GI-108 • Jenny Lind Bust And Lyre Scroll Type Portrait Flask

Attributed to McCarty and Torreyson Manufacturers, Wellsburg, Virginia

Aquamarine Pint

Provenance: Alan DeMaison Collection

This outstanding example of a “Scroll Type Portrait Flask ” depicts an image of the “Swedish Nightingale” Jenny Lind and a wonderfully embossed Lyre. Like most historical glass, there is a story.

Our pint, aquamarine Jenny Lind Bust and Lyre Flask has an embossed three-quarter view bust portrait of Jenny Lind. She is turned to the left and wearing a broad plain bertha. Beneath the bust is an embossed large Lyre with three strings.

Each side of the flask forms a large panel slightly recessed at the top, following the shape of the flask which narrows at the base and contracts with the narrow vertical panels on the edges to form a flaring 10-sided scalloped base or foot. The reverse side of the flask is the same as the obverse. The flask side is paneled vertically. There is a plain lip and pontil mark.

Museum example GI-108, Jenny Lind Bust and Lyre Scroll Type Portrait Flask.

The flask is typically found in blue and green aquamarine and is attributed to McCarty and Torreyson Manufacturers who were in business from 1845 to 1860 in Wellsburg, Virginia which was originally Charlestown, Virginia. They produced flasks and a wide variety of liquor bottles, green glass patent and prescription bottles, and other forms of holloware.

Johanna Maria “Jenny” Lind (October 6, 1820 – November 2, 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the “Swedish Nightingale.” One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe and undertook an extraordinarily popular concert tour of the United States beginning in 1850. In 1840, she became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music which was founded in 1771 by King Gustav III.

“Jenny Lind – The Northern Nightingale”

In 1850, Lind went to America at the invitation of the showman P. T. Barnum. She gave 93 large-scale concerts for him and then continued to tour under her own management. She earned more than $350,000 from these concerts, donating the proceeds to charities, principally the endowment of free schools in Sweden. With her new husband, Otto Goldschmidt, she returned to Europe in 1852, where she had three children and gave occasional concerts over the next two decades, settling in England in 1855. From 1882, for some years, she was a professor of singing at the Royal College of Music in London.

See the museum example of a GI-105 “Jeny Lind” and Bust – Glass Factory Calabash Flask

Three Jenny Lind bottles – Corning Museum of Glass

Primary Image: “Jenny Lind Bust and Lyre Scroll Type Portrait Flask” imaged on location by the FOHBC Virtual Museum Midwest studio led by Alan DeMaison.

Support: Reference to American Bottles and Flasks and Their Ancestry by Helen McKearin and Kenneth M. Wilson, Crown Publishers Inc., New York, 1978.

Support Image: Auction Lot 59: Jenny Lind Bust And Lyre – Jenny Lind Bust And Lyre Portrait Flask, probably M’Carty and Torreyson Manufacturers, Wellsburg, Virginia, 1845-1855. Bright greenish aquamarine, sheared mouth – pontil scar, pint; (light exterior high point wear). GI-108 Fine condition. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #146

Support Image: Auction Lot 44: Jenny Lind Bust And Lyre – Jenny Lind Bust And Lyre Portrait Flask, probably M’Carty and Torreyson Glass Works, Wellsburg, (West) Virginia, 1842-1850. Aquamarine, sheared mouth – pontil scar, pint. GI-108 Beautiful glass clarity and mold design. Fine condition. Ex Sam Taylor collection, Robert and Janice Weekes collection. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #167

Support Image: Auction Lot 41: Jenny Lind Bust And Lyre Scroll Type Portrait Flask, probably McCarty and Torreyson Manufacturers, Wellsburg, Virginia, 1845-1860. Deep aquamarine, sheared mouth – tubular pontil scar, pint. GI-108 Unusual and pleasing form. Bold mold impression. Fine condition. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #187

Support Image: GI-108, Light green glass; mold-blown; plain lip, pontil mark. Obverse: Jenny Lind, three-quarter view, turned to left, wearing broad plain bertha. Beneath large Lyre with three strings. Each side of flask forms a large panel slightly recessed at the top, and following the shape of the flask which narrows at base and contracts with the narrow vertical panels on edges to form a flaring ten-sided scalloped base or foot. Reverse: same as obverse. Inscription: none. Edges: paneled vertically. Provenance McKearin Antiques – Corning Museum of Glass

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