Topic: Cameo cut to clear Easter egg copper ruby overlay - 1840s? / Russian?

[flying free]

I've bought two more eggs and the first parcel arrived and I am absolutely thrilled to bits with it 

The clear base underlay glass glows bright yellow under blacklight.
The egg is hollow.
Has a very dense thick, what I believe is, copper ruby (kupferrubinrotem) overlay cut through leaving the design in relief.
Appears dark brown to view, but when the light catches the cut red edges, just in minute spots you can see it is red.  Otherwise even with lighting it's impossible to make it show red.

Measures 3 3/4" tall (9.5cm tall) by 2 3/4 " (7cm)wide
Has a 16 point star cut into the top and the base with the star points alternating long and short.
The base has the star cut and then has been polished flat and then a polished pontil mark and then the hole has been cut and polished. It's not a large hole like that cut into the engraved St Isaac's egg.
The top has the same star and a polished hole cut into it.

In Das Bohmische Glas Band 11 page 106, a becher is shown in this colour cut to clear in a  similar way.  It is identified as Neuwelt c. 1840 Copper Ruby glass.
In the book 'From Neuwelt to the Whole World' Harrach also show a blue overlay becher cut to clear, dated before 1835 that has a small blue overlay square with this 8 point star cut into it (first I've found not id'd as Boston and Sandwich or Val St Lambert).
I still haven't been able to match this 'egg and star' or 'punty and star' design.

Boston and Sandwich did also do a very dark red overlay.  They also did designs with stars cut into the overlay as far as I can see from the lamps that have been id'd as Boston and Sandwich.  But as with the pokal, so far no definite id on this design.

Also, my pokal glows bright orange under blacklight, whereas this egg glows yellow.  They appear to have design similarities but I think they are different makers.

Im sure this is old.   I've seen quite a lot of overlay eggs cut to clear, but never in this colour and pattern and with the star cut and both holes cut top and bottom.


m

[Lustrousstone]

Very pretty M, well found 

[flying free]

Thank you    It feels precious partly because they were used as gifts and also in that there are so very few old glass eggs around now.  And it didn't break the bank. 
I'm going to thread a ribbon through with bow (as per the porcelain ones) and hang it for Christmas in front of the mirror.  I'll add a pic when I've done it.

I hope the second one arrives soon.
m

[flying free]

Cameo glass egg sold via Christie's - similar burgundy brown colour overlay on what I think is an acid etched background uncoloured glass.
This one dated to late 19th century.

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-cameo-glass-easter-egg-by-the-imperial-5510258-details.aspx
Sale 8003 Lot 384
Lot Description
A CAMEO-GLASS EASTER EGG
BY THE IMPERIAL GLASS WORKS, ST PETERSBURG, LAST QUARTER 19TH CENTURY
Ovoid, the burgundy body cut with initials of Alexander II below the Imperial crown within an oval reserve, the reverse cut with the cameo of Alexander Nevsky in armour and ermine mantle, with a crown to the left and a cathedral to the right, the sides and apertures decorated with stylised foliage and leaf-tip ornament, unmarked
4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm.) high

[KevinH]

Is the Christie's Russian Egg ruby-over-clear or is it a true cameo with white (over a base of clear) overlaid with ruby?

[flying free]

It's possible it is burgundy over white base glass (i.e. white opaline) but I don't believe it is.

I think is is burgundy overlaid on clear with the clear background acid etched like the background on this one
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,51272.msg290893.html#msg290893
I think you can just faintly see through one of the lenses at the bottom.

I don't know what you mean by 'true cameo'? Or rather, I kind of know what you are getting at I think?

Cameo is where two or more layers of glass have been applied and the top one cut through to allow the under layer to show through, leaving the top layer design in relief.  I know that the design on the cameo egg from Christie's is very 'graphic' rather than sculpted (e.g. Thomas Webb sculpted flowers cameos and the dark to light blue vines and grapes on my cameo vase I linked to above), and it's a very 'graphic' example compared to e.g some multi layer Galle that is carved in a sculpted multi coloured way, but it's still cameo in that it leaves one layer in relief in a different colour on top of a differing colour under layer.  It can be referred to as cut to clear but actually it's still a cameo process by the (my?) definition of cameo.  It's no different for example, to a small vase I posted recently that has green flowers and tendrils and leaves against an acid etched clear underlayer.  It's just that instead of flowers and leaves it has a graphic design cut into it.

