Topic: Further info sort - Taiwanese Glass Artist Wang Xiajun & Liu Yuan Glass Studio

[Greg.]

I have been trying to find out some further information on the Taiwanese glass artist Wang Xiajun who I gather is also referenced online as Wan Xiajun, due to anglicised variations.

The majority of information available online is in Chinese and the online translations are almost harder to decipher than the original Chinese text! I gather that Wang Xiahun was born in 1953 and has been influential in the development of Chinese art glass over recent years, with works in the corning museum of glass amongst others.

The piece in question is marked to the base as shown below, as I understand has the ‘Liu Yuan’ Glass Studio mark followed by ‘Wan Xiajun’ and then ‘2001.1 - 149/766 which I gather is possibly the year then followed by the number of pieces produced.

A large example weighing 4233 grams and measuring 7 inches tall and 7 inches wide.
Any further information would be greatly received.

Thanks,
Greg

[Greg.]

Been looking into this further and turns out I've been searching under the phonetic rendering of the Chinese characters into English (ie the names in the title, both the artist and studio name)

It turns out that the English name of the company is actually Tittot and is signed by heinrich wang (Wang Xianjun) the founder of Tittot.

I'll send a few pictures to Tittot to see if they are able to provide any further information on this piece.

[Anne]

There are a few pages in English about Tittot, they do fabulous stuff!

Here are four I found really interesting:
http://www.designboom.com/design/tittot-glass-cast-vessels-from-taiwan/
http://gbtimes.com/focus/tittot-home-luxury-and-tradition
http://www.plushasia.com/article/5692
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/8/5/lifearts/18348423

Also, if you put Tittot into Google and select the Image search it brings up a raft of fab pics of their glass.

[Greg.]

Thanks for taking a look Anne and for the links. 

I came across those previously in the end. I wasn't initially sure the piece was Tittot due the signing convention.  Also I was trying to research under Heinrich Wang's Chinese name 'Wang Xianjun', which explains why virtually everything was coming up in Chinese! The name 'Tittot' also appears to be signed in its Chinese equivalent on my piece due to the date.

All of the other pieces of Tittot I have handled have been clearly signed 'Tittot', rather than in Chinese which makes deciphering much easier indeed!  I did contact Tittot in the end and they confirmed that the signing conventions changed sometime after 2001 to specifically include the word 'Tittot' opposed to being signed with the Chinese equivalent. I understand this was purely a branding decision. They also very kindly emailed me some further info on the piece in question, which was much appreciated. 

[heartofsklo]

I find these pieces totally captivating, never seen them before. Are they readily available anywhere currently or are they like hens teeth?

[Greg.]

Hi, There are a number of companies largely in China and Taiwan now producing this type of Pâte-de-verre cyrstal, although the two most established companies/brands seem to be Liuligongfang and Tittot. Their products are normally sold in luxury high end outlets and are priced accordingly when buying new. More reasonably priced pre-owned pieces do crop up online, although prices do vary depending on the piece. Below are links to both Liuligongfang's and Tittot's websites, I think there are also a few other examples on the board:

http://www.liuli.com/en-us/index.aspx

http://ip-182-50-154-190.ip.secureserver.net/37793/index.html

[heartofsklo]

Thanks Greg. I guess I will have to aspire to owning such pieces or a piece judging by their retail prices but that only serves to make them even more attractive in their case.

I WILL get a piece at some point, they are one of those must have pieces for me, especially the Koi Carp bowl.