Topic: Elephant - ID = Chinese probably HUICHANG

[adam20]

Posting this in Murano as I am confident it's Italian. Purple Elephant 4.25" high. I have a fair few small lamp work elephants but this is bigger and it has a gold leaf body with wavy coloured glass lines. I see similar in the Murano Zoo but nothing close enough to attribute to.

Adam

[TxSilver]

I don't think your elephant is Murano glass. I am more inclined to say it is Oriental. This shape and foil technique look more Chinese to me. (I hope your elephant doesn't hunt me down and charge.)

[chopin-liszt]

It would only be a baby charge, Anita
He's lovely Adam, has a bit of character, looks as if he's saying; "Hang on Mum, wait for me!"  but I can't help remotely with id.

[adam20]

I did think he was Murano lamp work. He is so like my other ID'd Murano lamp work animals. Ah well...

Thanks Sue, he is cute where ever he's from.

Adam

[TxSilver]

Adam, the elephant might be Murano. It is hard to know exactly where the little animals come from. Most of the animals in the zoo were born from the furnace, but lamp working is becoming very important in the Venice area. It makes sense, since the cost of keeping the furnaces going must be very high.

The reason I thought your elephant could be oriental is it reminded me of these: http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/235271100/glass_elephant.html. This type of ribbed work is used very often for Chinese pieces. Several Oriental companies make similar elephants.

[adam20]

I think that is a good link Anita. Mine is virtually the same.

Adam

[TxSilver]

Alibaba is so handy for things that are still being made. I wish we had an Alibaba cache for years gone by. It would be so extensive, though, that I'm sure no one would want to do it.

Thinking of Chinese, I realized this week that much of the high-production Chinese glass designs are now becoming vintage. I wondered how the vintage shopping sites, e.g. Ruby Lane and Etsy vintage, would handle people including these things in their inventory. In years past, we could weed out the mass-produced Chinese things with the rule that things had to be 20 years old or more. That won't weed them out anymore. I hope the vintage sites don't start looking like souvenir shops!

But then, Victorian glass people used to worry about those reproductions coming out of Murano.

[MuranoArtGlassChandeliers]

HI

I would agree to the Oriental origin.  The shape and overall finesse in its creation just aren't indicative of Murano, SORRY!  I have attached an image of a Murano Elephant here for you to compare the techniques and creative differences that clearly define your example of being of Oriental origin

Dean

[chopin-liszt]

Dean, one example from one Murano maker doesn't really define anything. 

[rosieposie]

Looking at Adam's ellie and Anita's close attribution, tells me that what I have always thought, was true.  There are some really lovely glass animals and birds made in China, and the quality is geting better all the time. 
Why people try to say it is inferior to Murano glass is beyond me, there is good and bad in both camps and is as futile an arguement as saying Isle of Wight glass is worse or better than Scottish glass, Wedgwood better than Whitefriars.
The problem only arises when someone deliberately tries to attribute a poorly made piece of glass as being made by what is believed to be a 'reputable' maker, in order to get a higher price for it.
Adam, I would give house room to your ellie any day....he is cute and very nicely made.