Topic: Elaborately Decorated Vase (way over the top)

[Ohio]

Picked this up today & I not certain if I've ever seen such decorating skills. 11 1/2" height, 4 1/2" diameter, 3/8" thick glass (suprisingly heavy at 3 lbs.) appears to have each & every square millimeter covered by gold, enameling, beading, etc. Just a few numbers on the bottom. Thinking maybe Harrach, but am asking for opinions. Thanks, Ken

[flying free]

Hi, these have been on the board before.  I have one similar also marked.  In Truitts I think they mention Southern Bohemia, but I have read since that thinking has changed and that they may be English decorated by French Immigrant decorators who settled in the Midlands last century.  I'll try and find the thread for you and link it.  They are exquisitely done aren't they?
m

[keith]

See a lot of these on ebay,usually described as Webbs,I thought they were Bohemian hadn't heard of the possible Midland connection

[Ohio]

Well M guess what? After I bought this & had them set it aside an art glass  dealer (major league guy) from the Boston area who makes a pass through here every month hunted me down (I was still going through the house) & we got into a discussion. He said he was certain these were to now attributed to Webb using outside decorating staff or at least that was what he had read. Have to admit that I said Webb?...looks Bohemian to me like Harrach not Webb, but thats what he had read somewhere. Course he wanted to buy it from me, but I politely declined. Ken

[Ohio]

Thanks Keith for the eBay tip...found one with close to the same pattern only smaller...they are calling it Morocco pattern. Don't know if its accurate info or not, but at least I found one.

[Lustrousstone]

Yours is a particularly nice one, but Webb is unlikely really.

[flying free]

I'm going to get this wrong now, but from memory I 'think' they were attributed to Webb a few years ago in an Antique journal or catalogue of some sort that I 'think' is published in the States.  Hence I believe, why they are listed as Webb's Moroccan or Webb's Tapestry or Webb's Persian.... I have seen various attributions.    I read the information about the French settled decorators on the Great Glass site and I've also read they are mid 19th Century.  I don't really know what to think. They are mould blown and cut from the rim or at least mine are.  The rim is polished and was gilded or painted.  But the enamelling is exquisitely done, intricate and very beautiful.
m

[flying free]

Link to vases on Great Glass site where there is an explanation better than mine   Scroll down for the vases to appear - On the lower vase they ask a rhetorical question about whether the number is the year the vase was made, but I have recently seen one that was numbered something like 5643 or similar indicating that it can't have been the year produced.
m
http://www.great-glass.co.uk/shops/shop1-1.htm

[Anne]

That is quite exquisite Ken!  I can't offer any thoughts on where it was made / decorated other than to say the 7 in the number appears to have a cross bar on it, which would not normally indicate British production as we generally use an uncrossed 7 here - but if done by continental workers in the UK I suppose it could do.

[Ohio]

Thanks everyone for the input, its appreciated. Not that important for a solid attribution as I bought it because of an appreciation of the skill involved in such fine craftmanship that is fairly difficult to find in this day & age. Ken