Topic: Japanese Symbols on Hand Painted Glass

[chelseasattic]

Has anyone seen this before?  It is clear, heavy glass hand painted in a jadeite green with orange/yellow geometric detailing and blue Japanese symbols for the directions with the corresponding English letter N, S, E, W.  Ironically, the directions are in the wrong positions with north being adjacent to south or east being across from east.  Love the whimsy of that...

[Ohio]

Don't know about anyone else, however picture is so small I cannot make out any detail.

[chelseasattic]

Does this help?

[keith]

Could we see some more pictures,the east character looks ok but the other two look a bit odd,to my very poor knowledge of Japanese, ,oh,welcome,

[chelseasattic]

I can post more pics if needed but what the Japanese characters represent are not in question.  They most certainly are the directions on a compass...north, south, east and west.  I have verified this with a Japanese friend of mine.  I wonder about the make and era.  Seams can be seen in the glasswork, no pontil marks, etc. so they are manufactured glass if that helps.  Also the glass is heavier than a lot of makers...for instance the bevelled rim of the cream and sugar are almost 1/2 inch thick.  I have had these about a year and am super intrigued.

[Ohio]

OK here is what I can tell you...they are of U.S. manufacture, baked on color, definately 1920s as the baked color over clear died out by 1930. Your original pic is too small for trying to get a shot at the handle shape of the CHS (center handled server) & cream & sugar to attribute to a manufacturer. Now as to decoration I've not seen it before & I doubt its as manufacturer so to speak. I think its highly likely the blanks were purchased from the manufacturer (common practice back then) by a decoration company such as Lotus Decorating or Wheeling Decorating companies who decorated them & sold them under their name. Thats the best I can do now.

[chelseasattic]

I wondered if they were blanks...which I am much more familiar with for china than I am glass.  I will post better pics of the handle and cream/sugar combo.  I don't think I am reselling these.  I just really like them and wanted to know more.  Love that they are 20's...such an interesting era!

[Ohio]

The only company I know of who did alot of rather unique factory decorations using the baked enameling in the 20s is Westmoreland & with them you never know what you might find. You might try (since they are U.S manufacture) posting them to the U.S. board chataboutdg. We have alot of people who might be know the attribution there & as this board somewhat specializes in European & chatabout handles mostly U.S. The url is below.
http://chataboutdg.com/

[chelseasattic]

Here are the other pics...and as a note, my Japanese friend picked up several mistakes in the details of the symbols.  She didn't call them mistakes as she said different generations stylize writings differently but that it could also be someone for whom Japanese was not the first language.  She actually mentioned them having odd nuances which another poster commented on.  I just think their sublime and quirky!

[chelseasattic]

The handle...