Topic: Cobalt blue ribbed bowl

[Ivo]

Here is a bowl of a stunning dark cobalt colour, with a polished pontil mark and a leveled stand, and with a very careful ground and polished rim. The diameter is 6"15 cm.

Will anyone venture any comments? Function, country, age ?

[chopin-liszt]

Function: plant pot holder??
(Jardinnaire I think, might be the posh name?)
Time period: 1880-1925??

Ivo, I know nothing about this sort of thing or time period, just chucking a couple of suggestions in.

I can see it sitting on top of a column-y sort of plinth, containing an aspadistra, in an entrance hall in a period drama involving Hercule Poirot, or Bertie Wooster.

[Ivo]

Gooooood going, Sue. I'll try and find a potted Aspidistra and keep it flying.

BTW,
when Inverness Caledoneian Thistle beat Celtic unexpectedly in the Scottish cup, the Sun newspaper carried the headline

super Caley are fantastic, Celtic are Atrocious.

[chopin-liszt]

 :24: :24: :24:
Thanks for that, Ivo - not a publication I read (but I have been known to put second-hand copies in the bottom of the cat-box - where to my surprise, it proved effective at soaking up even more pee and poo than it had in it to start off with  )

oooh-er, if aspidistras are flying, I'm ducking!

[Paul S.]

hello Ivo  -  as we say in the u.k.  "don't give up your day job"  -  but I love your sense of humour.           I was going down a similar road to Sue  -  although as we all know, jardinnaires are almost always made in ceramics of one sort or another, and this is a little on the small side for one of those.    Yours in more is reminicent of a flower/posy vase.      I was thinking of the colourful Czech ones which have ground and bevelled top edges, with a metal grill/grid fitting over the top.     Is there any wear on the shoulder where a metal top might have rubbed, and what if any is the extent of wear on the base?   Is there water staining on the inside??    Might we call the colour 'Bristol Blue' or 'poison bottle blue.    As you can see, I don't really know, but this might encourage other people to help you.    

[Lustrousstone]

although as we all know, jardinnaires are almost always made in ceramics of one sort or another, and this is a little on the small side for one of those.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with both those statements. The old catalogues from the 1880s onward show a fair number of glass jardinières and it's actually wider than a Bay ceramic pot plant holder I have handy

[Paul S.]

thanks for the correction  -  always better to be accurate rather than clever    But I still think it is too beautiful to shove soil or a pot into.   Paul S.

[Ivo]

I agree and it does not look as if anyone ever did shove soil inside. Obviously I have considered the Jardinière but I would have thought it needs an inside flat bottom to stand the flower pot on - this one does not, so any attempt would be wobbly. The top is really worked very well - and in my experience, if it had a grill at one time the finish of the top would be less important. The quality of finish and the colour remind me of Baccarat - for what it's worth.

[chopin-liszt]

But it is "Bristol Blue".

[Ivo]

But it is "Bristol Blue".

True, it is blue. But I do not know if we can call it "Bristol".  It could be French, or Danish, or German or Belgian or Austrian... Cobalt blue glass has been produced everywhere - and I have seen this very deep shade from Riedel, from Holmegaard, from Baccarat and various other makers. I'd like it to be Bristol, though  :thup: