Topic: Porous brown mottled vase with slug-like handle

[Anik R]

Hi 

I'm hoping someone will be able to help me with a rather odd piece of glass which came my way from the Czech Republic.

I'm not quite sure if it's a vase or a bowl or a candleholder...  It's 10cm tall and 12cm wide though the opening is only 6cm.  The body is mottled brown with a porous texture and some opalescence. The slug-like handle is clear glass with orangy-red mottling.  The base has a neatly ground and polished pontil mark.  The piece does show some signs of wear.  It weighs 458g.

Does anyone recognise the maker?  Is it Czechoslovakian?  Is it oldish, or was it made yesterday?

All help greatly appreciated.  Thank you for looking,
Anik

[Lustrousstone]

It's much more handsome than you make it sound 

[Anik R]

Hee hee      I didn't realise I didn't make it sound as handsome as it is.  Thank you, Christine.

[chopin-liszt]

I do have to agree, there is some serious design going on there.

It's rather bird-like, with it's red "comb, and bellied-out-but-still-very-elegant shape.
Do you think it might have a corroso sort of surface finish, in order to make it pitted?

[Anik R]

Sue, I don't know.  (You and 'em fancy glassy technical terms... x).

When you look very closely, the surface is actually lumpy, bumpy and pitted. The glass feels smooth and rough at the same time.  Here are a couple close-ups.

[Anne Tique]

Perhaps a silly suggestion ... but could it be a creamer?

[chopin-liszt]

It definitely looks as if the surface has been treated in some way - the effect is nice and it must be deliberate.

I haven't ever handled corroso myself, but I'll never forget the time here, many years ago, when a lovely chap (who isn't here any more) found a Seguso corroso hippopotamus and posted it here.
I think he eventually sold it for about £4,000! You don't forget that sort of excitement. He wasn't expecting it to ba anything particularly important.
So I'm afraid I really was just using "fancy words". 

I have a small beige posy vase, which has an illegible signature/mark and a rough but smooth surface, with patches of iridesence inbetween lumpy bits, which also might be corroso, but it doesn't look like yours and isn't nearly such an interesting or well designed thing.


I'd wondered if it would pour liquid myself, Anne!

[Paul S.]

unlikely to be a creamer in my opinion.              At first glance it appears to have a 'pouring spout/lip' and the overall shape is reminiscent of a creamer or milk jug    -    but I don't think that is the case since the lip is on the handle side - albeit a very unusual handle, and a shape that might make picking up the piece a problem............   try filling this with water and see if using the 'handle' is workable.               The colouring appears similar to tortoishell.              My opinion is that there isn't much age to this one.          Sorry Anik.

[Anne Tique]

Ok, it was just a suggestion, I thought that what looks like a handle, actually isn't one and is just part of the design. It wouldn't be very practical, as design in general sometimes can be, and to have the whole thing in your hand when pouring, but they do exist.

Anyway, just explaining my thoughts why I brought it up... not trying to make a point...

[chopin-liszt]

Age is just a number and opinions on age are subjective.
It could be "old" for studio glass and if made in the Czech Republic, might have surprising age (relatively ) for something so modern looking.
The point of studio glass was not always to be functional, it could have been simply designed along the lines of a jug shape.
(I did imagine pouring stuff all over myself while trying to pour from this!  )