Topic: Triform Red/white bowl, help please.

[Gilead]

Hi
   Can someone help with the ID of this bowl please, is it Murano, or Swedish? nice colour and as ground polished pontil hope its not Chinese,
                                                                                                                                                                                   Steve

[langhaugh]

Steve:

I have a piece exactly the same, which I bought as Murano. However, it didn't seem like Murano after I looked at it closely a few times. Since then, I have seen it attributed to Holmegaard on a few sites. While the attribution makes sense to me, I haven't seen a totally reliable source that says it is H. If Nic is around, he could settle it.

David

[Pip]

These are definitely not by Holmegaard, although as you say they are often attributed as such (wrongly).  They've been discussed on here before but with no firm attribution being reached - I suspect they're either mainland Italian or possibly even Chinese - but not Scandinavian.

[Pinkspoons]

I agree 100% with Pip. Italian or Chinese.

[Gilead]

Hi Nic
       Would the Chinese have ground the pontil and polished it? as David the chap i bought it from said it maybe Murano but was not 100% but for £2 i thought it was  ok,
                                   Steve

[langhaugh]

Steve:

I've got the same question about the bottom of mine, which is ground and polished also. However, it isn't an expert job as there are couple of little bevelled edges. It does have some wear, but the fact that the bottom is slightly concave means that bowl rests on a narrow edge, which has all the wear. I have a smaller yellow and white piece with the white on the outside. The white on both is pretty strong and clear for Chinese. So, I'll go back to Murano.

It's not a big deal as I've never thought of them as anything other than not too bad to look at for what we paid for them. If they're Chinese, I'll still keep it as there's a purity about it which, while it will never put in my display cases, will keep it around.

David

[Cathy B]

Yes, grinding and polishing the base is completely consistent with Chinese glass.

My experience of modern Chinese glass (sold in homeware shops) is that the pontil is polished to form a concave depression, which shows very slight curved striations, rather than mirror-polished. but it's just a casual observation and might be completely off the mark. Has anyone else noticed that, or is it just a figment of my imagination?

[langhaugh]

That describes the bottom of my piece exactly. Chinese it is, then. Thanks, Cathy, Nic, and Pip.

David

[Mosquito]

I wouldn't rule out Japan either.

Re. finishing on Chinese glass, Chinese glass may be finished in any way imagineable, I'd encourage anyone with an interest in contemporary glass to travel to China and see the huge range of quality items on offer. Sadly, however, retailers in the west only seem interested in selling the cheapest end of the market, which may explain why bases are often not mirror polished on the pieces we see here.

Steven

[Gilead]

Hi
    Thank you all for your input to this post as David says not to bad to look at and for the price, but am afraid it will be put with other piece's which are part of the big boot sale i will have some time this year when i get round to it.
                                                                                                                          Steve