Topic: Could this be an early Mdina bowl ?

[Scott13]

Hi,
Any idea how old this bowl might be?

Its polished base has a lot of wear.
It’s also seriously heavy!
Has the early Mdina colours.
Would like to think it might have been made during Michael Harris’s tenure - ‘ chance would be a fine
thing ‘ !

Diam 14cm (5.5”)
Ht  8.5cm (just over 3”)
Wt. 1692gm

Any thoughts?

Scott

[Lustrousstone]

Yes, it's Mdina. It's early 70s (descrribed in an early 70s Dexam catalogue as a sweet dish) but possibly not during Michael Harris's time

[Scott13]

Hi Christine,
Many thanks 

Scott

[chopin-liszt]

But some of them just might be. 
He did take this thick form of bowl on to IoWSG, although not for many bits. I've got a small Aurene one, and thick bowls can be found from the early experimental trial ranges with wispy swirly trails of colour in; some ended up in small lollipops and pwts too. Later on, there were thick pin dishes made in the "petit fleur" pattern.
They come in a deep form like this one, and a bit flatter.

And I really, really like them. They're wonderfully tactile.

[Scott13]

Hi Sue,
Yes, very touchable - I just have to make sure I don’t drop it, or it could mean a visit to the A & E !
 I’ve been looking at some earlier Mdina posts - interesting discussions on the usage of Cobalt Blue ( and Amethyst) as final colours on the really early pieces...............
Thanks for the info 

Scott

[Scott13]

Hi,
I’m trying to get my head round the Mdina colours ( could be useful in the future ) particularly the
blues and especially cobalt blue, as apparently it can be used as a marker for the early bits
( 68 - early 70s ).

There are essentially two blues in this bowl, a blue/green, of which there’s quite a lot; but there are also swirls of a darker blue - could this be cobalt blue?

The photo was taken in bright daylight- not difficult to find at the moment !

Hope the image helps and you can see what I mean.

Scott

[Lustrousstone]

The bowl is mostly clear glass. It's just a small amount of standard blue and the thickness and the silver chloride making the different shades

[chopin-liszt]

The "common knowledge" is that there was only ever one pot of cobalt blue melted, and that was very early on, '69-'70-ish possibly but we don't know for sure. It was while Michael Harris was there. He used a lot of it up.

The exact shade of blue or teal used depended on the batch at the time. Some are darker and deeper than others.
But none of those are the cobalt blue.
It's easy to see the difference in reality. Photographs, however, are useless at picking up the difference between cobalt blue and deep teal in Mdina.
We have tried and tried and tried to show the difference in photos. We do know we cannot do it.

[Scott13]

Hi Christine and Sue
Holding the bowl up to the sunlight, I can see most of it is a teal blue but the swirls look as if they’ve
got some purple in them.
Anyway I’m sure Mdina wouldn’t have wasted their precious cobalt blue on a run-of-the-mill bowl like mine !
I’ve always found colours a bit of a nightmare - not helped of course by the fact that we all perceive colours slightly differently.
All part of being human I suppose !
Many thanks for the info 

Scott

[chopin-liszt]

  It's not a "run of the mill bowl". It's gorgeous and it is from earlier times.  I don't think they were made post-'80s. Each is completely unique.

They didn't know the cobalt pot was unusual, "precious" or scarce.

They had it, they used it up, then went onto using a paler colour. That's all.
Quite possibly nothing more than not having a bit of cobalt to put in at the time, but having something else to hand.
There were no plans. It was a matter of; "Let's see what we can make from what we have handy".
It was possibly just fluke that a bit of cobalt was around in the first place. I don't know where it might have come from. It's not something I tend to keep in my kitchen cupboards. ;

How we percieve colour is unique to each of our individual brains.