Collections at the Corning Museum of Glass
The Corning Museum of Glass is home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of glass. Encompassing more
than 3,500 years of human ingenuity and spanning the globe, the collection of nearly 50,000 objects ranges from
ancient Egyptian and Venetian masterpieces to works by contemporary artists.
Origins of Glassmaking
The ingenuity of the earliest glassmakers is explored through vessels, jewelry, and sculptural objects from ancient
Egypt, Western Asia, and the Hellenistic world of the eastern Mediterranean.
Highlights include:
• One of the earliest known glass portraits, a rare ancient glass sculpture of an Egyptian king dating from the
late 18th Dynasty, about 1450–1400 B.C.
• An Assyrian vase, one of an early series of cast and cold-worked forms.
• Glass and faience bead necklaces from Mycenaean southern Greece.
• Hellenistic luxury glass, including lace mosaic and gold sandwich bowls.
Glass of the Romans
The Romans are credited with the discovery of glassblowing and also created some of the most lavish luxury glass
ever made. The Corning Museum’s collection encompasses rare and sumptuous examples of ancient cage cups,
mosaic, cameo, and gold glass.
Highlights include:
• A suspended cage cup from the early fourth century A.D., an exceptional luxury item likely used as a lamp.
• The Populania Bottle, an outstanding example of a late Roman vessel with wheel-abraded decoration.
• The Morgan cup, a rare early Roman cameo vessel decorated with a bas-relief continuous frieze, once
owned by J. Pierpont Morgan.
• A serving dish cover in the form of a fish from the first century A.D.
Glass of the Islamic World
Glassmaking flourished in Egypt and the Middle East at the time of the Arab conquest in the seventh century.
Islamic craftsmen discovered glass staining and revived and rediscovered ancient techniques. The Corning
Museum’s collection includes richly enameled and gilded glasses, mold-blown decorative objects, mosaic, and cut
and engraved glass.
Highlights include:
• The earliest known example of an Islamic drinking horn (only two other Islamic glass drinking horns are
known).
• An enameled and gilded vase, the most celebrated type of Islamic glass, from 14th-century Egypt or Syria.
• The Corning Ewer, a cameo glass vessel of the 10th century.
European Glass
The Corning Museum has rich collections of European glass from all time periods and representing all historic
techniques and styles.
Highlights include:
• The Behaim beaker, a Venetian enameled glass that commemorates a marriage held in 1495.
• Numerous outstanding examples Venetian cristallo and filigrana glass.
• A gold ruby goblet that was made in the glasshouse of the German alchemist and glassmaker Johann
Kunckel.
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A lampworked tableau from 1790 depicting Marie Antoinette and lamenting the demise of the aristocracy
during the French Revolution.
Asian Glass
The Corning Museum has collections of carved ceremonial objects from Qing Dynasty China, blown and cut vessels
from Edo period Japan, beaded containers from Indonesia and luxury glassware from India, among other fine
examples of Asian glass production.
Highlights include:
• The Warrior Vase, an elaborately decorated ruby glass vessel from China, dated to the Qianlong period.
• A set of four 18th-century bottles from the Mughal Empire in India with opulent gilded and enameled
decoration.
• A sakazuki set from 19th-century Japan, used for ceremonial sake drinking.
• Three beaded wedding baskets from Indonesia.
American Glass
Glassmaking was America’s first industry: Colonists built a glasshouse in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1608. The
glasshouse closed shortly thereafter, and although others were started, few were successful until the 19th century.
After 1812, glass manufacturing greatly increased, and in the 1820s, American glassmakers invented a handoperated glass pressing machine, which made production much faster and more cost effective.
Highlights include:
• One of only three marked bottles from the Wistar factory, the first successful glass factory in the Colonies.
• One of the earliest known dated pieces of American glass: a covered tumbler, produced in 1788 at the
factory of John Frederick Amelung.
• Early examples of pressed glass from the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company and others.
• A four-layer vase made at the New England Glass Company around 1848.
• Examples of elaborately decorated art glass and cut glass from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Modern Glass
The Corning Museum holds an international collection of art glass vessels, design, decorative objects, sculpture,
stained glass, furniture, and lighting dating from the 1880s through the 1950s.
Highlights include:
• Art Nouveau vases by Emile Gallé, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and Johann Loetz Witwe.
• Stained glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany and Frank Lloyd Wright.
