Through the looking glass...

Dundee’s Talana Museum is showcasing 2 000 years of glass artefacts

FROM an ancient Roman phial to a modern Zulu hut embedded in glass, the Glass Emporium at the Talana Museum in Dundee spans 2 000 years of glass art.

Museum curator Pam McFadden will talk about this unique glass collection at the Botanic Gardens Education Centre on Tuesday, February 19, at 12 for 12.30pm, at an event hosted by Durban’s Decorative Arts Society.

McFadden said Dundee had a 100-year history of glass making, and although the glass factory closed in the 1990s, the museum’s collection ranges from glassware used in the home for functional or decorative purposes, to items used for lighting, medical or container purposes, and tells the history of glass in South Africa and beyond.

While the earliest piece is a Roman phial from Jerusalem brought to Dundee by a friend of the museum, there are a number of pieces from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

Included is modern Ngwenya glass from Swaziland, made from recycled glass. This includes a glass vase with an embedded Zulu hut by well-known Ngwenya glass artist Sibusiso Mhlanga. Also on display is bold glass art by South African glass artist Liz Lacey.

“We also have the largest collection of any museum of Woodstock glass, made in Woodstock in Cape Town, which was the first glass to be produced in South Africa. They lasted for four years from 1883 to1886. It wasn’t very high quality at first, but they became very good very quickly and by 1885/1886, some of the pieces were excellent. But imported glass was perceived to be of higher quality,” said McFadden.

There are some quirky pieces at the Glass Emporium, including Brucie the Gin Pig, which came from Petticoat Lane in London in the 1880s, which allows gin to be poured from the pig’s nose.

McFadden said her favourite piece was the cucumber straightener, also from the 1880s, which was used in Victorian gardens. The flower of the cucumber was placed in the top of the glass tube so that as the cucumber grew, it stayed straight.

The collection now focuses on glass artists from South Africa.

The talk costs R40 for members and R60 for non-members.

LARGE platter by Liz Lacey – South African glass artist. THE remains of a Roman phial (from Jerusalem) on a piece of the Wall of Jerusalem (0AD).

LEFT: The piano foot – in Victorian times they placed these glass feet under piano legs because they believed they improved the sound.

VICTORIAN epergne – late Victorian era – an extremely fragile table centre piece for flower arranging.

CUCUMBER straighteners – the flower of the cucumber was placed in the top of the glass tube so that as the cucumber grew, it took on the straight shape of the cone and did not curl or produce distorted fruits.

WITH gin pouring from his snout, Brucie the Gin Pig from the 1880s would be welcome at any trendy gin bar.