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Author Topic: Irregular Pulegoso Modern Vase * Fratelli Toso?  (Read 3648 times)

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Offline horochar

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Irregular Pulegoso Modern Vase * Fratelli Toso?
« on: November 18, 2007, 03:58:46 PM »
I love this rose colored vase, which was sold to me as Murano circa 1950s.  Can someone help me to identify maker and vintage?  The bubbles at bottom have a density and size suggestive of the pulegoso technique, but they become quite irregular in size and shape going upward.  It's about 14 inches tall and has polished base with indentation/depression in center.  My guidebooks are not helpful, although the form suggests to me Fratelli Toso (based on a couple of pictures in Leslie Pina's book).  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Charles.

Offline horochar

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Re: Irregular Pulegoso Modern Vase * Fratelli Toso?
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2007, 11:30:51 PM »
Barovier & Toso "efeso," perhaps?

Offline Springhead

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Re: Irregular Pulegoso Modern Vase * Fratelli Toso?
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2007, 11:57:09 PM »
Efeso glass has solids in it... see the pics below...

Pulegoso is made by adding kerosene or an other agent to the glass. I think that is what is going on here only not quite frothy enough bubbles to be called puligoso. The brick red color is very nice.

Offline horochar

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Re: Irregular Pulegoso Modern Vase * Fratelli Toso?
« Reply #3 on: December 31, 2007, 01:43:07 AM »
Actually, the vase does have inclusions throughout, which look like sand grains.  In the picture below, you can see some of the larger grains (hopefully) in the large bubble.  I don't have a macro lens to properly photograph the smaller grains, which as I've stated are throughout, although not in as great a concentration as in the blue piece.

I own a few pulegoso pieces, and that technique doesn't appear to involve inclusions at all.  Information I've obtained on the net points to the efeso technique being used by Barovier circa 1964.  (This piece has, to my eye, a mid-sixties look.)  The execution is also of very high quality, not cheap tourist or mass-produced glass.  However, I've found no pictures showing Barovier efeso in colors other than blue, gray and clear.  This one is actually a rose color, quite lovely.  If not Barovier, did other better Muranese producers work in this technique?
Thanks,
Charles.


Offline Springhead

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Re: Irregular Pulegoso Modern Vase * Fratelli Toso?
« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2007, 02:51:16 AM »
After I posted

heh...

I looked more closely at the pics you have up.

It does seem to be Efeso

As far as I know Barovier was experimenting with unmelted colors

and Efeso was one product of that endeavor

I am posting some pics of some related items I think may be along the same lines

The first is an umbrella stand (huge) I bought once and the others are three bowls I bought at an auction years ago

You can see in each example the colorization is "unmelted" powder like and... I think the object he was striving for with the bubbles was to get the unmelted powders to form patterns as can be seen clearly in the bowls below

Offline Springhead

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Re: Irregular Pulegoso Modern Vase * Fratelli Toso?
« Reply #5 on: December 31, 2007, 03:06:47 AM »
Also...

The Seguso factory worked a technique called Pulvari (sp?)

Pulverized or powdered

much the same thing only the seguso pieces I have seen are all half powdered and half not with the focus of design on the graded interface between the powdered and non-powdered spaces.

I'm looking really closely at the picture of the neck and rim you have up and I think the red colorant looks uneven. Can you verify that?

Offline langhaugh

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Re: Irregular Pulegoso Modern Vase * Fratelli Toso?
« Reply #6 on: December 31, 2007, 07:46:56 AM »
It's hard to see detail as I can't get the photographs to increase in size much, so I'm being very tentative.  In "Themes and Variations," Heiremans writes, "Being basically a variation of the 'colourisation without fusing" technique, the 'Efeso' distinguishes itself by the numerous--usually irregular--air bubbles which were formed when the layer of oxides was covered." The effeso I've seen, mostly in photographs, had more regular bubbles than this. Also, from what I can make out on this vase, the bubbles seem part of an layer of glass added after the colour. Seguso did some vases with irregular bullicante also.  Which Toso vase were you thinking of? I did a quick check of Pina but didn't find one immediately.

Finally, my first reaction was Scandinavian. The top looks similar to a Kastrup vase and several Scandinavian companies used irregular bubbles, quite like this (Randsfjorfglass, for example.)

David
My glass collection is at https://picasaweb.google.com/lasilove

Offline Ivo

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Re: Irregular Pulegoso Modern Vase * Fratelli Toso?
« Reply #7 on: December 31, 2007, 10:00:35 AM »
I can see why you think Scandinavian, the shape is very Aseda - but it also has a strong similarity to a blue Pulegoso bottle vase I have by Aldo Bon. Same shape, same neck finish - and the pulegoso, of course...

Offline horochar

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Re: Irregular Pulegoso Modern Vase * Fratelli Toso?
« Reply #8 on: December 31, 2007, 01:46:27 PM »
To answer the questions, the color is perfectly uniform throughout, no layers.  The Toso that I was referring to was Fratelli Toso; page 96 of Leslie Pina's book depicts pieces with similarly flared rim.  I'm almost certain that it is vintage Murano and not Skandinavian, despite the rim treatment, although some of the images in chapter 6 ("Spots") in the Fire & Sea book give me pause.  It just has a look and "feel" of Murano when you pick it up and hold it.  It's quite thick and heavy, despite its elegant form.  One clue as to maker may be the technique.  It has a polished pontil bottom (i.e., with a concave depression in middle). 

Offline horochar

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Re: Irregular Pulegoso Modern Vase * Fratelli Toso?
« Reply #9 on: December 31, 2007, 03:46:32 PM »
... it also has a strong similarity to a blue Pulegoso bottle vase I have by Aldo Bon. Same shape, same neck finish - and the pulegoso, of course...

If it is not too much trouble, could you post a picture of your Aldo Bon?  Also, does it have sand-like inclusions, or just a pure pulegoso?
Thanks,
Charles.

 

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