Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. > Belgium and the Netherlands Glass
Val St Lambert - Just for show...
Anne Tique:
Thank you :-*
Daniel:
What a great exhibit! It is certainly easy to get enthused with VSL! These are wonderful.
Anne Tique:
I'm just so excited to be able to show you this little engraved vase. It took me a while to date and find out everything about it, but I've managed to do so.
Just to put it in context, Charles Graffart was head of design at VSL from 1942-1958. In the 50ies he designed a range of engraved pieces, that were signed and dated at the bottom of the vase. As you can see, this one's signed on the side but not dated, so I got curious. I knew engraving was his very first passion, but the only pieces you come across are from the 50ies, and I never considered anything else.
Digging a bit into his history at VSL, I found out that around 1923/1924, just after he finished his training and studies, he engraved several, one-off pieces that were used at the World Exhibition in Paris 1925. As they were such a success, he was commissioned in 1926-1929 to produce 300, all unique and different pieces for VSL, all signed and numbered from 1-300, and several of these numbered and unnumbered pieces are visible in museums and illustrated in books.
I came across an article, a report just after the Expo, in which these vases were described, and luckily enough, I managed to get my hands on a copy of the original Exhibition catalogue from 1925. To my surprise, it contains a sketch , made by Graffart himself, with the vase right in the middle. I've held it next to the image and the foliage and subject are exactly the same.
The reason why it is signed on the side and not on the bottom, is because it was a presentation piece and not done in several examples, as they, the commercial pieces, were signed on the bottom. The reason why it isn't numbered is due to the fact that it's not part of the 300 pieces, but one or two years older than that, part of the series for the Exhibition in 1925. 60 pieces from the Exhibition got absorbed in the Catalogue Cristaux de Fantaisie or Fantasy Crystal catalogue, but again, this vase is not part it.
I can therefor, date this vase to 1924/5, and it is part of a series of unique, non-commercial and therefor uncatalogued, pieces.
Anne Tique:
The sketch in the Exhibition catalogue of 1925.
Lustrousstone:
Well done!!
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