohio River for transport and the readily available coal deposits needed to fuel glassmaking. In the second half of the nineteenth century, improved industrial processes made pressed glass affordable to a growing middle class in both Europe and the United States. The distinctive decoration on the lower half of the cruet imitates cut glass, a luxury item previously only available to the wealthy. These kinds of design choices democratized taste, helping to define a shared national culture across class lines. The archives of manufacturing companies like Hobbs, Brockunier and Company, together with period trade publications, offer invaluable insights into the social conditions that shaped artistic production in this era. Attention to such sources allows us to understand the public role of art and the politics of imagery as never before.