Topic: Czech vase?.. Unusual colors - Looking for suggestions....

[obscurities]

Got this at the show this weekend also... we were owners the second we laid our eyes on it.  About 6 inches across, 4.5 tall.  A flame polished pontil, but not scooped...  The edge is black, the top is a yellow, and the body is an almost Tangerine like opalescent like glass.... age wear on the underside.....

Any ideas on this would be appreciated....  I am pretty sure it's Czech.... but I am open to any thoughts...

TIA  Craig

[azelismia]

HI No base shots?

you're in seattle, Dunno if you go to the galleries often, but that kind of glass is very popular gallery side. given where you are and what I know we make here, seattle studio glass is my first thought.

[obscurities]

Hi,

I tried base shots but really could not get much of an image. There are some areas of age wear. The dealer it was purchased from is not from this area. I am fairly familiar with some of the NW studio glass, and my general experience is that all of it is signed nowadays and has been for many years... even pieces that probably should not have been    This piece has no signature of any kind....  IMHO it is far too well executed to have not been signed if it is a piece of contemporary studio glass, NW or other. It is well enough blown that there is no grinding on the underside to help level it out as it sits perfectly straight and flat and the top is nearly perfectly round.  There are also a handful of Oregon coast blowers in areas like Cannon Beach, and all of their work I have seen is also signed.

Craig

[azelismia]

the stuff you see in the stores tends to be signed but some of it is only signed with  stickers. Also it depends on if it's stuff that was given away by the glass blowers to friends. I have a piece of Lundberg studios that isn't signed. it was authenticated by the studio.  IOW never say never It really does look like the type of stuff you see in pioneer square for sale, much more so than the stuff you see from Czechoslovakia. Iirc some of the glass schools do not permit their work to be signed except for in certain circumstances. 



base ware doesn't tell too much of a story because even if it's 20 years old it can still have a bit if it's been moved around a lot.

the style and coloring just don't say old czech to me, maybe newer Czech, but I haven't seen anything like that from the 40's or earlier with that sort of shape and coloring. I could be wrong but I'd be very surprised if it were older Czech. Stuff coming out of Poland is also very well made and not often signed.

[obscurities]

The colors are off on the screen and I could not seem to get them right, but I will look into it being studio as a possibility.

In person the colors actually look quite Czech. I have seen similar colors on older Czech pieces, just not together. I actually picked up a Kralik vase at the same show that has a color of green (chartreuse) on it mixed with copper aventurine that you would think was blown yesterday based on the colors....  but I know it to be a deco era Kralik piece.

I understand about base wear also, as not always being an indicator. I have a pair of Loetz Argentan vases from around 1906 that have absolutely no base wear on them and you would think they are brand new. I also have mid century Italian that you would think was 100 years old based on the underside of the pieces....

I appreciate your input.....  

Craig

[TxSilver]

Craig, I don't know the vase, but agree with you that it looks Czech. The form and opalescence reminds me of some of Kralik's work. I wouldn't put any color beyond Kralik. They were ahead of their time when it came to bright colors. I would expect Kralik to have a Czech mark on this form of vase, however. I hope that someone here knows something of your vase. It is an interesting piece.

[azelismia]

Well,  you could try emailing Alfredo about this and see what he says. I see you're on that giant list of emails he sent out the other day so you have his email 



Alisa

[obscurities]

Alisa, I sent you an email direct.....  not to the address on the list from Alfredo, but through the one that is listed here in the email link.....

[aa]

I don't know what it is, but I agree that an image of the base could help establish its origins. Flame polished pontils are not exclusively a studio technique but often an indicator. Czech would normally suggest a factory. Czech factories almost invariably (sweeping generalisation!) had cutting rooms and would have been likely to grind out punties and polish them.

One can never tell from images, but the colours give other pointers. If this were made in a Czech factory, it would probably have had to be made somewhere where those three colours were melted in pots. This would suggest a degree of volume and volume implies that it would be easily recognisable by the colours.

Those colours do look like rod colours - Kugler or similar and a trailed rim is often a studio technique.

The shape is unusual but the two-tone colours with a trailed rim suggests a whole international wave of studio glassmakers who either studied at the Orrefors Glass School since the mid seventies or who were taught by or worked with someone who did. Most studio glassmakers dislike cold work with a vengeance and the use of a torch to melt out punties is how many avoid it.

However, I'm a great believer in trusting your instincts, so your gut feeling that it is Czech may be correct.  You really need one of our Czech experts to come along and give an opinion.

[obscurities]

I will try to get a decent image of the underside, and also something that represents the colors more accurately....  The top color is fairly close in the pics, but the body of the vase looks much more red in the images than it is in real life. It is a translucent, and slightly opalescent looking Tangerine.... Not orange, and not red.....  but what you say about the flame polished pontil makes sense. It is not dished at all....  but as an example much of the Rindskopf glass does not have dished pontils.... The shape reminds me of Czech relative to a couple of Loetz pieces with a mushroom shape to them...  more of a roll to the lip, but in the same group of forms...the lower body style is similar to some Kralik pieces....  It is an interesting piece of glass.... and it may be studio....  I've never seen another one like it....  but I am Seattle...