Marius Ernest Sabino, born in Sicily in 1878, moved with his family to France while a young boy. He studied at both l'Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs and l'Ecole des Beaus Arts. In the early 1920s he started a business creating wood and bronze fittings (his father was a wood sculptor) but quickly moved into glass work. and produced both architectural lighting and objets d'art during the 1920s and 30s. Sabino's Parisian showroom was at 17 Rue St Gilles.

He perfected new technology in molding techniques and his designs were produced either by mold-blowing or press-molding. In 1925 he created an opalescent blue-hued glass that suggested clouds in blue skies. His principal competitor was Rene Lalique.

He designed and made special lighting for the luxury cruise ship Ile de France in 1927. In 1936 he was commissioned to produce all the glasswork for the electrical lighting for the Shah of Persia (Iran)

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"Sang de boeuf," French for buffalo or cow blood and also called flambé glaze, first created in China during the Ming Dynasty, was widely imitated in Europe during the 19th century, especially in the Sèvres, France porcelain factory. The glossy, rich, blood-red glaze is created by using reduction of copper and iron oxides at high temperature during the firing process. Under optimal reducing conditions, the copper oxide gathers gathers into colloidal particles, producing bright rich red and red-purple colors.

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Satsuma porcelain gets its name from Satsuma, southernmost province of Kyushu Island, Japan. The 17th century prince of Satsuma brought potters from Korea to establish the now-famous pottery kiln. Satsuma is referred to alternatively as "pottery" and "porcelain" but is actually somewhere in between. It is a type of porcelain produced at lower temperatures than traditional porcelain but higher temperatures than would typically be used to make pottery.

The ongoing patronage of the prince's family, the Shimazu family, popularized Satsuma porcelain. Satsuma porcelain is also produced in Kyoto.

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Charles Schneider was born in Chateau-Thierry, near Paris, on 23rd February 1881. At an early age he moved with his family to Nancy, the artistic centre of France at the time and studied at 'L'Ecole des Beaux Arts. Schneider apprenticed with Daum Freres and worked primarily within the Art Nouveau style. After serving in World War I he opened a glass works at Epinay-sur-Seine with his brother Ernest.

Charles Schneider's work moved from Art Nouveau to a more modern form characterized by flamboyant color and dramatic designs.He developed two lines of glass, one signed Schneider or Schneider France, the other signed variously as Le Verre Français, Charder (a contraction of his first and last name). He maintained total control over the production of Schneider line and allowed his artisans more leeway in execution of his Le Verre Français line.

Charles Schneider's art glass is all hand-blown, exceedingly varied, and uses every known decorative glass technique . His factory closed before World War II. After the war his son reopened the company and changed its direction to working primarily with clear glass designs.

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spel·ter/Noun [ Confer LG. spialter, G. & Dutch spiauter. Middle Dutch speauter. Confer Pewter]
First Known Use: 1661
1. Commercial crude smelted zinc.
2. A solder or other alloy in which zinc is the main constituent.
3. zinc; especially : zinc cast in slabs for commercial use.

Spelter, or zinc, often mixed with lead, and sometimes referred to as "white metal" or "pot metal" is of less value than silver, bronze, brass, or copper. It has been in common use from the 1860s through the early 20th century to create affordable statuary, candelabra, table lamps, and other fine or decorative art items, allowing a growing middle class the opportunity to own status items similar to those of their wealthier counterparts, but at less expense. And spelter is versatile; it can be coated in a patina to make it look like higher-end bronze or silver. It is sometimes referred to as "French bronze." For the Victorians, who loved to entertain, appearance was everything.

Value of an item, however, is also determined by who made the piece and its provenance—who owned it.

Spelter is soft and breaks easily. To test for spelter, scratch the base of the piece. As Eric of Antiques Roadshow says, "If the scratch is a copper color, it's bronze. If it's silvery gray, it's spelter." Because spelter is soft, old spelter pieces may have dents and dings.

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Steuben Glass Works, an American art glass manufacturer, was founded by Thomas G. Hawkes and English glassmaker Frederick Carder during the summer of 1903 in Corning, New York. At that time Hawkes already owned the largest cut glass firm in Corning. Carder brought to the new enterprise his many years of experience designing glass for Stevens & Williams in Stourbridge, England.

In addition to introducing handmade Art Nouveau pieces, Carder also invented, and got a patent for,a new iridescent glass which he named "Aurene," combining the Latin word for gold and part of a Middle English word for sheen. Louis Comfort Tiffany was also producing an iridescent glass at this time called "Favrile."In 1905 Carder started to add color to his Aurene, beginning with cobalt blue. He created 5 Aurene colors altogether, and then went on to introduce other colors to the Steuben line, over 140 colors in 7,000 shapes.

The Steuben Glass Works produced art glass until World War I. Wartime shortages of necessary materials caused the firm to flounder, and C orning Glass bought it as a separate "Steuben division."

In 1932, perhaps partially due to the Great Depression, interest in colored art glass had begun to wane. Corning was left with a huge stock surplus of the glass which it had to heavily discount to unload. Even then not all of the stock moved, so Corning destroyed it. What a loss! With that, the Carder period came to an end. Under new management, Steuben began to focus on colorless glass.

