Topic: Small green vase - possibly Leerdam? ID = Leerdam

[langhaugh]

This is  recent acquisition that will be loved whatever its provenance.  It's about 2 1/2 inches tall with a slightly concave bottom, and uses the ariel technique. The photographs make the green stronger. In reality, it's a lighter green that is more in the background. It's unsigned. I hoped it might be a Kaj Franck, but the photographs of the Franck vases I've seen (and I've never seen an actual vase) make his green look solid. On this vase the colour is grainy.

Any help gratefully received.

David

[aa]

I can't help on the maker, I'm afraid, but this isn't really the Ariel technique although I understand why some people use this description, erroneously.

Ariel was a highly complex technique developed at Orrefors. It was a two stage process like the Graal technique, and involved blowing a blank, often with a series of overlays,, which was annealed and cold worked, with deep engraving or sandblasting, prior to reheating the blank in a kiln, picking up on a blowing iron and encasing in a heavy layer of molten glass, trapping large air-bubbles to create an internal pattern.

By contrast, your vase has been made by rolling the first gather in powdered colour, dipping it into an optic mould, also called a rib mould, and then gathering another layer of molten glass in order to trap some bubbles.

Similar, but not the same! The difference between espresso and instant coffee, perhaps? 

[langhaugh]

Thanks for the clarification, Adam. Interesting how terms get misused. I bought the vase as I liked it and it reminded me of vases by Franck, Copier, and Ohrstrom. I checked Designlasin and it pictures a similar looking vase by Franck, but with not much description of technique. My Copier book is in Dutch and also contains a similar looking vase. When I ran "Franck Ariel: and "Copier Ariel" on Google, I got the vases I was looking for. After Adam's reply, I put the Copier text into Babelfish and it gave me "Colourlessly bubble Len locked up with and elongated according to drawing." So Leerdam doesn't call it ariel. And neither does Pina in "Fire and Sea," where she pictures a Franck vase with "elongated bubble inclusions." So it's, as Adam suggests, a common error on the internet, and by some quite reputable dealers.

I can see why the error might have started. For example, on the same page of Pina as the Franck vase there is an Ohrstrom Ariel bowl that looks quite similar, as do some of the his onion shaped "ariel objects" from the 1940's, which are pictured in the Orrefors book (Duncan, p. 152) and in Friedman, p. 66.  It would be interesting to know how to tell the difference. I understand Adam's description of ariel, and his description of the bubbles in my vase coming from an optic mould makes perfect sense. But how can I tell the difference by looking?

I liked the comment about espresso and instant coffee, but isn't more the difference between tea and coffee? (I can't bring myself to think of that little vase as instant coffee.) 

I wonder if the moderator could take the "ariel" out of the heading, so I don't perpetuate the confusion? Thanks.             

[aa]

But how can I tell the difference by looking?

It isn't always obvious, but just above the bubbles in your vase there is a line of darker green. When you dip your gather into an optic mould like this, you effectively get a shape like the Rome handle on this page http://www.aaronsonnoon.com/work.php?navID=7&subID=5 although to achieve bubbles like yours, the ribs of the mould need to be more pronounced. So your first gather would look a bit like a lemon squeezer. When this is dipped in the furnace for a second gather the viscosity of the glass is such that air is trapped within the grooves.

If you can try to imagine the contours of a lemon squeezer, it has peaks and troughs. In the troughs the colour becomes concentrated to almost a double layer. Does this make sense?

[langhaugh]

Adam: That makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to provide such a clear answer. Of course, the only completely satisfying answer is for me to buy an Ohrstrom piece so I can make the comparison more directly.

David

[Mosquito]

Hi David,

This vase looks like it might be early Verlys of France production, i.e. the range of blown, air trap decorated items they produced from the mid 1920s-early 30s before moving on to pressed glass. Cappa (1998) shows two vases with similar decoration (Nos. 765 & 766: p. 437).

The cased powders and vertical air trap pattern all look correct for Verlys and while I haven't seen this shape before, it looks broadly right. The only problems are I haven't seen this colour before and these pieces are usually signed....

Steven

[langhaugh]

Steven:

Thanks for the pointer. I don't have much on Verlys and a quick internet search suggests that they produced pressed glass. This piece is handblown. Is Verlys still a possibility?

Thanks.

David

[taylog1]

Snap - I believe it's Leerdam Copier Serica circa 1935  (source - Andries Dirk Coper Leerdams Glas 1923 - 1971 - Heiremans Marc), although yours looks a little smaller- colour in real life's a bit darker than the picture..

Gareth

[langhaugh]

Gareth:

That's the closest I've seen. The colour in your picture is very close the colour in mine. Also, there's a black and white drawing of a similar vase in  the book by Liefkes (also 1935). Leerdam and Copier make sense as the other little vase I had on the board turned out to be Leerdam and this vase comes from the same source.

BTW, the vase is in nice company in your picture. Is that a Lindstrand vase behind?

Thanks for taking the time and including the pictures.

David

[taylog1]

Here's a close up and a clip out of the above book (for reference purposes only)

re the picture, it was to help someone pick bits for a swap - front row right, middle row left and middle are Lindstrand. Front row left and back row are Hadeland. Middle row right is Nyman.

Gareth