Topic: Fish Vase, Czech??

[Sue C]

I have had this vase for a short while now, but i am having no luck what so ever identifying it, i have a feeling probably Czech, it was produced in a four part mould, with the seaweed meeting at the mould seam, it has a concave foot with a thin polished ring and is 7 1/2 inches tall 18.5 cm.
Any help most appreciated.

[Jindra8526]

It is Czech vase from Barolac range, see discussion few weeks ago. Looks rather new than old.

Jindrich

[Sue C]

Thank you Jindrich, although you cant see in the photo's there is normal wear to the base and some rubbing to the frosting on the high points and also not signed, so possibly is a newer peice, i think some were made by inwald in the 1970's??
I cant find the discussion about barolac that you mention

[dirk.]

hi Sue,
it seems the search function doesn´t work (at least for me). however - found this topic manually:
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,26474.0.html
it contains the link to marcus´ barolac pages.

[Sue C]

Hi Dirk, not working for me either, so thank you for searching for me  :kissy:

[Sklounion]

Hi,
The moulds for this vase, if I remember correctly, were transferred, to the Frantisek Halama company, in the Czech Republic.
Regards,
M

[agincourt17]

Only 7 years on from the last post, but.....

I recently saw, in my local charity shop, a similar frosted glass vase, press-moulded, with raised scenes of fish swimming among plants.. Though outside my normal 'comfort zone' of experience, it was inexpensive and I liked it, so I bought it - as you do!

The vase was unmarked, and I knew it wasn't a British item from Jobling, so I suspected that it may be French or or Czech, and I assumed that it may possibly date from as early as the 1920s-1930s.The base of my vase shows no noticeable wear to the frosting, which made me a little wary as to its age - possibly a reproduction or a late pressing? - though there are a few high spots without frosting (or worn frosting) on the higher relief areas of the vase side.

With help of Professor Google, I found a few other examples online, mostly described as 'Barolac' / Imwald, / Czech Art Deco,  and described as dating from the 1930's or simply 'vintage'. Most were frosted on colourless glass (like mine), but one example was frosted on olive green glass. None were opalescent glass.

I eventually came upon the 1978 catalogue of 'Barolac Sculptural Glass'  from Weil Ceramics & Glass Inc., New York, USA,  where the 'fish' vase is shown as #624 on a page of sculptural vases under the heading of 'Bohemia Crystal - Made in Czechoslovakia'.
http://www.glas-musterbuch.de/Weil-1978.232+B6YmFja1BJRD0yMzImcHJvZHVjdElEPTk2NjMmcGlkX3Byb2R1Y3Q9MjMyJmRldGFpbD0_.0.html

There seems to be considerable debate (and not a little unresolved confusion) as to the attribution and dating of many of these 'Inwald Barolac' pieces, especially as there seems to be evidence of re-introduction of back catalogue production in postcommunist Czechoslovakia.

Can any GMB member confirm that there is definitive catalogue evidence that this particular pattern of 'fish'' vase was originally an Inwald / Barolac pattern? If so, I am content to regard my 'fish' vase as a postcommunist Czech piece from Inwald / Barolac moulds (possibly by Frantisek Halama). If not, should I simply regard it as a postcommunist Czech export piece in Inwald / Barolac style (or even, Heaven forbid, of recent oriental origin)?

I would, therefore, value the opinion of GMB members as to what they would currently regard as a 'correct' description / attribution and date  for this particular #624 'Fish' vase.

Fred.

[Mosquito]

Hi Fred，

The vase was originally produced by Inwald and is shown in their pre-war catalogues. I don't have the documents in front of me but I know the plain rimmed variant of this design is shown as no. 11100 in Inwald's 1934 catalogue. See my old example here: http://www.yobunny.org.uk/glassgallery/displayimage.php?pos=-2446

However，your plain frosted example looks typical for later production. These patterns continued to be made post war and many seem to have been produced from the fifties to the eighties. These aren't reissues as such，just newer production though in some cases the moulds may have been replaced.

More recently several Barolac patterns were reissued by Libochovice and sold with 'Libs' labels though These appear to be copies from new moulds. Yours is not one of these as the mould details still look pretty good.

Marcus' discovery of a 'Libs' labelled vase from this series is recorded in Pressglas-korrespondenz here: http://www.pressglas-korrespondenz.de/aktuelles/pdf/pk-2006-2w-newhall-barolac-vase-libochovice.pdf

[agincourt17]

Thank you, Steven, for your prompt and informative reply.

Fred. 

[Mosquito]

You're welcome 

Just checked PK and it seems the wavy rimmed version of this vase is Inwald catalogue no. 11062. It's on p.155 of the 1934 catalogue. I think the full catalogue is only available to subscribers but the relevant page is reproduced in the Barolac 1949/52 entry on PK here: http://pressglas-korrespondenz.de/archiv/pdf/pk-2006-1w-01-mb-glassexport-barolac-1948.pdf (scroll down to p.10).