English Incised Twist Wine Glasses

Often overlooked by collectors of 18th century drinking glasses, incised twist glasses are rarer than both the opaque twist and the air twist, having only being made for a short period between 1750 and 1765.

Incised twist is the name given to a small group of glasses defined by a spiral groove running around the stem from top to bottom. The spiral groove can vary from a tight wrythen twist to a more open rope twist.  Compared to air twists, these were relatively easy to make and it is widely believed that they were made as a cheaper alternative to air twists, as they display a similar appearance at a distance. These glasses can be split into two groups, those of an indifferent quality, often soda glass and poorly made, while the other group are well made, good quality lead glasses.

The following three examples clearly fit into the later group, however, they all display different characteristics:

Incised twist wine glass, the round funnel bowl which has reticulated moulding to the lower half and a particularly nice feature of this glass is the domed foot. English C1755.

Incised twist wine glass also has a reticulated moulded round funnel bowl. The top of the bowl has an engraved border of naturalistic flowers, the fine incised twist stem is set on a plain conical foot. This glass is shorter than the other two examples, however, it has presence and retains its symmetry. English C1765.

The third glass is similar to the other two with a reticulated moulded round funnel bowl and fine incised twist stem set on a conical foot English C1765.

All three glasses have similar characteristics, the large round funnel bowl, which is not a common feature of glasses of this period, the reticulated moulding to the lower half of the bowl and the fine incised twist stem.  This suggests a common origin and it has been suggested that this style originated from one glass house, however, there is no evidence of this.