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The Wine Glass

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1888.21)
Number: 38
Date: 1859
Medium: etching
Size: 83 x 55 mm
Signed: 'Whistler' at lower left
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 2
Known impressions: 40
Catalogues: K.27; M.27; T.28; W.31
Impressions taken from this plate  (40)

TECHNIQUE

It is pure etching, with complex use of line, shading and cross-hatching creating a sparkling, dramatic image.

PRINTING

The first state is rare, with only four impressions located. One of these is printed in black ink on off-white laid paper with an unusual watermark, a crowned circular shield with fesse dancetté 19 and possibly a lion rampant (Graphic with a link to impression #K0270104).

19: A deeply indented zigzag line of partition.

There are far more impressions of the second state and there may have been an unusually large print run print-run of at least 30 impressions. Most of these have little provenance, or their known history starts long after Whistler's death, and it is possible some of these were printed posthumously. However, the standard appears to have been maintained, and the copper plate did not, apparently, deteriorate.
Apart from one impression in brown (Graphic with a link to impression #K0270214) most are in black ink, occasionally on Japanese (Graphic with a link to impression #K0270206, Graphic with a link to impression #K0270202) or wove western paper (Graphic with a link to impression #K0270214). The majority are on laid paper, cream (Graphic with a link to impression #K0270208), 'modern' (post-1800) with a partial watermark, 'IV 1802' (Graphic with a link to impression #K0270205) and 'antique' (Graphic with a link to impression #K0270204). Others are on ivory laid paper (Graphic with a link to impression #K0270202, Graphic with a link to impression #K0270231) including 'antique' (Graphic with a link to impression #K0270203) and watermarked papers such as 'PRO PATRIA' (Graphic with a link to impression #K0270221), and 'KF' (Graphic with a link to impression #K0270226).