Nøstetangen Glassworks
The glassworks at Nøstetangen
Nøstetangen Glassworks was established in Hokksund in 1741. Det norske Kompani organised the enterprise, drawing on local natural resources and specialist knowledge from abroad. Its fine drinking glasses and goblets gave it an important place in Norwegian glass history.
Glassmaking and engraving are different roles
The glassworks' name must be distinguished from an engraver's name. For example, the National Museum records the wine glass No XVIII. Reperbane, dated 1771, with Nøstetangen as manufacturer and Heinrich Gottlieb Köhler as engraver. A decorative style or artist's name therefore does not automatically identify the glassworks itself.
The glass museum's interpretation shows both German and English influences in form and decoration. Air twists, enamel twists and engraving occur, but none of these features alone securely identifies Nøstetangen manufacture.
How secure is an attribution?
Models and skilled workers continued at Hurdal when production at Nøstetangen was wound down in the 1770s. Similar forms may therefore have different production histories. Record dimensions, glass characteristics, stem, foot, decoration and provenance together, comparing them with catalogues and museum objects.
Distinguish documented manufacture from a reasoned attribution and from a piece that merely resembles a known example. An inscribed commemorative date is not automatically the date when the glass was blown.
Browse our glass and crystal category.
Sources
Nøstetangen Norwegian Glass Museum on the works' history, the museum's exhibition on manufacture and models and the National Museum's Reperbane glass record.
