Topic: Need Help Identifying Vase Please

[onlynsecret]

If Brian is the person who has the Harrach project website I emailed him about a week ago and have had no response.

[onlynsecret]

You said the flowers  are etched not intaglio yet I can't seem to differentiate between the two according to the definition.... Types of intaglio include etching, engraving, drypoint, mezzotint, and aquatint.  Can you please clarify?

[Ivo]

intaglio is by definition intrusive as material is removed. Matt etching (there are many types) is a surface technique. Deep etching using strong acids (such as used in Cameo) is another technique and will produce different results.

[krsilber]

Types of intaglio include etching, engraving, drypoint, mezzotint, and aquatint.  Can you please clarify?

These are types of intaglio printing processes, a whole different medium.  They have the same name because both refer to removal of material, as Ivo said (intaglio is italian for carving, incising, etc.).  In printing it can be with acid or a tool, but in glass it's a form of wheel engraving, though sometimes people call pressed pieces intaglio as well.

Your flowers are intaglio, and I agree that Harrach is very likely.

[Mike M]

Hi

I'm pretty certain its a Harrach blank

Their shape, their coloway exactly (even the colour graduation goes the right way) -but the decoration almost certainly is not Harrach -quite the wrong kind of 'inaglio' work as has already been said. However Harrach sold undecorated blanks to loads of people -so this has probably been decorated by a second party. Hard to tell who -one possible name is Goldberg -only a guess - but they were a 'decorating' house that  bought blanks and then copied many Moser and Harrach styles in their own way -usually less well - hence shallow etching rather than full on ingalio  -having said that the Goldberg attributuion is pure speculation

cheers

Mike

[onlynsecret]

Welll.... now I'm even more confused if that is possible  :huh: ... Thank you everyone for your help and input, as I said before, I am trying to get some info on the piece so I can sell it and all of your suggestions are very helpful.  I will see if I can do anymore research and gladly welcome any and all opinions.

Kathy

[Andy]

Hi Kathy,
if you sell it, give the glass message board a mention for their help
and a link to this discussion will help to show the research youve done, and some of the
experts that have looked and given their opinion.
Good luck, its a nice item.

Regards
Andy

[obscurities]

This is a list of glass houses that used Harrach blanks. It is from the Harrach project page. What Mike say makes sense. It was difficult to see the depth of the engraving initially, but after the discussion I went back and copied them and enlarged them and they do not appear that deep. This would lead me in the direction of Mike's suggestion, that it is a Harrach blank decorated by a contemporary....

This list, per the Harrach Project page, is only a partial list.

Moser, Fritz Heckert, J & L Lobmeyr, Josephinehutte, Egermann, Goldberg, Muhlhaus.....

Craig

[Mike M]

Hi

Interesting! Not seen that list before - all makes sense....but you can cross Moser off the list of possibles as they ceased buying blanks (from Harrach or anywhere) in the late 1880s -when they got a licence to produce their owns glass and your pieces is c1900-1910.

I doubt its Lobmeyr or Harrach but the other 4 are all contenders

cheers

Mike

[TxSilver]

Welll.... now I'm even more confused if that is possible  :huh: ...
Kathy

Your confusion is understandable. The old Bohemian vases can be very difficult. Even the experts have had trouble attributing many of them. Many have attributed a piece of glass to a certain company, only to change their minds in later years. Reading books on Bohemian glass over the years shows the evolution in thought.

I checked a couple of books -- Truitt and Baldwin -- this morning that have some engraved Harrach vase. The depth of the engraving does not look consistent in the pictures. I wonder if depth of engraving can be used to filter out Harrach vases. I hope a Harrach expert is on the board that can give an idea on this.