Topic: Blue and clear vase with swirled bubbles - Svoboda? German? Meydam?

[astrid]

This one was sold to me as Skrdlovice, but I'm not sure it is. It does remind me of the work of Jaroslav Svoboda, who seems to have done a number of bubbly and blue pieces - but the blue in these pieces I've looked at online (dusan has a few in his picasa album, http://picasaweb.google.com/exat53/JaroslavSvoboda#) seem more big and droplike inclusions, not the whispy blue lines used in this vase. That makes me think it's not of the same series or maker.

I know Meydam did a few clear and blue bubbled pieces in the sixties (according to the Leerdam museum because the new person in charge of making glass wasn't very good at avoiding bubbles at the time) - but I would expect Meydam serica pieces to be signed (this one isn't).

And then there is always the fondness for bubbled vases of the German glashütte in the 60s and 70s to fall back on as a possible source, but I haven't found this combination so far.

I looked at all three possibilities, but found nothing yet to convince me one way or the other. I did find pieces for sale as Meydam that were clearly Svoboda to me, but nothing clearly resembling my vase.

It's a good quality handmade vase, polished pontil mark at the bottom, but no mark or signature anywhere. Enough wear to make it a few decades old. 24 cm high, 7.5 cm across at the rim, 8.5 cm across at the bottom. There is a swirl of bubbles at the top, and a separate swirl of bubbles at the bottom of the vase. The cobalt blue looks unevenly distributed in very fine lines and very small patches, almost powdery. The base shot included also gives a decent close up of how that looks like.



Any help or discussion appreciated,

Astrid

[dirk.]

Hi Astrid,
can´t help with this one, but I´ve just discovered your webalbum and there´s a bit I´d be able to add.
Could you drop me line (see envelope) to send me your email-adress?   

[Ivo]

Leerdam serica from the sixties is hardly ever signed - they went very modest all of a sudden.  :pb:

[chopin-liszt]

There is a swathe of bubbles towards the top of this vase which looks similar to some of the swathes of bubbles in the so-far unidentified bubbled vase with the tentative German origin - because this sort of swathe of bubbles looks a bit like some of the bubbles in P&P shleiergraphit.....

(I'm getting all bubbled out here :thud:)

[Ivo]

for comparison purposes only: Meydam serica ashtray.

[astrid]

I would say that from the ashtray comparison, the technique used for the bubbles and the way the cobalt colour is distributed looks very similar. A lot more similar than the Svoboda pieces, for instance.

Hm, I don't have any Meydam references, and I can't remember having seen this particular one in the glass museum at Leerdam - Ivo, any suggestions to best research the Meydam option? I did an internet search, but the pieces I found were not of this particular form.

Astrid

[astrid]

I visited the Leerdam Glasbeurs today, and compared this vase to the Meydams clear-and-bubbled, but though they were made by the same technique, the Meydam pieces were a lighter colour blue. Luckily there were a lot of German glass sellers, and at least three different sellers sold this exact same vase. When asked, all three sellers immediately identified it as Gral-Glas. It could be by Wiedmann, but none of the sellers was sure about the designer.

For me that is enough for now to put it down as Gral-glas, and I hope the book that is coming out next year will list it as well.

Astrid

[astrid]

Thought I should come back to this one. The Gral glas book shows some pieces by Wiedmann that are in similar style, but they are more complicated in structure and with more colours than just blue and clear.

I still think it's German, but I'm no longer sure I should put it down as Gral glas. If anyone has ideas about other possibilities, don't hesitate to mention them.

Astrid