Collecting with Myrtle Duff

Press, 12 August 1980, Page 12

Collecting with Myrtle Duff

The house in which I grew up .had a? massive front door flanked by rich--, ly-coldured glass panels, through which .the sun filled the wide hall with a derful patterns on • the floor.

I was sad when the cured glass was removed in the interests of “modernisation,” and turned for comfort to the windows in our church which I contemplated with great joy during the sermons. Later opportunities to enjoy both mediaeval and contemporary masterpieces in stained glass increased my appreciation of glass as a medium for artistic expression. Ohe cannot collect cathedral windows, but glass is such a versatile material that there are a great many more collectable items available.

One category’ offering variety in style and .period of manufacture is the glass paperweight. These are still being made today, and a collection, does, not take up too: much space. The most sought after type is probably the Millefiore, first .made ih‘ Venice and later in France from about 1845, by. a most intricate * process originally introduced by the Greeks in the first-century. B.C. The designs for the insets in these examples usually included masses of tiny flowers, as indicated by the name, and sometimes arrangements of fruit or a brightly’coloured butterfly. Producing these required a high degree of technical skill and artistic- ability. • First,-a number of fine 1 glass rods were made in many colours. Sometimes bundles •of these were