Here’s a trivia question – what is a “Gadroon”?
A. A Dutch chocolate bon bon made with distilled tulip nectar, popular during Tulip Mania in the 1630s
B. A member of the elite Florentine bodyguards who served the Medici family during the Renaissance
C. A type of fancy draft horse that is a cross between a Thoroughbred stallion and a Clydesdale mare
D. A series or band of raised convex segments or mouldings forming an ornamental surface pattern
Well, you ARE reading Rejuvenation’s blog after all, so no doubt you’ve zeroed in on D.
We ourselves were unfamiliar with the term until we reproduced the new shade above for the Alexandra – and as you can see, this shade features not one, but two different patterns of gadroons. Below you'll find a little more historical background on this impressive piece of glass.
We originally found the gadrooned shade in Catalogue 21 of the R. Williamson Company of Chicago, depicted right on the fixture that would become the Alexandra. (1915, Rejuvenation archives)
A little further research revealed that the gadrooned shade was introduced in a series of different sizes in the 1910s by Jefferson Glass Company, of Follansbee, West Virginia, and was marketed as a "Georgian lantern." (1914, Rejuvenation archives)
The gadrooned shade was offered in Moonstone glass, which was the trade name Jefferson used for a semi-translucent white glass that appeared opaque in color while in fact allowing significant diffusion of light from within. This is the glass that would become ubiquitous in the classic "schoolhouse" shades of the 1920s. (1914, Rejuvenation archives)
Besides its beautiful design, elegant curves, and substantial size, our gadrooned shade has one other feature that sets it apart – an over-sized 8" fitter that gives the large shade a very different sense of proportion and fit relative to its fixture. This is scale carefully balanced with visual appeal.
*A Note for Lighting Glass Nerds
In 1910, Jefferson Glass Company was sued by Macbeth-Evans Glass Company over the chemical composition of Moonstone glass, which Macbeth-Evans claimed was the same as their proprietary formula for Alba glass. Alba was the first semi-translucent opal diffusing glass, introduced in 1903 and a highly valuable trade secret. Macbeth-Evans prevailed, and after 1913 Jefferson’s Moonstone glass was altered to a different formula. Interestingly, only one company in the United States still makes blown opal diffusing glass shades today. This is the family-owned factory Rejuvenation partners with, located in the same state as the Jefferson Glass Company’s former headquarters in Follansbee, West Virginia – a state where glass-making experience and tradition extends back for more than a century.