Norwegian glass from Nostetangen: a crossroads of German and English styles

Magazine Antiques, Sept, 1996 by Jan Kock

In the first decades of the eighteenth century, Frederik IV (r. 1699-1730), the king of Denmark and Norway, launched many new projects with a view to solving the country's economic problems. The idea was to make the twin monarchy into a single market, with Denmark producing the necessary agricultural products and Norway exploiting such resources as its mineral deposits, forests, and the sea. In the latter half of the 1730s, under Christian VI, privileges were granted to those starting up various enterprises in Norway. One of the most important resulting companies was Det Kongelige Allernaadigst Octroyerede Nordske Kompagni, which was given its charter on May 21, 1739, to carry out diverse activities in nearly all industries.(1) Among the rights and obligations included in the long, detailed charter was permission to establish one or more glassworks. A site was chosen at Nostetangen, at Koksund, on the Drammen River, a vital region for Norwegian industry. It was obvious that there could be problems in obtaining sufficient fuel at this location, but its accessibility to good transportation was considered more important.

The glasshouse was built by 1741 and, with royal approval, the company induced a master glassmaker, a furnace builder, and probably a number of assistant glassmakers to come to Norway from Thuringia (now in Germany).(2) Production began quickly and both green and white glass were manufactured from the beginning, but the total amount made was small and sales were poor.(3) Although one might expect that these early, essentially experimental pieces were of poor quality, a few large, flawless goblets made for the royal family between 1741 and 1744 show that even at this stage the factory was capable of fine work (see Pl. VIII). The goblets, with their distinctive crowned covers, are stylistically related to examples made in Germany and Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) about 1700, but which were no longer in fashion there.(4)

The glasshouse was shut down between 1744 and 1746, during which time it was expanded and modernized, and more glassmakers were brought in from Germany and Bohemia.(5) New capital was raised in 1747 by increasing the number of shares in the company from 500 to 879, 100 of which were bought by the royal family.(6) The court in Copenhagen repeatedly placed orders for goblets during this period, no doubt both because they were fashionable and as an expression of support for the struggling enterprise.(7) Several large goblets made to order and then engraved in Copenhagen survive, and a significant number of blanks remain in the Danish royal collections (see Pl. X). The Nostetangen glassworks decidedly enjoyed the favor of Frederik V, who visited it during a trip to Norway in 1749. A verse written for the occasion may be translated:

On the left hand from there the glasshouse lies so often for its daily bread it weeps and sighs. Glass is made from saltpeter, poison, sand, and lime Every honest patriot wishes it a better time.(8)

Despite such support, Nostetangen's finances were shaky, as sales did not meet forecasts, and in 1751 production was essentially stopped. The Kongelige Allernaadigst Octroyerede Norske Kompagni was reorganized as the Kongelig Octroyerede Norske Fabrique Compagnie, with primarily Norwegian owners, although the king remained very much interested in it. He purchased about 30 percent of the shares and his lord high steward and privy councilor, Count Adam Gottlob Moltke (1710-1792), purchased another 10 percent. When Moltke became the head of the Compagnie in 1751, a position he held for many years during a period when the Danish economy was expanding,(9) he was presented with two goblets made at Nostetangen and beautifully engraved in Copenhagen by the royal glass engraver Heinrich Gottlieb Kohler.(10)

In 1753 Caspar Herman von Storm was appointed director of the Compagnie in Norway, under Moltke, and his responsibilities included running the glassworks. Before he was hired, he visited all the Compagnie's enterprises and compiled a critical report(11) in which he discussed the poor management of the glasshouse at Nostetangen, but observed that it could be made profitable. Von Storm threw himself into his new job with energy and creativity, working closely with Moltke to reorganize production and sales.(12) Over the course of thirteen years he systematically developed the Norwegian glass industry and opened a number of new glassworks. The mainstays were bottle and window glass, which together accounted for approximately 80 percent of production, with white glass accounting for about another 15 percent and finer, transparent glass, less than 5 percent. The finest pieces were the tablewares made at Nostetangen.

To ensure the highest quality glass, von Storm continued to bring in skilled glassmakers from Germany and Bohemia. In addition, he was interested in learning the English process for making sparkling clear lead glass. In 1754 he sent a trusted employee, Morten Waern, to England to obtain this coveted information,(13) which the English were reluctant to share. Indeed, they had enacted a number of laws to prevent the spread of English expertise to other countries, and so Waern had to work very cautiously. For nearly two years he sent a steady stream of information and samples to von Storm before being found out and imprisoned in London in 1755. Through Moltke's intervention, he was released from prison on bail and fled immediately to France, where he continued to obtain useful information for the Norwegian glassworks.