Stew2me2 — Still can't find my examples.
Here's the best I can do without pictures.
I believe that your solifleur / bud / lily vase is from an extensive range by Stevens & Williams dating from the late 1890s or slightly earlier until the 1920s or slightly later. They are all ribbed, with a varying number of ribs of different weights. The 4-rib version with heavyweight ribs was known as
"Grotesque" (see Gulliver p218); other versions were just termed
"ribbed". Sometimes the ribs were twisted into spirals. The range comprised bowls, vases, celeries, jugs, &c. What is particularly interesting about this range is that each piece started out by being pressed in a standard hand press, then immediately mounted, probably on what I believe is termed a spring punty or some other gadget, before being transferred to the master glassmaker for subsequent work.
They were made in Crystal, colours such as Straw Opalescent, Green, and Amber, and in what S&W termed
"shaded colours", i.e. flashed colour, reducing in intensity to clear crystal, which is what you have. On some examples you can just see the edge of the flashed colour, where the thin bubble of coloured glass was broken away from the inside. Other examples have the colour slightly lop-sided, indicative of the difficulty of the process. It is hardly surprising that S&W's prices for
"shaded colours" were increased by about 30%.
All the examples of your vase that I have seen are exactly 8" (20.3cm) in height (a standard S&W size), and are in
"shaded green". Almost certainly an exclusive made for the metalbashers, so it will not be found in S&W's trade catalogues, although the pattern is quite likely to be found in S&W's factory pattern books.
Note that this use of
Grotesque should always be qualified with or in the context of the manufacturer, S&W, as Walsh used the term to describe a completely different range.
Bernard C.
Topic: art nouveau 1908 vase any ideas please (Read 1271 times)
