Lattice & Points by Joan Doty

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LATTICE & POINTS (Dugan)~~ by Joan Doty

(If Lattice & Points, Grapevine Lattice, and Vining Twigs has never been confusing for you.......

this just may do the trick! ~~You decide.

Note: Joan presented a fine program surrounding these issues for a carnival glass convention some years ago, and kindly prepared this folder of information/photos, which was handed out to everyone in attendance. We believe you will find it informative and interesting!

LATTICE & POINTS Swung Vase

The Lattice & Points vase is a swung vase. A swung vase is one that was actually swung during its formation. After a vase was removed from the mold, a “snap” was clamped on the base. (See our 101 segment showing the snap/mold clamp with a vase inserted - The Story on Vase s).

It was re-heated and then literally swung around in giant circles by the glassmaker. It was this swinging that caused the glass to lengthen. The vase was then given to a finisher who fashioned the top before it proceeded through the rest of the Carnival creation process.

When a vase was swung, there was, of course, elongation and therefore some distortion of the original pattern. When another piece of glass from the same mold was stretched horizontally, to make a bowl, for instance, the effect was quite different. Complicate that with the use of two entirely different plungers, and it is very easy to believe that there are two different patterns. Such is the case with Lattice & Points and Vining Twigs.

The Lattice & Points vase is usually 7” to 9” tall and can be found in a wonderful range of marigold shades - from pastel marigold all the way through dark marigold, a golden marigold, and a soft light caramel that is very similar to honey amber. It is also found in a range of amethyst shades as well as frosty white; but the most surprising colors are blue and clear. The top is the typical Dugan shaping of a hexagon with six slightly rounded scallops.

Another version of the vase was, possibly, slightly swung to a height of about four and a half inches, then the top half was widely flared and ruffled. This version is sometimes called a hat.

Other pieces from the same mold have the top two thirds widely flared and ruffled (now it's a bowl), the flare and ruffles beginning right at the base (still a bowl), and then flattened all the way out (plate!).

Also LATTICE & POINTS

All of these shapes were made from a four-part mold with a smooth exterior base having a diameter between 2 ¾” and 2 7/8”. Examples in all these shapes were made with both a smooth plunger and a delightfully patterned plunger that produced a well-defined daisy in high relief on the interior of the base. Framing the daisy on the sides of the interior and extending half up are three and one-half interlocked rings of flat stippled diamonds. When the vase was swung, it was the elongation of these diamonds that produced the “Points” of the pattern.

Mrs. Hartung identified the vase, with the daisy interior, as Lattice and Points (IV-14); the bowl and the ruffled version of the vase, or hat, with the smooth interior, as Vining Twigs (VI-74). Had she seen the vase with the smooth interior and the bowl with the daisy, she would no doubt have done a revision. Sherman Hand named the vase Diamond and Daisy (Ency-189), and Mrs. Presznick called it Diamond and Shrub (3-46).

If those weren't enough names for one pattern - there is a strong possibility that this could be a variation of the Grapevine Lattice pattern found in tumblers and tankards and also originally produced by Dugan/Diamond. The JIP Grapevine Lattice tumbler dramatically demonstrates the effect stretching had on the lattices; when stretched, the cabling dissolves. The tumbler, of course, has “columns” of two diamond shapes, formed by the lattices; the vase and the tankard both have “columns” of three diamond shapes. Also, the tumbler has a ring of eight diamond shapes while the vase has a ring of only four diamond shapes. The tankard also has the base decoration repeated at the top. But then all patterns have some variations among the shapes.

To further complicate the issue - this pattern bears no resemblance to the small plates and bowls also produced by Dugan/Diamond, and also called Grapevine Lattice. Visually, there is no confusion, as these small plates and bowls have a grid of four large twigs in each direction. *Interestingly, there is a Butler Brothers catalog ad from July 1914, illustrating the “Etruscan” iridescent grouping, which includes the Lattice & Points vase, a Lattice & Points low bowl, the Grapevine Lattice bowl, as well as the JIP Grapevine Lattice tumbler, along with several other Dugan pieces.* (Between the asterisks, we have inserted different information than was given in Joan's original writing, because we could not locate the one she spoke of in our Butler Bros. Reprint Book of 1994,---Spring, 1914, and decided that it would be nice to show you an actual ad to illustrate the point to better advantage.

July 1914 BUtler Bros. Wholesale Catalog Ad

As the purpose of any name is to provide clarification, not confusion, and changing the name of anything produces confusion, it seems best to stick with the most commonly used names. So all we need to remember is: Grapevine Lattice for the tumblers and tankards and also the totally different pattern seen in the small plates and bowls; Lattice and Points for the charming little vase, in all its variations, which is the subject of this display.

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