In fact cameo I guess might be even one layer of glass, with the design that has been cut into the layer of glass cut into it in relief (I.e. the background being taken right back leaving the design standing proud of the background)- as in a cameo carved brooch.

caveat - I do appreciate that people call this cut to clear which is why I added it in my title of my egg along with cameo.

m

[flying free]

I don't think there is any reason why my egg may not be Russian Glass.

I'm sure it is 19th century and I think it dates to around 2nd quarter 19th.  My opinion is based on the technique, the colour and quality of the base clear glass (see photo attached where it is set between an early perfume bottle and the 20th century engraved clear glass egg - the colour of the glass is decidedly different and stands out visually on my shelf when you look at it), the design of the pattern, the opaline coloured copper ruby glass outer layer.

The shape of it is the same as the cameo egg from Christie's however being egg shaped it's quite difficult to make any comparison at all on shape -unless of course there is a complete difference in shape i.e. tall and slender egg versus rotund egg .

It has the small hole top and bottom with the top ( I thought it was the bottom but it's the top that I think had the pontil attached) especially carefully cut with the star cut, the polished pontil and then the polished hole. I've not seen that technique on any Bohemian eggs.
In fact I've not seen any Bohemian eggs attributed or identified dating to 19th century.**

Russia has a long tradition of eggs.  (Bohemia I can't find anything on in terms of eggs, though I am sure many countries must have had a tradition of decorative eggs around Easter and judging by the amount of worn-off decoration hand-painted white eggs around saying 'Easter' on them, certainly in the USA and the UK I think. ) Bohemia was a consideration for me because of the technique and the opaline copper ruby overlay.

As I said, I think the burgundy overlay is copper ruby glass. 
Russia produced this certainly very early 19th century (source 'Russian Glass of the 17th-20th Centuries' - Dr Nina Asharina, Dr Tamara Malinina, Dr Liudmila Kazakova - A special Exhibition The Corning Museum of Glass Corning New York, April22-October 14, 1990).
On page 91 they show a picture of a lidded cup with a copper ruby layer and a clear base under layer. 

It isn't as dark as the burgundy on my egg but I think that may be because my egg is opaline overlay whereas the mug is not*? It could also be because the layer of glass is thinner,  mine appears visually exactly like the Becher colour in Das Bohmische Glas, but I think it might be because it is an opaline version rather than transparent glass.

The mug in the book is described as Maltsov's glassworks, second quarter of the 19th century.
The description reads:
'Colorless glass with dark red (copper ruby) overlay, blown, cut. State History Museum, no 81202/4563 st. Received in 1943.
Dark cherry-coloured glass, colored with copper compounds ("copper ruby"), appeared much later than "gold ruby." It's rarity is evident from an archival document (dated 1841) in which an anonymous correspondent wrote from Prague to St.Petersburg that the chemist Egermanm of Haida was ready to sell the formula for copper ruby glass for 300 talers.  However this deal did not materialise because such glass was already made at Russian glassworks.  The Journal of Industry and Trade in 1837 documents that copper ruby glass was then made at the Maltsov, Orlov, and Bakhmetiev glassworks.  - Bibliography:  Asharina (1978), p. 98.'

m

(*note- in contrast the becher in Das Bohmische Glas Band 11 page 106 is I believe also an opaline copper ruby outer layer glass)



**but I have seen attributed Bohemian eggs in overlay with a clear underlayer dating to this century that then say Ajka and others that I am pretty sure are  made in Poland though.   That's not to say that Bohemian 19th century overlay glass eggs don't exist, but I've not found any and I think it is less likely than my egg being Russian.

Caveat - my egg 'could' be Bohemian and it 'could' be later in the 19th

[flying free]

A couple of interesting (to me  ) things I've discovered -

Firstly if you view this egg side on at eye level, because it's quite thick clear glass and very evenly blown, it has the weird illusion of an inner egg being 'contained' inside a lattice of a free floating brown patterned outer egg (see pic) - if you look through the brown lenses on the left and right of the egg you should be able to see the 'perceived' inner egg.

Secondly, I came across this interesting glass cameo in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (if you click on it you should be able to scroll and enlarge this to a fantastic degree to see the brown glass base the white cameo is set against.) 

