Waterford Crystal Punch Bowl

Among glassware aficionados, the name Waterford has earned a place of eminence — both for antique crystal vases, glasses, chandeliers and serveware made by the original Irish company in the 18th and 19th centuries, and for new versions of the firm’s classic patterns produced after its rebirth in the 1940s. With either iteration, Waterford is a byword for traditional elegance. 

Waterford crystal was born of a tax loophole. In 1783, business-minded brothers George and William Penrose founded the Waterford Glass House in southeastern Ireland because Irish glass was exempt from steep British import duties. The two wanted to make fine-quality wares and hired artisans from England, including master glassmaker John Hill. The factory’s flint glass — a precursor to lead crystal — soon won a clientele among British and continental aristocrats. 

One of Hill’s aesthetic innovations was to polish glassware after a pattern was cut, to buff off the resulting frosted surface. The look became a Waterford trademark. Through the fame of its wine goblets, claret jugs and decanters, the firm continued to win honors at the many industrial expositions of the early Victorian era. But over those years, higher and higher luxury excise taxes were placed on fine crystal. Waterford products became prohibitively expensive, and the company closed in 1851.

The brand’s renown was still intact when it was revived in 1947 by a Czech glass manufacturer named Charles Bacik, who moved to Ireland after the Communist takeover of his country. For centuries, the region now called the Czech Republic had been the great glassware center of Middle Europe — the source of crystal to legendary Viennese glass design firms such as Lobmeyr and Bakalowits. So Bacik brought with him the master glassblower and designer Miroslav Havel. 

In Dublin, Havel studied the old Waterford style book archives kept in the National Museum. He used these classic patterns as the basis for new ones such as Lismore, with its crosshatching and flame-like vertical cuts, and Alana, with its heavily textured diamond cuts. Past and present are thus linked at Waterford. 

Introduced in 1991, the Marquis by Waterford range of vases, bowls and other wares were priced for everyday use and were intended for use in modern homes. It was the first new brand debuted by the company in what was then its more than two-century history. 

As you will see on 1stDibs, antique or recently made, Waterford crystal is the essence of refinement.

Find Waterford crystal vases, serveware and other collectibles for sale on 1stDibs.

Vintage, new and antique serving bowls are popular with collectors as well as cooks. While some serving bowls are merely decorative items, others are both eye-catching and functional.

The design and material of a bowl will vary depending on the period and location where it was made. Antique Chinese serving bowls are often exquisitely painted and made from fine porcelain. Colonial American wooden bowls are practical and elegant, able to hold brightly colored fruit or act as a serving dish at a family meal.

Along with wood, stone, metal and porcelain, there are also glass serving bowls. The most notable are made from Murano glass, named for the Murano Island in Venice where many of the world’s most famous glass objects have been produced. Glass serving bowls from the 19th through the mid-20th century are especially popular with collectors. Pieces from this era range from simple to ornate, frequently featuring gold or painted embellishments.

The styles of these bowls include art glass, which dates to the mid-19th century, and colorful carnival glass, which was introduced in the early 20th century. Carnival glass serving bowls were more affordable so they were used widely in homes. Depression glass, an iteration of glassware that was inexpensively mass-produced when people didn’t have much money to spend on decor during the 1920s and ’30s, featured bright colors. Milk glass, which had its heyday in the late 19th century, adds a touch of elegance to any table or display.

Antique and vintage serving bowls are desirable for their style, patterns and range of textures they can help introduce to a space. They are also prized for their rich history. Browse antique and vintage serving bowls on 1stDibs today.