Topic: White in early Mdina

[WhatHo!]

Hi Guys, are you aware of any white glass being used (as in white enamel), even in small quantities in Mdina Glass, pre 1977? Maybe for commissions?

[chopin-liszt]

I can't say about pre-'77. I'd say with certainty not pre-'75, when Said took over, but when did the splodgy things start being made? Was that '75 when the takeover first happened? or did it take longer for this stuff to start being made?
All I know about commissions were the Verdala bowls, for the Verdala hotel, and the chess set Said did.

[Patrick]

There might possibly be an answer here.........   

This blown fish frigger by Vicente Boffo has white frit in it along with many other interesting colours. Boffo might have had his own supply of frit but more likely used Mdina material.

Cheers,

Patrick.

[chopin-liszt]

Your fish has somewhat "Tigery" colours. Do you know the date it was made?
I'm not sure that "frit" counts as being an actual enamel. 
I thought frit was just a lump of "something",

[Patrick]

I am not sure of when it was made........ currently it is the only known example.

I think broken up white enamel would create suitable frit.

[WhatHo!]

I'm pretty sure that this is Mdina so Boffo was there from 1970 til 1976-7 so this must give a rough date. I dont think it Whitefriars because it has silver choride in it. WF used SC in their studio range but that was not until late 1970s.

[glassobsessed]

The brown spots remind me very much of some of Mdina's tortoiseshell. I don't know of any white used during Harris' time but never say never. As Boffo was producing his own work could he have been buying in his own materials? In that scenario he could have been using white while the works was not.

John

[chopin-liszt]

 
Do you mean Tiger/Marble, rather than Tortoiseshell, John?
I thought the whitish bits with brown spots looks like the creamy background in Marble, so that would be a silver thing, not white enamel.

I have pretty much always thought that white did not appear until after Said took over, I've never found any evidence to the contrary, but... absense of evidence is not evidence of absence.
Obviously, I didn't know anything when I started, I can't remember when it was I realised that white did not appear until later, but it was fairly early in my learning curve.
I'd noticed there was splodgy stuff with white in that I didn't like, not anything like the stuff I did like. Then I found out that the splodgy stuff, with white in, didn't seem to appear until Said took over.

[Patrick]

As Boffo was producing his own work could he have been buying in his own materials? In that scenario he could have been using white while the works was not.

You could well be correct John ........ Here is another solid fish of the type that Boffo used to sell at the King's Tobacconist shop.  Not mine sadly but this certainly has white in it !

[chopin-liszt]

We still don't know the dates of these fish.
Boffo was at Mdina before and after Said took over in '75.

Is there any particular reason you're asking about '77 rather than '75 Wolfie?
And do you know when the splodgy stuff started being made?