Masterpieces

Collection of glassworks from company which presented gift to future Queen Elizabeth going up for auction.

A collection of masterpieces from a renowned Perth glassworks, which presented a wedding gift to the future Queen Elizabeth, will go under the hammer at auction today.

Estimated at around £14,000, the 21-piece collection of Monart Glass will be auctioned at the prestigious Woolley and Wallis Salerooms in Salisbury.

Produced by the Moncrieff glassworks in Perth during the early to mid-20th Century, Monart Glass became sought after around the world when, in 1947, a Monart piece was gifted by the city of Perth as part of the Princess Elizabeth wedding gift set and now sits on display at Balmoral Castle.

The 21 lots set for auction were collected over the past 20 years by Robert Morgan and includes 14 vases in an eclectic range of shapes and patterns, bowls, scent bottles and stoppers.

Also up for auction from the private collection are two characteristic mushroom-shaped glass lamps and shades.

Michael Jeffery, associate director and head of design at Woolley and Wallis, said: “This small collection of Monart glass perfectly shows the level of skill reached by craftsmen working in Perth in the 1930s.

“It clearly displays the diversity of shape, from scent bottle to table lamp, and decoration which showcases the highly developed glassblowing techniques and the use of different materials and processes.”

Established in Perth by John Moncrieff Sr in 1865, the glassworks was primarily an industrial business until 1924.

In 1924 the art glassware was created by John Moncrieff Jr’s wife, Isobel Moncrieff and Salvadore Ysart, a Spanish glassblower who had been hired by Moncrieff’s in 1922 to make laboratory glass.

This small collection of Monart glass perfectly shows the level of skill reached by craftsmen working in Perth in the 1930s. MICHAEL JEFFERY

The set was produced between the early to mid-20th Century.