Topic: Blue and blue sommerso vase - Pinzoni, really? - ID = Süssmuth

[dirk.]

Hi,

picked up this nice sommerso today. I think I had this ebay auction in the back of my mind:
ebay
Do you think/know if the seller´s right? My vase is a shorter version with ca. 14.5cm.
The base shows a large ground and polished pontil mark.

Dirk

[rocco]

Nice vase!

When I researched my vase I looked at hundreds of pictures of SvdA pieces, and the shape doesn't look like a typical Pinzoni piece with the ultra-thin rim IMHO.
It could still be Seguso though, the colours are allright I think. Just checked, in Judith Miller's "Glas des 20. Jhdts." is a Flavio Poli teardrop shape vase in a very similar colourway.

Funny thing, I saw two vases recently (one at a fleamarket, the other one is sitting in my fav charity shop for ages) which seem to have the identical shape to the ebay vase, but a different colourway (dark brown cased in orange brown). They were quite nice, but not very well made, some irregularities to the surface and bubbles to the glass; so I thought they were probably not Murano but recent Polish or similar production.
But it is such a simple and classic shape, may just be a coincidence...

Other Seguso collectors (kane?) might know if the polished pontil is found on SvdA pieces apart from the usual flat base...

So not much help from my side (as usual )

Michael

[dirk.]

Thanks for your reply, Michael - much appreciated! (as usual)
Your info is most helpful and informative. (as usual) 

[kane_u_pain]

Lovely piece and the colours look awesome together!

This is from my sketchy memory!

Most of my early pieces of SVdA from the 30's/40's have slightly indented bases. Not all. But not ground and polished like yours.

Almost all of my pieces from the 50's/60's have flat polished bases.

However, most of my pieces from the 70's have a similar type of ground and polished base. But these are mostly the scavo pieces.

I must admit, I have not seen a SVdA sommerso piece with a ground and polished base.

However, I believe (not confirmed) that they did reproduce some SVdA's earlier pieces back in the late 60's and into the 70's. I really have to wait for Marc Heiremans book to come out in a few months which will help me to clear up some grey areas I have. I have similar pieces with different era labels! Which could help confirm what is earlier SVdA and what is the later.

Cenedese though did do similar cylindrical pieces like this (I believe through the 60's), but the ones I have seen were completely straight. Your seems to have a slight hourglass shape to it? Or is it my eyes?

[kane_u_pain]

Forgot to add, can't remember what the base of the Cenedese pieces looked like!

[paradisetrader]

I had 2 pieces of labelled Holmegaard in exactly this colourway.
They didn't have polished pontils (polished flat) but were much narrower.

[dirk.]

Kane,
thanks for the overview. The shape is indeed very (very, very) slightly concave: top rim 82mm, base 81, middle 80.
I think I saw one of the Cenedese ones at a shop in Bremen; it had a completely ground flat base.
Pete,
thanks, too. Another suspect I wouldn´t fully exclude yet might be Süssmuth, who also used this colour scheme:
https://picasaweb.google.com/108140812446658939096/Sussmuth#5590338892561440626
They didn´t produce much which required a pontil though...  The one in the picture is mould-blown with a cut rim.

[dirk.]

Hi
Been to Immenhausen where the Süssmuth museum is today. Tata - Süssmuth indeed and designed in 1964.
This one came in three sizes - mine being the smallest.

[rocco]

Great that you found the ID, Dirk! And this was really a tough one

I now wonder if the similar vases I saw (dark brown cased in light brown) are Süssmuth as well -- did you by accident see pieces in this colourway?
Here is one on German ebay, different shape but identical colours: >> Link

Michael

[dirk.]

Sorry, Michael. They didn´t show anything similar in the museum. This turquoise/blue design also came in a
taller version though, but they had a cut top rim then.
I´ve taken lots of pictures and will make an album when I´m back home next week.