Topic: Miniature Engraved Vase w/ English Silver Mounts, 1920 - ID: Eugène Michel

[krsilber]

Wow, that one at Christie's is phenomenal!  What a fabulous engraver.  Congratulations! 

Sheesh, $20,000 in 1999!  I would expect yours to be worth closer to the Woody auction one because of the size and less complex engraving, but $650 for a 4 1/2" piece is pretty dang good, too.  Plus you've got the silver accents.  It's a beautiful piece.

It's so nice to be able to help someone with an attribution for a change.  Sheer luck.

A short blurb about Eugéne Michel from Ricke's Glass Art, Relections of the Centuries doesn't add much to what Nic just wrote:
Eugéne Michel
(1848-1904)

Engraver

After working at the Parisian decorating studios of Eugéne Rousseau (from about 1867) and probably also of Ernest Léveillé (from 1885), active in Paris as an independent glasss artist from the mid-1890s.

Shows a magnificent cameo piece with water lilies and irises.  The blank alone is fabulous, with a crackled layer between the others - something I haven't seen (or noticed, anyway) before.

Another of his works is shown in Neuwirth's Das Glas des Jugendstils, but there's not much add'l info.  Born in Lunéville, Meurthe-et-Moselle.  Took part in Salon de Paris in 1903, and in the Exhibition of Artistic Glass and Crystal, Paris, in 1910 (posthumously, apparently). 

The Grovers in Carved and Decorated European Glass say, "His production is extremely limited," but also call him Edward rather than Eugéne.  They do point out that there's cameo found with a signature "Michel, Nancy" but that it's a different Michel.

Evidently he's quite well known, if I can find him in at least three books from my little lib'ary!


Nic said,

I have my own obsessive need to find out everything I can about everything I buy

I'm the same way.  Can get mighty frustrating!

[Pinkspoons]

Thanks for all that - added a lot more information to the pile.

It's okay, I wasn't expecting my vase to be worth anything like the Christies vase, although I can dream...  :sleep:

But he does seem to be well-known. The varous book blurbs, reviews and write-ups I found on Google seem to all mention him in the same breath as the French greats of the period.

I'm contemplating removing the silver-mounts as they were, if the dates all tally, added 20-25 years after the vase's production. Bernard, in an email, raised the issue of silver-mounting often being used to cover up damage to the glass, but these have been added for purely decorative purposes by a previous owner so I see no reason not to take it back to its original state. The top mount is just pressed on and reveals no damage when removed, and one can see nearly all of the vase contained by the base mount - again, with no damage. I'll have to enlist a jeweller to remove this mount, though.

[Pinkspoons]

I had the silver mount removed today - no damage underneath (phew!), but also no signature... which is rather frustrating.

[Bernard C]

Nic — A signature doesn't really matter that much, and it might be a rare unsigned example of Michel's work.

Any chance of a photograph, please?   I would like to see its proportions au naturel.

Bernard C. 

[Pinkspoons]

I should be taking a few photographs this weekend, if some new stock I've been expecting arrives on time, so I'll toss it in with that lot.

I think I actually prefer the proportions with the mounts, but that might just be down to the fact that I'm so used to seeing the vase with them on. But the diameter/height of the base is identical to the one in the Woody auction (one of the first things I checked, to make sure nothing had been sheared off or ground down). It seems whomever owned the vase in 1920 also disliked the proportions.

[Pinkspoons]

Sorry - this completely slipped my mind. Just snapped this image on my lightbox (so it was photographed laying down, and from the reverse - only way it would stay in place - hence backwards motif).

[Lustrousstone]

Much nicer without the mounts 

[Frank]

Great image too!

[krsilber]

Yup, that's a beauty!  Looks like it's floating on air!