1915 Stained Glass Window

'Here is a classic Arts and Crafts style stained glass window circa 1915, Pittsburgh. The window features a centerpiece of an abundance of fruit with the surrounding foliage. The window is datable to 1915, as told to me by the owner of the house this came from. The size of the total frame is 40 5/8" wide by 29 1/2" tall. The glass size alone is 36" wide x 24 1/4" tall. The frame is 1 3/8" thick, and the joinery is mortise and tenon. The window has two vertical reinforcement bars, soldered directly to the leading, to hold it tight and straight. All of the glass is good, with no cracks whatsoever. All the leading is in good shape and all of the solder joints are intact.

The sash (frame) is painted white on both sides. This was a fixed window, (not moveable) and has no hardware on the frame. The window was well protected by a storm window and is in excellent shape.

The centerpiece depicts a luscious combination of peaches and grapes with leaves. The scene is predominantly done in various shades of opalescent glass. The leaves are done in various shades of green streaked opalescent glass, and the peaches are a variety of shades of streaky peach and orange opalescent glass with a granite texture. The grapes are especially noteworthy, being a wonderful swirly, streaked cathedral glass in cobalt blue and purple, with beautiful light transmission. The narrow borders which divide the center third of the composition from the other two thirds of the field is composed of a clear textured glass with a star pattern. (a fairly typical patterned glass from this era) The background, or "field" is old clear glass with character; stretched bubbles and subtle reamy streaking. The perimeter border is done in a luscious, translucent, opalescent glass streaked with lime green, bright green, blue, and gold. You can find lots of poetic nuances in this old glass, with subtle passages of light running through the more deeply colored portions. Four diamonds of gold, hammered textured cathedral glass give punctuation to the border's lovely colors.

The side motifs are mirror images; a simple grouping of an arrow and two rounded corners, done in gold and deep pink cathedral glass with a hammered texture. The lower shapes in these motifs mirror the ones above them, only the gold now extends outward, forming another border along the edge of the field, and highlighting the lower pink triangles. All of this glass has the usual hallmarks of old glass; the occasional thin streamers of hot glass melted into the surface and small irregularities on the surface, illustrating that sensibility which came into vogue during this Arts and Crafts period, when folks were starting to get tuned into the beauty and nuances of handmade materials.

This window can be used as either a decorative piece to hang in front of another window, or as a real window installed into the architecture. It should have many good years of life left in it, having been restored.

This window has been restored. The work done on it is as follows: The window has been removed from the frame, flattened, and had some solder joints resoldered, three pieces of border glass were replaced with perfectly matched glass, the grouting has been redone, as needed, and the perimeter glazing has been redone. Solder joints were patinaed to match the existing finish. The window is now is excellent, restored condition, and looks stunning!

This window is a gorgeous and scrumptious early Arts and Crafts window which will be a welcome addition to your home. The philosophy of using earth tones, such as green, brown, and gold in the composition was part of the whole ideology of this movement. This philosophy espoused that architecture and it's decorative components should harmonize with the surrounding, indigenous landscape, and reflect it's colors. This way, the architecture (and its components) seemed to belong to the landscape as a visually compatible part of the whole scene. This window incorporates the existing landscape into the window, from the perspective of looking through the clear glass and incorporating visually your landscape in these 'hollow places' within the window.'