Carnival Glass from Esberard, Rio, Brazil

Francisco Antonio Maria Esberard founded Esberard Glass and Crystal in San Christopher (Vidros e Cristais do Brasil in São Cristóvão), Rio de Janeiro in 1882. Like many such glassworks of its time, the location capitalised on proximity to natural resources – in this case it was sea sand, as the factory was very close to the ocean.
 
Francisco Esberard was born in the Vaucluse in the south-east of France, in 1836. His family moved to Brazil when he was only five, and later in life, he carried on the porcelain and ceramics business that had been started by his father in Rio de Janeiro. Clearly the firm was successful, as records show they exhibited Etruscan style vases in the Brazilian section at the Philadelphia Grand Expo in 1876.
 
A fascinating book called Impressions of Brazil in the Twentieth Century was published in 1913, and is available digitally in the Historical Archives of Cubatao. It provides a unique, contemporary account of the Esberard Glass and Crystal factory, along with three rare photos of the glass plant - shown on the right.

Left: Inside and outside views of the Esberard Glass and Crystal factory circa 1913. From Impressions of Brazil in the Twentieth Century.

The 1913 book gives us an insight into Esberard’s glass works: written in Portuguese, the translation (although stilted) affords valuable information. We learn that between five and six hundred people worked there; that the factory covered an area of 20,000 square metres, was powered by both steam and electricity, had four major and three minor ovens and produced 35,000 to 40,000 pieces of different qualities on a daily basis.
 
The company's products were known and sold throughout Brazil and they took several awards in various exhibitions in Europe and America.
 
They included a gold medal and a Diploma of Honour in the 1908 Exhibition of Rio de Janeiro; a silver medal at the Exhibition of Buenos Aires in 1882, and a bronze medal at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904.



Right: The Brazilian exhibition building, St Louis 1904. “The Book of the Fair” A Panorama of the St Louis Exposition, by Marshall Everett, 1904.

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Esberard's Carnival Glass, with sincere thanks to Cláudio Deveikis from Brazil for his help.

We now know that Carnival Glass was made at the Esberard glassworks in Rio de Janeiro - finding the moulded ESBERARD RIO marked on some Carnival items (not all – just some) has proved to be the crucial piece of information in this research. Without definitive catalogue or archive information it is not possible to be totally certain about when it was made, but it was most probably through the 1920s and 1930s,. The Esberard glassworks was active until c.1940, which underlines the likelihood of the above timeline for Carnival production. 
 
Undoubtedly, more Carnival items are likely to emerge bearing the ESBERARD RIO brand. Our research will continue.

Esberard's Carnival Patterns

In common with most pressed glass makers at the time, patterns made by Esberard often show similarities with designs made by other glass makers in both Europe and the USA. It's most likely that these designs were simply inspired copies. Further details can be seen on the relevant pages, for example their Cabralia pattern (see Collectors Facts).

Chumbinho (pictures courtesy of Cláudio Deveikis).

​An open comport with an unusual twisted stem. It is marked ESBERARD RIO.

Dragon (pictures courtesy of Cláudio Deveikis). An amazing discovery!

This pattern is known in crystal (clear) glass with "PORTIEUX" moulded in the base, with the name Chimères, or in English, chimera, the mythological hybrid monster. However, the same pattern is found in Carnival Glass in Brazil, generally known to collectors as Dragon. Thanks to Cláudio, the Carnival Glass items have now been confirmed as being made by Esberard. This oval bowl has ESBERARD RIO moulded in the base (instead of "PORTIEUX".

There are lots more pictures of this fabulous design in our Collectors Facts. 

Garland and Bows

Garland and Bows is an intriguing pattern: not only are versions of the design found in catalogues of Finland’s Riihimaki and Poland’s Hortensja glassworks, but we now have amazing proof that the pattern was also made in Brazil, by Esberard. There are pattern / shape / colour differences that help with attribution to each maker: read about it here.

The picture, right, shows Garland and Bows bowls seen on an auction website in South America (photos with permission of the vendor). They reveal the moulded wording ESBERARD RIO on the bottom of the interior of some of those bowls – four of the small bowls have the lettering, two other small bowls and the master bowl do not. Our further investigation has revealed more of these “Esberard” marked Garland and Bows bowls.

Iracema

This wonderful comport, was discovered in 2015 by Cláudio Deveikis and named Iracema by him. Grateful thanks to Claudio for sending us details and for the photographs. More information in our  Collectors Facts on this pattern.

Iraci

Another wonderful pattern, discovered by Cláudio Deveikis (in 2014) and named Iraci by him in honour of his (late) mother. Iraci is a typical native name of Brazil. Grateful thanks to Claudio for sending us details to publish, and for the photographs shown on this page.

There are more pictures in our Collectors Facts on this pattern.

Rain Forest

Here is the latest amazing discovery from Cláudio Deveikis – he has given it the delightfully appropriate name Rain Forest. 

It is marked ESBERARD RIO (as shown above) and it is 14cm by 12cm.

See our Collectors Facts for more information on Rain Forest and the fascinating link with George Davidson's glassworks in England.

Rio

This marigold tumbler was the first confirmed Carnival Glass pattern made by Esberard, before the discovery of the other patterns listed here.

The tumbler that has ESBERARD RIO moulded into the glass - and the pattern was called Rio.

Surely there were others, but until we began our research we were not aware of them.

You can see more Carnival Glass tumblers from South America in our Tumbler Gallery.

Sunny

​Here is another wonderful discovery from our South America Carnival expert, Cláudio Deveikis.

A super rosebowl in a deep marigold colour with great iridescence! Cláudio has named it Sunny.

The Carnival bowl is not marked, but Cláudio has seen an uniridised one in red, and that one had Esberard moulded on the base.

​Eureka!

Teardrop

Cláudio Deveikis has studied this fascinating pattern and considers that it was possibly produced by two different makers in Brazil; initially by Esberard in Rio and then later in the 1950s and 1960s by Guarani (the same maker that who most likely made the “Eye of the Queen”).

Claudio tells us that the pattern is known by different names according to the region of Brazil it is in: “in Minas Gerais it is named as "lagrima" (meaning “tear”) while in Rio de Janeiro it is called "gota" (meaning “drop”). Hence the name given to it by Claudio … Teardrop.

Also thanks to Álvaro Henrique Nicolau Aguiar for research on this fascinating pattern.

Additionally, we have found design links with both George Davidson, England and the German mould-maker, Kutzscher.

Read more about Teardrop in our Collectors Facts.

Thistles and Crown

Thanks to Cláudio Deveikis we can now add another Esberard pattern to the list. Previously unreported, this stunning pattern, seen here on a marigold plate, has been named Thistles and Crown by Cláudio. 

The plate diameter is 29cm (11.5 inches).

Our research had also uncovered a red bowl (not iridised) in this pattern with the moulded words ESBERARD RIO, but we were delighted when Gustavo Genn sends us this image of his marigold Thistles and Crown plate with ESBERARD RIO moulded on to it (below, far right). 

Proof absolute that the Carnival version of this piece was made by Esberard.

Read more in Collectors Facts.

Photo courtesy of Cláudio Deveikis