A Room of Glass - The Claës Norstedt Collection
25.11.2005 - 14.5.2006 National Museum of Finland

Finnish and European glass from Antiquity to early 20th century

One of the jewels of the glass collection in the National Museum of Finland is the Claës Norstedt Collection, which Norstedt in his will in 1952 donated to the museum. The objects were deposited to the museum during the collectors lifetime in 1937. In the exhibition there are on display almost 500 glass objects of this collection.

Claës Norstedt (1870-1952), the holder of a degree in engineering, was a glass manufacturer, the long-term director of the Iittala glassworks (1897-1917) and the founder and manager of the Kauklahti glassworks near Helsinki (1923-1927). Norstedt began collecting glass in 1890s. The collection reflects his interest in the history of glassmaking and in objects of his own time and and past centuries. He was also given objects as presents from master glassmakers and glasswork managers.

The oldest objects are from the Roman period, rest of the collection is mainly from the time between 18th century and 1930s. Under two thirds of the objects are Finnish, rest European, mostly Nordic and German.

The collection consists of the products of Åvik, Mariedal, Nyby, Nuutajärvi, Berga, Grönvik, Johannislund, Sälinkää, Ojakkala, Sandnäs, Iloniemi, Arima, Iittala, Riihimäki and Kauklahti glassworks.

Norstedt studied glass also by collecting sherds and samples from glassworks sites. In the collection there is a base of a bottle, which is assumed to be from the Finland´s first glasswork in 1680s, in Uusikaupunki, Western Finland. In the base the initials of the founder, Gustaf Jung are to be seen. The Finnish material has a considerable national value due to its wide variety and diversity. As a collector of everyday Finnish household glassware Claës Norstedt was a pioneer.

source: The National Museum of Finland