Topic: Modern Basket Vase

[langhaugh]

I'd call the green in Shannon's basket the typical Murano green of the period, whereas the green in the piece from Charles I've seen more in Maastricht and Kosta. The handle is somewhat similar but the foot is different, I think. And, OK, twist my arm and I'll say that the JI basket isn't too bad looking.

David

[shandiane78]

OK, so the basket I posted isn't actually anything like Charles'. It is nice though, isn't it?  The molded foot on Charles' piece is also very much like many of the J.I. pieces I've seen. I swear I've seen this particular form for before, but I must not have saved a photo. Wish I could find it again...

[horochar]

I'm convinced it's Jordan Importing (J.I.) based on the composite of these postings, and especially pictures from the J.I. website, some pieces of which I own and which compare favorably to the basket in terms of production quality.  This however leaves unanswered the question of "who or what is J.I.?"  Information from the net is somewhat confusing, describing the company as both and importer and designer of glass produced in Murano.  It would be nice to know with whom they contracted (e.g., Fratelli Toso), but it seems that nobody knows.

Over the years, pieces I've seen with the J.I. label tended to be fairly mediocre and "generic" in terms of design qualities, but very good to excellent technique-wise.  In my opinion.
Charles.

[Lustrousstone]

Have you seen this thread? http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,16674.0.html

[shandiane78]

I know that the owner, Jack Blanco, designed much of the glass, but it's obvious that they also imported the glass of other glass houses on Murano. Definitely from Fratelli Toso (their paperweights appear in a J.I. catalog), and others I suspect as well. Many of the J.I. clowns are thought to be Seguso, and then there are some really fine items, for example:

http://www.bravurastyle.com/glass27.htm

There's a single seahorse as well, one of which recently sold on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250253997425

These both appear in one of my J.I. catalogs, along with some fine looking glass including Venetian figurines and blackamoors, and some really pedestrian looking glass as well. The catalog seems to reveal a wide range of quality and design, which really makes one wonder...

[shandiane78]

Hey, check it out - Javier has something similar:

http://www.trocadero.com/svazzo/items/550741/item550741.html

I don't know about the F. Toso attribution (plausible, though I've never seen proof), but I'm willing to bet it's a J.I. import.

[alexander]

I'm probably way off here but could it be Flygsfors?

It has some design similarities (imho) to this one.

[horochar]

No.  I have several pieces of Flygsfors (which in my opinion is undervalued in the market), and it's definitely not by them.  As I've said before, I'm nearly certain it's J.I.  The only remaining question is whether it was designed/made by J.I., or if it's Fratelli Toso which J.I. may have imported.  Javier's attribution could very well be correct; some of these pieces are (to my eye) stylistically similar to F. Toso.

[bidda]

No.  I have several pieces of Flygsfors (which in my opinion is undervalued in the market)...

i agree! it's a shame because their glass is lovely and unambiguously identifiable (being that they are uniformly, permanently and legibly marked).  what would murano glassies do if we didn't have to spend weeks, months or even years in research to come up with an attribution that's reasonably solid? with all that free time we might find ourselves getting into mischief. idle hands and all... 

bidda

[shandiane78]

Hey! Check it out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200235439740

P.S. I totally agree about Flygsfors glass. I bought a piece with the intent to sell, but now that I've seen it in person...Now way. It's mine. :-)