It dates to 1791 and is of Maria Feodorovna and Paul I. 
The description says:
'Jugate busts of Czarevitch Paul and Maria Feodorovna of Russia
Maker: James Tassie (British, Glasgow, Scotland 1735–1799 London)
Artist: After an original by Empress Maria Feodorovna (Russian, 1759–1828)
Date: 1791
Culture: British, London
Medium: Cast glass
Dimensions: Overall: 2 11/16 x 2 3/16 x 7/16 in. (6.8 x 5.5 x 1.1 cm); 68 x 55.4 x 11.1 mm
Classification: Glass
Credit Line: Funds from various donors, 1999
Accession Number: 1999.525'
and
'Catherine the Great’s daughter-in-law Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, was an accomplished cameo carver. James Tassie produced several glass replicas of the cameo she made of herself alongside her ill-favored spouse, the future Paul I. Most of the replicas, like the original hardstone in the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, are dated April 21, Catherine the Great’s name day; the original was presumably Maria Feodorovna’s tribute when that occasion was celebrated in 1791. The Russian court had known contacts with Tassie, whose small glass portraits emulating cameos enjoyed wide circulation, and there can be little doubt that it was to him they turned for replications of Maria Feodorovna’s cameo.'

It appears this was formed as a brown layer with a white layer on top and then carved.  I think it was made as a paste as in pate de verre, formed in the mold taken of the cameo - with the white pushed in first and then the brown layer making up the flattened top , then turned out showing the white in relief?

http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/210063

Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that it used brown glass and had a link to the Russian Imperial family.

[flying free]

In the Glass Museum of Gus Khrustalny, there are two  'vase' type items, both the same shape. 

 Since they are vase shapes, they are obviously not the same as my egg - or my goblet - see link to goblet thread here:
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,60736.msg342552.html#msg342552
 
They were produced in the second half of the 19th century by Gus Khrustalny.

One is burgundy brown over clear and the other is blue over clear.
Both with overlay colour cut to clear.

They are both cut vertically down the body in long wide facets leaving a thick clear underlay band and a thin stripe of the colour showing vertically between clear glass segments, at intervals around the piece. 

The burgundy brown  piece also has oval cartouches with the outline left in burgundy brown as per my egg, except they are oval with no slight point on the top like the ovals on my egg.

The blue overlay cut to clear also has blue oval cartouches where the whole cartouche is left in blue (i.e. not cut as an outline) as per my pink overlay goblet, and it then also has the eight point star cut into the oval cartouche (as does my goblet). 
The difference is the cartouche is scalloped around the outside edge as opposed to being a straight cut oval shape.

 Neither overlays are as opaque as either my burgundy brown over clear egg, or a blue overlay on clear jug I linked to on my goblet thread.
But I believe they replicate the elements of the eight point star cut into colour and the copper ruby overlay and the outlined coloured cartouches. 
I can't link to pictures because I found them on a Russian Glass forum. They are from the Gus Museum but I can't find any coming up as pics on English searches.

I now think both my goblet and egg were produced by Gus Khrustalny.

I think it is possible the egg dates to an early date i.e. 1840's - 1850's. I think it is copper ruby overlay and in the Gothic style which was in vogue in the 1830s and 1840s in  Russian Glass i.e. the Gothic Service made at the Imperial Glassworks in the 1830s and 1840s see link here:
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-russian-blue-and-clear-glass-tazza-5475358-details.aspx


The book 'Russian Glass of the 17th to 20th centuries' says on page 47
Private glassworks used simpler means of making products in the Gothic style, employing colorless glass with an overlay of dark cherry (copper) ruby (no.42).
No 42 is the Maltsov's glassworks covered mug 2nd quarter 19th century that I referred to earlier in this thread.

It's possible the goblet may date later than when I believe the egg was produced and Gus Khrustalny also produced this pink colour in the 19th century.
I have not been able to match the petal cutting on the foot but the blue Gus 'vase' in the museum has the cartouche with star cut into it and also the striped colour left vertically down the vase as per the cutting on the stem of the goblet.

They are the same pattern and style but just use different elements of the pattern.  I think it's possible both the goblet and egg are quite a bit earlier than the vases in the Gus museum but that it's a Gus pattern.  I wonder if it is possible that pattern is replicated in the blue jug also at a later date more around the same time (second half 19th) as the vases in the museum.  It might explain why my goblet somehow looks older than the jug.  Or it might just be that blue photographs particularly well and that jug is in immaculate condition and therefore looks somehow 'newer' than it really is.

I really do think the clear glass on the egg is old glass.  Which is why, along with the Gothic style I think the egg was produced much earlier.

m

[flying free]

This one has a date of c1860.
The same shape and very similar cut design on the top of the egg.
http://russianauctions.ru/lot/41720/

m