Topic: Mdina and the Rosenthal connection, research & evidence

[WhatHo!]

Hi Guys, can we get all Mdina Rosenthal info put into this thread as its scattered and it would nice to have all the info collated in one place.
It would be great to have pics of the various pieces altogether and any other info.
From the Mark Hill book it was produced in 1971 for the Rosenthal 'Studio-Linie' range but was not taken up by them but various pieces were continued to be produced as they were popular.

[glassobsessed]

There was no such range, samples may have been made but Rosenthal never ordered from Mdina. There is no reliable information concerning such wares just assumptions. Sellers on ebay especially like to claim 'Rosenthal colours'  probably in the hope of increased value and typically for these yellow ochre and blue swirled bullet bowls. However these colours are found in lots of items, many of these items will pre-date 1971 when any 'Rosenthal' samples may have been made.

John

[chopin-liszt]

I have never thought the triple spiral design was anything to do with "Rosenthal", and it does appear in many post-Harris-period bits - the bullet bowls and small, slightly triangulated chargers.
But I had sort of assumed the random patterns were. Even though it isn't an official name, it is something useful to call it.

Mark's book describes images of the random blue over yellow pattern as; "produced for Rosenthal", not as Rosenthal per se. The book says that as there are no records at Rosenthal of Germany of any mention of Michael Harris or Mdina, that it never got beyond producing samples.

Pics of some of my "random patterned blue on yellow stuff".

Edited to add.
I should have said all these bits are rather enormous. The "sweetie jars" are the 16-17" ones, with round polished pontil scars, the cylinder is 10.5" tall. The charger is signed by Michael Harris.

[WhatHo!]

Thank you, I must confess knowing very little about the samples for Rosenthal and any snippets of info and pics will be very much appreciated

[Patrick]

From the Mark Hill book it was produced in 1971 for the Rosenthal 'Studio-Linie' range but was not taken up by them but various pieces were continued to be produced as they were popular.

Hi Sue,
 With little factory records from Mdina what Mark Hill says does seem to make sense... and certainly your pieces could have been part of a possible Rosenthal Range. Mark clearly states that there were no orders placed by them and maybe the stumbling block was price ?
 Your pieces are superb and I take it from your plural use of the 'Sweetie' jar you have a pair .

Cheers,

Patrick.

[chopin-liszt]

From what I am reading, and is implied in the book, things all went rather pear shaped when Ettore died around then.

I have two "sweetie jars" ( the name I gave them when I first encountered them, because they were almost the size of those big jars of sweeties on the shelves in sweetie shops), but they are not a pair.

The bottom part was made in a mould, but the shoulders "spill out" over the top - so the top part is individually worked in each piece. You can see the shoulder profiles are quite different. And the patterns are not mirror images. 

[KevinH]

It could be helpful for this thread to gather together all existing info within the GMB relating to the Mdina "Rosenthal range". But there are many existing threads and simply merging them together would create confusion as the parts would be shuffled together in date order!

However, I have searched the whole Board for "mdina rosenthal" and have taken two actions:
a) all threads in non-Malta forums that clearly relate to "mdina rosenthal" have been moved to the Malta forum
b) the list of topics at the end of this post shows all threads within the updated Malta forum (and a couple of others that remain in the Glass forum) that relate to the subject in hand

If the folk who know about the details of "mdina rosenthal range", could spend some time browsing the threads below, some effective summaries about the subject could be added to this thread in preparation for future additions.

In Malta fourm
Mdina Rosenthal Dish - Shape Info..?
Mdina bell vase show and tell
Mdina lamp base!!!!!!!!wow!!!!!
Lump'o'glass or "Medina"?? please read on... ID = Mdina
Mdina charger
Early Mdina Stoppered Decanter - Restore or NOT to Restore...?
Mdina globe vase
New Mdina Pictures
Mdina Stopper Question
Two Mdina vases, further info appreciated :-)
Help please with Mdina Chalice signature........
He he another Mdina for me-I hope!!!
Unusual Mdina facet cut inside out vase

In Glass forum
Large Maltese vase, help needed on ID please
Cambridge find Rare one off by Tim and Michael Harris

[Patrick]

It could be helpful for this thread to gather together all existing info within the GMB relating to the Mdina "Rosenthal range".

Hi,
Perhaps the title needs changing to read 'Mdina Rosethal Designs'............or perhaps Connection instead of Designs

With no order it may not be best described as a 'range'

Just a thought.

[glassobsessed]

I am reluctant to describe these varying patterns/decors as Rosenthal as there is so little information regarding them, I appreciate it is convenient to do so though. Some of the text in Mark Hill's book is a little contradictory too, not surprising in the circumstances.

Anyway, I had assumed this yellow ochre bell vase was a 'Rosenthal' design but after a few more years I now doubt it, the purely yellow ochre items without a second colour do seem to be fairly early in date and perhaps before 1971, just guesswork....

[Anne]

Hi,
Perhaps the title needs changing to read 'Mdina Rosethal Designs'............or perhaps Connection instead of Designs
With no order it may not be best described as a 'range'
Just a thought.

Good suggestion, Patrick, thank you. I have edited the topic title to try and reflect the topic content.

Re the 2 topics still in Glass, should one be in British and the other in Malta glass?