Topic: Art Nouveau WMF? I hope so! Whaddya think??

[Lyn-Webster]

I've been picking your brains a bit in the last few days & would like to thank anyone who has taken the time to read and/or respond. I notice you largely deal with glass art from the 1950s onwards, & whilst that's my main area of collecting, I also have a passion for Art Nouveau & to some extent Art Deco glass.

I found this piece (as usual) at a boot sale. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, either in terms of its use (a posy for some kind of drooping flower? A nightlight holder?) Anyway, the glass seems to be of excellent quality & the brass & copper have age - the threads on either end of the rod show significant age, and the patina seems natural.

I don't generally associate WMF with brass & copper, but the glass reminds me of a range they produced from around 1900 until 1930-ish called ikora or something similar.

(http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/4555/wmf0014ms.th.jpg)     (http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/8474/wmf0029jg.th.jpg)
(http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/7076/wmf0031ez.th.jpg)

I understand WMF work is gnerally marked - the 2 other pieces I have are - so my feeling is that it's likely to be by another firm. Anyway, it's such an unusual item I thought I'd share it wih you, and I'm hoping there's someone out there with similar tastes who might help me identify it!

Thanks again, I love this place! Lyn

[Ivo]

looks more like a ceiling lamp than anything else and is definitely not WMF. Ikora is the WMF trade name for manufactured metal which is always marked, and for thickwalled art glass which is never marked. This glass looks more like powdered lampwork/ ultralight borosilicate/ Vera Walther type glass.

[Anonymous]

http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,78.0.html

Cathy B

[Tigerchips]

Here's something that looks a bit like it.  
http://tinypic.com/dwp6h4.jpg

This one is 10.5 inches high. Yours looks nothing like Tiff@ny but perhaps it is in the style of?

[Tigerchips]

Charles Louis and Comfort Tiff@ny
A very great name in American Decorative Arts, Tiff@ny is synonymous with Amercan silverware through Charles Louis, and with original Art Nouveau designs through his son Louis Comfort. Charles Louis was a goldsmith and jeweller who set up business in new york in 1837, initially as an importer and retailer of fancy goods from Europe and the far east. He soon developed a good reputation for supplying fine jewellery specially commissioned from top european and american makers, using fine stones in designs inspired by different cultures - classical antiquity, Persian, Renaissance and Gothic as well as up-to-the-minute Art Nouveau.


Favrille Glass
Tiff@ny's name for hand-made iridescent glass. It was developed at his glasshouse on Long Island, in collaboration with Arthur Nash who worked for Thomas Webb. The name is taken from the word "fabrile", meaning hand-made or hand crafted. The surface is made iridescent by treatment with hot white metallic salts, which were absorbed into the glass, creating a metallic lustre, which achieved dazzling colour effects. The various types of iridescent glass had names such as "Cypriot" glass, "Lava" glass and "Nacreous ware".

Chip Battie.  

[chuggy]

I had wonderful bowl last year with it's original WMF Ikora Glass sticker still attached. Almost Tiffany like irridescence with an electric green to the top side over the most fantastic purple to the underside. Unfortunately I never kept a picture of the label.
Paul

[Frank]

The brass parts could well be much later than you suspect, much more like 1950's or later. Perhaps a clearer close-up with diameters. It looks like the sort of thing that was put together from odds and ends.

How large is the hole in the top piece?

[Lyn]

Here's something that looks a bit like it.  
http://tinypic.com/dwp6h4.jpg

This one is 10.5 inches high. Yours looks nothing like Tiff@ny but perhaps it is in the style of?

Thanks TigerChips! It feels positive to see something in print which is at least similar in form, AND for it to be a vase which I'd assumed from the start (though admittedly an odd one!).

It's down in the back room of the shop at the moment - I'll photograph it dis-assembled & give full dimensions. The coloue of the glass base & the top are actually a lot closer than they appear in the first photographs. As for being a ceiling light, there's no evidence of there ever having been any fittings or wiring, & no hole in the base of the 'vase' (for want of a better description until we know what it actually is!).

I bought it purely because it was decorative, & definitely a car-booter's price as opposed to a pro - in other words I paid next to nothing for it & I found it interesting.

Time to delve into the books I think... Lyn

PS - At least we all agree on one thing - it isn't WMF!!!!!!

[Frank]

There is a fair amount of relatively recent glass with metal stems - presumably cheaper to make - in gift shops.

I got given one as a present a few years ago by a non-glassy friend and it now gathers dust at the back of a shelf... somewhere. :lol:

Yours is a lot nicer so it will be interesting to find out more about it.