In Russia, the Day of the Glass Industry Worker is marked annually since November 19, 2002, on the birthday of the outstanding Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765) – the inventor of chemical production of glaze, glass and porcelain.

Russian crystal items of the 19th century, despite the monumentality and solemnity of forms, was distinguished by grace and exquisite taste of faceted decor. This was largely due to the involvement of the major architects of that time to the Imperial Glass Factory (IGF) - A. Voronikhin, K. Rossi, Tom de Thomon, V. Stasov, I. Ivanov and A. Bryullov, whose designs laid the artistic and stylistic foundations for the development of Russian crystal in the 19th century.

For the professional holiday of glassmakers, manufacturers of art glass, we have prepared a review "The main types of facets in Russian glass art of the 19^th century".

• "Diamond" facet, or "plain diamond" - named for the similarity to the diamond cut. It first appeared in Irish glassmaking at the late 18th century and from the early 19th century became the most common type of carved decoration, originally called the "English" facet.

• "The Bakhmetevs" facet - in the form of vertical lines by a "roller", divided into three belts: alternating asterisk and circular optical grinding, lower and upper tetrahedral "stone". A similar facet was implemented at the IGF in the first quarter of the 19th century. During the second half of the 19th century, the majority of products with such facet were produced by the IGF and private enterprises - Nikolsko-Pestrovsky Bakhmetev plant and Gusevsky Crystal Factory.

• "Diamond" or "Trellis Stone" is a truncated tetrahedron with an asterisk-cross at the top cut. This facet became widespread from the second quarter of the 19^th century, primarily at the IGF.

• "Fan" facet has been known since the early 19th century, it was mainly used to decorate the side of products with ornately cut edge, which was common throughout the 19th century.

• "Strawberry diamond" - a truncated tetrahedron with small cuts "a simple diamond" at the top cut. It appeared in Russia since the early 1800s, and was especially popular at the Gusevsky Crystal Factory of the Maltsovs.

• "Stone" – a facet in the form of a truncated tetrahedron with polished cut of the top. The name is common to all noble polyhedra with different cut processing. “Stone” faceting was especially common in Russian glassmaking from the early 1800s and throughout the first half of the 19th century.

• "Bamboo Leaves" – a curly facet in the form of oblique narrow leaves with "vein" cut. A version exists that the samples for such a facet were products bought in Paris in a royal store, polished in this way.

• "Beam rosette" or "star" - a rosette of narrow beams radiating outward from a center of the item base. It appeared in the 1800s. A decorative element that creates additional play of light at the item bottom.

• "Oliver" - an optical facet in the form of elongated ovals, arranged in belts or in a checkerboard pattern. It became widespread at the items of the Maltsovs plant in the second half of the 19th century, entering the factory price lists.

• "The Maltsovs" facet - a magnificent eclectic combination of various ornaments comprised of rosettes, stones, bushes, etc. Typical for the items by the Gusevsky Crystal Factory of the Maltsovs in the 19th – the early 20th centuries, especially on items intended for the oriental market.

• "Peacock Feather" - an exquisite ornament comprised from optical lenses and flimsy cuts, was used at the IGF in the first quarter of the 19^th century. Due to the complexity of the execution and the lack of the desired effect, in comparison with the chiaro-oscuro of the cut facet, it was rarely used.

• "Finger" - vertical flat faces with rounded or truncated top. Widespread in Russian glassmaking from the first quarter of the 19th century - first at the IGF, and then especially widely used at the Gusevsky Crystal Factory of the Maltsovs.

• "Prismatic" facet ("stepped") - V-shaped, vertical, horizontal or oblique. It was implemented at the IGF already in the 1820s and was used by all large art glass factories.

• "Russian facet" - in 1885 the Russian embassy in Washington and the American embassy in St. Petersburg purchased identical banquet services in New York, made at the T. Hawkes plant in Corning (New York, USA). After that, richly cut facet comprised of complex compositions of multi-pointed "rosette stars" was called the "Russian facet".

• "Russian stone" - a truncated octahedron with smooth grinding at the top cut. “Stones” on items were arranged in a checkerboard pattern and supplemented with "simple diamond" at the intersections of the lines. The pattern is ornamental, gives rich radiant chiaro-oscuro effect of polished facets. Appeared in the mid-1820s.

• "Wide" facet was known in European glass making by the end of the 18th century, in particular in Britain. In Russia, it was used at the IGF already in the first quarter of the 19th century. In the 1830-40s, it was especially popular.

• "Fossette" - an optical facet in the form of round pits arranged in belts or in a checkerboard pattern. It appeared in the 1820s at the IGF, but was widely used on the items of the Gusevsky and Dyatkovsky Crystal Factories of the Maltsovs in the last quarter of the 19th - the early 20th centuries.

Updates in the museum Collection section "Glass Art".
A review article “Art glass production technologies” is in the section "Articles and Reviews".

Ref.: O.M. Polyashova. Russian glass of 19^th– early 20^th centuries, from the VMDPI collection, 2014, pp. 341-343