Collectors Facts - Goddess of Athena and other epergnes with metal bases
For further information please see our article “Untangling The Gordian Knot” about the likely maker of the Goddess Epergnes and the Four Flowers Variant.
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What makes these fascinating epergnes or table centrepieces particularly unusual is that the metalwork has led to the names that these pieces have been given by collectors. The other essential component - the iridised glass bowls and horns, mounted on the metalwork, have been given their own pattern names. Goddess of Athena is possibly the most well known epergne; others include the Desert Goddess and the Goddess of Oz. The iridescent glass usually has one of two moulded patterns – Diamond Swirls (a fine diamond lattice design) or Beaded Peacock Tail (also seen without the beading). The colours of the iridescent glass are usually shades of green, amber or purple. These epergnes have been found as far apart as the USA and Australia, and our recent research has uncovered the likely maker to be Brockwitz of Germany. One of the important links in the chain of evidence that led us to this belief was a 1914 catalogue from a German Department Store, M. Liemann, Berlin, Germany (courtesy of Siegmar Geiselberger and Pressglas-Korrespondenz). |
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Goddess ofAthena
Above: Goddess of Athena epergne courtesy of Elaine and Fred Blair.
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Goddess of Athena, with the three Beaded Peacock Tail bowls, is arguably the most well-known of these items. The story began when Carnival Glass pioneer, Rose Presznick included a drawing (shown near left) of what she called "Athena Goddess of Arts" in her "Carnival and Iridescent Glass, Book II" in 1966. The detail on the drawing is excellent, although her proportions were incorrect. She described it as "the most outstanding piece of carnival glass" and it was worthy of a place in her Carnival Glass museum. She attributed the glass (incorrectly as we know today) to Northwood, and called the pattern Beaded Flowering Almond. However, over time Carnival collectors adopted the pattern names given by another pioneer, Marion Hartung: her name for Flowering Almond was Peacock Tails and hence Beaded Peacock Tail is the name now used for the glass mounted on the Goddess of Athena metalwork. So, Rose Presznick's drawing of "Athena" in her Book II was the start of the story. On the far left, we show the real thing - an amazing Goddess of Athena epergne with three green Beaded Peacock Tail bowls and horn, courtesy of Elaine and Fred Blair. |
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The story continued with the sale of Rose Presznick's glass in 1973, at which time it was believed that only three examples were known. We pictured it in our Schiffer book "A Century of Carnival Glass", and courtesy of Elaine and Fred Blair, we can show the actual epergne here (on the right) - it still has the original Presznick Museum sticker on the horn. The glassware is amber Beaded Peacock Tail. When we wrote "A Century of Carnival Glass" in 2001 we were convinced that the Goddess of Athena had a European origin, but we were unable to make a specific attribution. The 1914 M. Liemann catalogue took us another vital step forward, by revealing the amazing item shown on the far right - "No. 9/154 Tafelaufsatz", that is a table centrepiece. The show-stopper was the description: "mit irisfarbener Glasgarnitur" - the glass items were iridised! Note that the metalwork shown in the catalogue image is almost identical to the Goddess of Athena, and it is known that it was quite usual for glass and metalwork to be put together on a "mix and match" basis. The Liemann catalogue gave us a vital piece of the puzzle, and it is fascinating just to look at as a piece of historical memorabilia. We have posted two full sized images on a separate page so that our readers can fully appreciate them: see the Liemann catalogue pages here. |
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Desert Goddess In 1998 (in our “Carnival Glass, The Magic and The Mystery” 1st Ed) we showed for the first time, a catalogue image of the metalwork used on the Desert Goddess epergne - shown on the immediate right. The metal is stamped WMF, which is Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik of Geislingen in Germany, a company that is well-known for its silver plated metal and glassware. WMF had given the metal stand a model number and name in the 1898 catalogue – "Nr. 323 a. Tilly”. WMF is still in existence today, and they told us that glass was mixed and matched between the different metal stands, and also that they often bought in glass from other companies. We are not saying that Desert Goddess with Carnival Glass bowls date from 1898, only that the catalogue is clear evidence that this style of centrepiece epergne on a metal base was in production by WMF at that time. Shown far right, is a Desert Goddess epergne that was found in Nevada. The metalwork is executed in silver plated pewter and is in wonderful detail. The green Carnival bowl and horn are Beaded Peacock Tail. |
Above: Goddess of Athena epergne, courtesy of Elaine and Fred Blair.
Left is "Tilley" in a WMF catalogue and right, courtesy of April and Ron Duncan, is
a Desert Goddess epergne with Beaded Peacock Tail Carnival Glass bowl and horn. |
The Carnival Glass Patterns
Two patterns are known - Beaded Peacock Tail, and Diamond Swirls (complete with a distinctive crimped and ruffled edge), as shown below.
In our comprehensive article on these patterns - Untangling The Gordian Knot - we show images from a 1906 Krug and Mundt (Leipzig) catalogue of these two designs.
Beaded Peacock Tail
The Carnival Glass Patterns
Two patterns are known - Beaded Peacock Tail, and Diamond Swirls (complete with a distinctive crimped and ruffled edge), as shown below.
In our comprehensive article on these patterns - Untangling The Gordian Knot - we show images from a 1906 Krug and Mundt (Leipzig) catalogue of these two designs.
Beaded Peacock Tail
Above: Beaded Peacock Tail pictures are thanks to and courtesy of Stan Hoegerman. The colours shown are green and a dark amber.
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Above: Beaded Peacock Tail in deep purple.
Note how the pattern in continuous under the base (pictured far right), which is a known
characteristic of glass made in some Bohemian glassworks. Pictures courtesy of Elaine and Fred Blair.
Note how the pattern in continuous under the base (pictured far right), which is a known
characteristic of glass made in some Bohemian glassworks. Pictures courtesy of Elaine and Fred Blair.
Diamond Swirls all pictures are thanks to and courtesy of Stan Hoegerman.
Diamond Swirls
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Who made the Carnival Glass? Our intensive research uncovered significant and ground-breaking links between the glass on the Goddess epergnes and the mysterious Four Flowers Variant (as well as the linked patterns the Mystery Grape and Four Flowers Hybrids). The Liemann catalogue and the Krug & Mundt catalogues provided vital evidence, along with the clip shown here, from the 1907 Trenton Evening Times (New Jersey, USA) which describes a “fruit dish” in which a “female figure in bronze” supports “a tray of iridescent Bohemian glass”. Supporting catalogue and a wealth of other evidence led us to Brockwitz of Germany as the likely maker of these epergnes … and the date was possibly as early as 1905. The entire story, all the links and evidence can be seen in our two page, fully researched article: Untying the Gordian Knot. |
Trenton Evening Times, 1907
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Article Acknowledgements
Thanks to April & Ron Duncan, Thomas Dix (WMF), Siegmar Geiselberger, Elaine & Fred Blair, Rick McDaniel, Pamela Wessendorf and Stan Hoegerman.
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