In 1933 Steuben art direction focussed on more modern forms, and began to use a new glass developed by Corning. A new type of optical glass, with the very clinical sounding name of 10M, featured a very high refractive index that allows the full spectrum of light, including ultraviolet waves, to pass through it. This flawless lead glass is now known as Steuben Crystal.

Among the talented designers who have worked for Steuben over the years are Kiki Smith, Peter S. Aldridge, Lloyd Atkins, Inka Benton, James Carpenter, Robert Cassetti, Neil Cohen, Dan Dailey, David P. Dowler, John Dreve, Eric G. Hilton, James Houston, Beth Lipman, Dante Marioni, Ted Muehling, Donald Pollard, Taf Lebel Schaefer, Paul Schulze, George Thompson, Sidney Waugh, and Bernard X. Wolff.

The company introduced its first major engraved Steuben Crystal piece, Gazelle Bowl, in 1935. Designed by Sidney Waugh, elegant work was the first Steuben creation to reflect close artistic collaboration between glass designer and glassmaker and is on permanent display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848 – 1933), son of the founder of jeweler and luxury goods retailer Charles Lewis Tiffany [Tiffany & Co.] chose to pursue a career in the arts instead of entering the family business. Successful first as a painter, after studying with American landscapist George Inness and further study in Paris, he then moved into design, continuing to work from themes of nature. He beccame a member of the National Academy of Design in New York City, only to resign later because he thought that organization too conservative and found, with other artists, the Society of American Artists.

On an 1865 visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tiffany was struck by the rich color of ancient Roman and Syrian glass and said "Rich tones are due in part to the use of pot metal full of impurities, and in part to the uneven thickness of the glass, but still more because the glass maker of that day abstained from the use of paint".

In the years 1875-78 Tiffany was working at various Brooklyn glassmakers. It was at this time that he met fellow glassmaker John LaFarge. It was also at this time that Tiffany's glassmaking experiments began in earnest. He was fascinated with colored glass and opalescent glass, glass in which more than one color is mixed together.

Tiffany patented Favrile glass in 1880 after being exposed to the work of Emile Galle. Tiffany described Favrile thusly, "Favrile glass is distinguished by brilliant or deeply toned colors, usually iridescent like the wings of certain American butterflies, the necks of pigeons and peacocks, the wing covers of various beetles."

By 1880 he was designing beautiful glassworks in the graceful Art Nouveau style using themes from nature, primarily stained glass windows and screens. He had commissions from Mark Twain and Cornelius Vanderbilt. He designed a stained-glass screen for the reception area of Chester A Arthur's White House and the high altar in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

His unique style became a driving force behind America's emerging Art Nouveau style, challenging the stolid Victorian style in place. Likewise, Tiffany espoused the beliefs of the European Art Nouveau movement and the English Arts and Crafts movement before, that of elevating the decorative arts to the level of fine arts, while still making it available to a wide audience.

Tiffany's style concept from the beginning, while it centered around glass, took in every element of decorative art needed to complete a space, including woodwork, metalwork, textiles and wallpapers. And Tiffany Studios employed or found the artisans to create the finished pieces.

Tiffany Glass Company, later known as Tiffany Studios, was incorporated on December 1, 1885. Tiffany was one of the few Americans to be shown in Samuel Bing's Gallery "L'Art Nouveau" in Paris. In 1902, he became art director of his father's legendary company, Tiffany & Co. in New York. At this time he began working intensively with lamps and shades for his father's company.Thomas Edison had urged him to focus on electric light production after collaborating on an earlier project. Tiffany also designed and produced glass vases, tiles, mosaics and stained-glass-windows.

One of his most famous pieces was the six-dragonfly lamp.

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victorian is more a time period [1833-1903 and a little after] and a place [England, and to a lesser extant countries with strong English heritage] than a style. several styles arose during the Victorian era [the reign of Queen victoria]. Victorian styles evolved to suit the tastes of the growing bourgeoisie, prosperous professionals and businessmen with money to spend. The very rich did not tend to replace objects held in family homes for generations for fashion's sake, and the poor could not afford fashion.

Victorian designers tended to use and modify various historic styles such as Gothic, Tudor, Elizabethan, English Rococo, Neoclassical and others. The Gothic Revival and Rococo Revival style were most common. Gothic Revival [often called "Victorian Gothic"] drew upon mediaeval influences as did styles that arose during this same period in opposition to "Victorian style," the Arts and Crafts movement and the following Art Nouveau style.

Traditional Victorian design emphasized prosperity through its elaborately designed objects with historical references, as well as furnishings that began to reflect English influence in other parts of the world. "Turkey" carpets [any Oriental carpet] became common. Every elaborately made piece of furniture was adorned with curios or lace antimacassars or Paisley shawls. Victorian design was dubbed "horror vacui" [fear of empty spaces] by critic and scholar Mario Praz in his 1933 book The Romantic Agony.

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Jean Marie Verschneider (1872-1943) French sculptor and Art Deco metal worker who worked in the early part of the 20th century.

His bronze sculpture ranged from more traditional styles such as the well-known "l'Effort," wnich shows a muscular young man engaged in digging labor to the startlingly early Art Deco look of"Mecurial" of 1905 whose stylized streamlining predicted much of what was to come. Yet he was still doing more traditional works such as "The Gladiator" and "The Kid" (an image of the child star Jackie Coogan) in the 1920s.

He also produced a series of art metal vases in the Art Deco style.

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