Topic: Two Mdina vases, further info appreciated :-)

[rocco]

I think my Mdina collection has improved quite a bit:
big cylinder vase (25.5 cm high, 10.5 cm wide), circular polished pontil mark with Mdina "signature" -- I guess my first early piece

As it seems very similar to >> this one I would think "Rosenthal" pattern, and Michael Harris period?

One nice feature: if held against the light the turquoise pattern becomes translucent and purplish-brown (see pic).

Michael

[Greg.]

Hi Michael - Very nice addition to your Mdina collection! A large Rosenthal cylinder vase and fairly hard to find.

These I think are all fairly early and were introduced around 1971 I think, they were also produced after Michael left i believe, although not for that long. This design looks great in the light, personally i think its one of the nicest designs that  they produced, certainly a favourite of mine. Congratulations on a super find! 

Greg

[chopin-liszt]

It looks suspiciously like Dobson's handwriting in the polished pontil mark on your fabby Rosenthal cylinder... 
(from what I can make out of it)

[rocco]

Thanks a lot Greg and Sue!
Fabby, isn't it

Sorry for not capturing the mark better...

What about the strange effect of the opaque turquoise swirls turning purple against the light? - Is it always happening with this colour?

Michael

[chopin-liszt]

That's the beauty of glass and colour - it does things quite differently to paint. 

When you see blue glass, the chemical make up of the glass is such that blue light is reflected back to you from it - it absorbs all the other colours.

When you see yellow glass, it is yellow being reflected back at you, all the other colours are absorbed.

When you look through glass which is a layer of blue over a layer of yellow, all that gets through is the red/purple end of the spectrum - because both blue and yellow wavelenghts are being reflected off the other side, only reddy purple gets through it.

[rocco]

Thanks Sue for explaining the matter further.
I still am not sure if I understand it properly, but I do appreciate your effort
At least the colour change does work - and looks great.

Michael

[rocco]

And one more, rather early, too I think:

purple pulled ear vase, lots of iridescence.
It is so dark that it looks almost black; even held against the light there is only a faint hint of the amethyst base colour visible...

Michael

[chopin-liszt]

The very best sort of ear-pull!
A lovely egg-shape with the sculptural effect of the pulls enhancing rather than detracting overall, completed perfectly with the small and neat button rim; the very dark amethyst background really shows the iridesence and other silver chloride effects up - and the whole shape sends the silver effects off at differing angles, swirling and sweeping over it.
It's elegant - not a word which can often be applied to early Studio glass.
The button rim would suggest pre-'Boffo; the whole thing says; "Michael Harris made me," to me.
Everything about it is just "right", isn't it? 

[rocco]

Ooh, more praise than I had expected
Thanks a lot, Sue!

I just wished it was a little bit more transparent to see the interior better...

Michael

[chopin-liszt]

I've just got hold of mine to compare - and to try to see if I can see through it.
I've got more iridesence (tons and tons  ) - but the positioning of the lugs on yours is so much better than mine, the profile is a far, far more pleasing sculpture and a much stronger artistic statement.

I've held it up to the light and peered trhough the rim. I can see shades of amethyst and purple (yes, proper deep purple, but this must be something to do with colours overlapping and the physics of transmission and refraction rather than a deep purple glass.
The clear casing on mine is very thick - and it has that diffuse electric blue cloudy effect through it.