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Author Topic: Odd 11.5" bottle with Mdina / Phoenician colours? - ID Mtarfa  (Read 6873 times)

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Offline Max

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Ok, I'm flummoxed.   :thup:

I've got this fairly heavy bottle, in quite a rudimentary shape, which is tall at 11.5" high.  The top rim and base are ground but not polished, and the base shows signs of wear.  The colours say Mdina or Phoenician to me....so what is this?  Is it a half finished possible lamp base?  

Any ideas?   :huh: :)

I am not a man

Offline chopin-liszt

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Re: Odd 11.5" bottle with Mdina / Phoenician colours?
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2010, 06:42:58 PM »
 :clap:

Getting there, Max, Mtarfa. I have a small collection of this design - I'd originally mistaken it for Mdina back in 2000, I suspect it might be quite early Mtarfa, as so many of the shapes are quite "Mdina-based", and Mtarfa took off in it's own artistic direction soon after it got going, (which was in 1981) as far as I can make out.
This looks like it was a big bit!

I'm never sure when I see the rough ground neck of something like that whether it came from the maker like that, or met with an accident and got ground down a bit. I've seen a few bits of Mdina like that - but at times when it wasn't popular enough to bother going to that sort of trouble over, not for selling in the secondary market. :spls:
Cheers, Sue M. (she/her)

‘For every problem there is a solution: neat, plausible and wrong’. H.L.Mencken

Offline Max

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Re: Odd 11.5" bottle with Mdina / Phoenician colours?
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2010, 07:31:17 PM »
Cheers Sue  :-*

Mtarfa it is then if you think that.  :D  It certainly IS a big lump and I'm quite minded to make it into a lamp base myself.  Incidentally, there's a sharp scratch that goes all the way round near the middle, which is within an indentation...about 5.5" up.  Makes me think it was almost a much shorter vase! 

Thanks again Sue xx

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Offline chopin-liszt

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Re: Odd 11.5" bottle with Mdina / Phoenician colours?
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2010, 10:25:49 AM »
I think, given the weird ground top, that a lamp base would be an admirable thing to do with this - light will really bring out the different effects in the colours!
Here are images of my small collection. Sometimes that deep blue is in them, sometimes it's missing.
But I do have some of each colourway which is marked Mtarfa.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/wave/mtarfa3.jpg

and the stuff with blue in it;
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/wave/mtarfablue1.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/wave/mtarfablue2.jpg

and my snail, it's *wonderful* I love it.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/wave/mtarfasnail1.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/wave/mtarfasnail2.jpg



this next image contains a small bottle, (at the bottom) which I
originally thought belonged to Mtarfa, and this colourway, but it's
not. It's Phoenecian. Note the "lemon juicer" base - not that it would
be an efficient one)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/wave/matrfa4.jpg


Cheers, Sue M. (she/her)

‘For every problem there is a solution: neat, plausible and wrong’. H.L.Mencken

Offline Max

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Re: Odd 11.5" bottle with Mdina / Phoenician colours?
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2010, 10:49:18 AM »
Cheers Sue, that's definitely confirmed it...definitely Mtarfa.  Hey,I love your snail too...isn't his stripey head sweet?  Blessim!    :D

I will try and find a lamp fitting for my bottle.  It seems a shame to stick it in the Shed of Shame...lol  I do really like it, I think because it simply must be a reject - it's so badly mad, with lumps, bumps and that sharp score round the middle - but then the actual colours are so beautiful.  It's framing a Da Vinci with corrugated iron.   :24:

Thanks again Sue, it was lovely to see some of your glass.  I prefer the Mtarfa stuff WITH the blue in your collection, so I'm glad my ugly-bottle contains that. 

xxx mwah!  xxx

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Offline chopin-liszt

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Re: Odd 11.5" bottle with Mdina / Phoenician colours? - ID Mtarfa
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2010, 11:06:29 AM »
I prefer it with that electric sort of blue in it too! And I quite agree about the incongruity between the stunning colours and odd construction - however, they have to been seen in reality, because photos simply never "do" the different sorts of effects you get.
The snail is not photogenic either.
Cheers, Sue M. (she/her)

‘For every problem there is a solution: neat, plausible and wrong’. H.L.Mencken

Offline chopin-liszt

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Re: Odd 11.5" bottle with Mdina / Phoenician colours? - ID Mtarfa
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2012, 11:01:06 AM »
Recent evidence has turned up which proves the lemon-squeezer base IS Mtarfa after all.
It's not Phoenician at all. I was confused by the colours, which are (very) unusual for Mtarfa, the bright yellow in particular.
Cheers, Sue M. (she/her)

‘For every problem there is a solution: neat, plausible and wrong’. H.L.Mencken

Offline Lustrousstone

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Re: Odd 11.5" bottle with Mdina / Phoenician colours? - ID Mtarfa
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2012, 11:07:51 AM »
That will be this bunny now residing north of the Tay
http://lustrousstone.co.uk/cpg/displayimage.php?pid=1320

Offline chopin-liszt

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Re: Odd 11.5" bottle with Mdina / Phoenician colours? - ID Mtarfa
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2012, 11:25:39 AM »
 :pb:

I should have credited you with the discovery and your subsequent generous donation to me Christine,  :smg:
sincere apologies for my omission.  :-[
Cheers, Sue M. (she/her)

‘For every problem there is a solution: neat, plausible and wrong’. H.L.Mencken

Offline Lustrousstone

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Re: Odd 11.5" bottle with Mdina / Phoenician colours? - ID Mtarfa
« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2012, 12:04:42 PM »
Don't be daft  :kissy:

 

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