Intaglio Glass: from
the Glass Encyclopedia

Intaglio is a form of design/decoration where the picture is cut away below the surface of the glass. This effect may be achieved by cutting out the glass to form the shape of the design, or more commonly, by pressing using a mold. It is the opposite of cameo glass, where the design is raised above the surface by cutting away the background.

The two milk glass sugar bowls shown on the left have intaglio designs, and you can see that the design is lower than the surface of the surrounding glass. These are examples of high quality intaglio pressed glass.

When this form of design is used with opalescent glass, it has the effect of showing a clear glass image in a milky opalescent background, because the thicker parts of opalescent glass show the opalescence more.

Sometimes called "hollow relief" intaglio cutting was done with engraving wheels as long ago as Roman times, and was widely used in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries.

A popular form of design in the early to mid 20th century was to impress an intaglio picture of fruit into the base of glass bowls and plates. This was a fairly common practice in England (eg Bagley), the USA (eg Imperial) and Australia (eg Crown Crystal) glassworks.

If you are looking for intaglio glass, you can usually find items on offer on ebay - click here to see the intaglio glass currently for sale on ebay. Or you can visit one of the dealers who specialise in glass on the internet.