• Pâte de verre sculptures and vessels by Gabriel Argy-Rousseau, Francois Decorchemont, and Georges
Despret.
• Early Modernist designs by Peter Behrens, Josef Hoffman, and Kolomon Moser.
• Glass furnishings, including lighting by René Lalique and Gerrit Rietveld.
• Art Deco vases by Marcel Goupy, René Lalique, and Napoleone Martinuzzi.
• Early studio glass by Maurice Marinot and Jean Sala.
• Italian, Scandinavian, and Czech glass design from the 1950s.
Contemporary Glass
In 1962, art in glass was dramatically transformed with the beginning of the Studio Glass movement in the United
States, and its subsequent development worldwide. In 2015, the Museum opens the Contemporary Art + Design
Wing, designed by architect Thomas Phifer. The 26,000-square foot gallery is the largest space in the world devoted
to the display of contemporary art in glass, and showcases the Museum’s rich permanent collection. Encompassing
contemporary studio glass, from 1990 to the present, the collection includes vessels, objects, sculptures, and
installations.
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Highlights include:
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Commissions created for the Corning Museum of Glass by artists Fred Wilson, Jeroen Verhoeven, and
Ayala Serfaty.
Large-scale sculpture and installations, which include works by Dale Chihuly, Roni Horn, Beth Lipman,
Liza Lou, Josiah Mcelheny, Klaus Moge, Kiki Smith, and Robert Rauschenberg.
An extensive collection of cast glass sculpture, including works by Nicolas Africano, Karen LaMonte,
Clifford Rainey, and Ann Wolff.
A wide range of vessel-based works by international artists such as Tony Cragg, Laura Donefer, Bert Frijns,
Maria Grazia Rosin, Lino Tagliapietra, and Frantisek Vizner.
International design featuring a range of functional glass vessels, furniture, lighting, and design art by Cini
Boeri and Tomu Katayanagi for FIAM, Studio Job, Christophe Côme, Tejo Remy and René Veenhuizen,
Maria Grazia Rosin, and Dan Dailey.
On March 20, 2015, The Corning Museum of Glass unveils the $64-million Contemporary Art + Design Wing,
featuring a daylight-filled 26,000-square-foot contemporary art gallery. The design, by architect Thomas Phifer and
Partners, is a square, minimalist white glass building containing soaring, daylight-filled galleries, encouraging
visitors to see glass in a new light. The addition will also house one of the world’s largest facilities for glassblowing
demonstrations and live glass design sessions. This Hot Glass Demo space will accommodate 500 people and
feature a gallery-level balcony running around the perimeter of the venue, offering 360-degree views of the
glassmaking below. This new space is set in the footprint of the former Steuben Glass factory, a luxury glass line
that closed in 2011.
Study Gallery
Additionally, the Museum houses a study gallery in which myriad glass objects from all periods are on display for
the public. The objects included in this gallery are arranged by origin, allowing for comparative analysis of a single
form across cultures and centuries. Also on view is the permanent exhibition Paperweights of the World, one of the
world’s largest collections of glass paperweights. Adjacent to The Studio at the Museum is the Carder Gallery,
which traces the prolific career and creations of Frederick Carder, the gifted English designer who managed Steuben
Glass Works for many years.
About The Corning Museum of Glass
The Corning Museum of Glass is the foremost authority on the art, history, science, and design of glass. It is home
to the world’s most important collection of glass, including the finest examples of glassmaking spanning 3,500
years. Live glassblowing demonstrations (offered at The Museum, on the road, and at sea on Celebrity Cruises)
bring the material to life. Daily Make Your Own Glass experiences at The Museum enable visitors to create work
in a state-of-the-art glassmaking studio. The campus in Corning includes a year-round glassmaking school, The
Studio, and the Rakow Research Library, the world’s preeminent collection of materials on the art and history of
glass. Located in the heart of the Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State, The Museum is open daily, yearround. Kids and teens, 17 and under, receive free admission.
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To access high-resolution images visit cmog.org/press-center.
Yvette Sterbenk / Kim Thompson
Corning Museum of Glass
607-438-5273 / 5219
sterbenkym / thompsonka@cmog.org
For more information, please contact:
Alison Buchbinder / Megan Ardery
Resnicow + Associates
212-671-5165 / 5178
abuchbinder / mardery@resnicow.com
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