Topic: cats ears cut glass vase contemporary German or Vintage Czech?

[bOBA]

Hi everyone.

I bought this the other day, thinking it looked interesting. 

It is about 31cm tall with a narrow neck (one finger cannot easily pass inside it). It has a polished flat base, not a polished perfectly flat base like Skrdlovice but more rounded in finish with no bevel- chamfer edge to the base. However, the mouth of the vase does have a bevel-chamfer finish, suggesting quality. The vertical "slash" cuts form a pattern of different sized stylish marks, among these is a cut spiralling pair of lines that weave among the vertical cuts. It shouts late 1950's to me but at the same time, there are some factories today in Germany and Poland and elsewhere that currently make 50's style pieces..... If not contemporary, the vase may be 1950's, it reminded me of some pieces from the old Czechoslovakia, by L. Smrckova. There are little bits of imperfection in the glass that were trapped there when the glass was hot, that I sometimes find in 1960's Czech glass too. I am thinking it may be circa 1960. 

If anybody has any ideas about the origin of this piece, I would like to know.



Robert (bOBA)

[glassobsessed]

Nice glass Robert, it reminds me of Italian pottery cats that I see from time to time, usually black (unlike this one): http://www.yardgallery.com/product_specific_std.aspx?title=Unkown&id=7294&dataid=869152

Don't usually think of cut glass as coming from Italy...

John

[bOBA]

Thanks John. I see what you mean. In the late fifties, several designers, from several countries, seem to have used this shape, by "cultural osmosis" or something! It appears in Smrckova designs too. However, I have been told by a GMB member that, given I bought it from Germany, that Josephinenhutte may be a possibility. I had a look at catalogues from there on Pamela's site and it seems possible... I may need to find a Habermeier collector- specialist to chat with. This is by no means an assured attribution..... but a possibility. Like you, I cannot think of much Italian cut crystal glass in clear, such as cut decanter sets, or wineglasses, we see from Bohemia and England nearly every week around the place!


Robert (bOBA)

[chopin-liszt]

It's a style I tend to associate with '50s Ćmielów pottery - based on a few vases I've found, but I can't find any images on-line.