Topic: Can you help identify this signed art glass? ID = Mtarfa

[Paul ADK]

The colors and texture on this piece are exquisite. While the underlying or base glass ranges from clear to a dark amber, almost black, the exterior crackled glass is in shades of tan and turquoise blue with a beautiful iridescence playing across the whole.

The smooth, deeply dimpled base has neither a broken pontil nor any sign of grinding, leading me to surmise that the object was attached to the blowpipe at the top, which was then fire polished.  There is a great deal of wear evident on the base which appears to be natural, and not the result of any attempt to deceive.

The negatives are as follows:

A)  I can not make out the signature or the second mark which may be the letter "V" with a long tail and two numbers beneath it, or possibly two letters Z in which the tail of the first leads directly into the top of the second.  I am not at all familiar with glass made by Durand, but the crackle finish and what may, or may not be the letter V following the name, has led me to wonder if it might possibly be one of their early pieces.

B) I don't know what to call it.  It is five and 1/2" across, by 3" high, with a 1/4" hole in the top.  Does that make it a vase, a bowl, or something else?

Clicking on the thumbnails should enlarge them  considerably. Still other views of the object can be seen in my album.

Any information or guesses will be greatly appreciated.

Paul ADK

[chopin-liszt]

I'm a bit confused by the picture - s. There is a beautiful round pot vase, that reminds me a bit of pieces I've seen in IoWSG Archives that are called British Museum design, by Timothy Harris.

http://www.isleofwightstudioglass.co.uk/Sold_Archive.htm

Scroll down for the British Museum bits.

There is a thumbnail picture of a signature mark that looks like Mtarfa, that I can't get to go bigger - it just leads to the pot.

[Max]

I was thinking it looked like a Mtarfa signature too Sue.  Paul, if you search this board for Mtarfa, a number of signatures come up within threads, if you would like comparisons.

PS:  meant to add...it's a lovely little pot!!

[Paul ADK]

Re. enlargement of the thumbnail, it appears my host has again changed the format.  Clicking on the picture will take you to the site, where cycling through the pictures by clicking next three times will bring you to a much enlarged picture of the signature.  again I apologise.  I did not intend to run viewers all around Robin Hood's barn, just to see the signiture.

[Anne]

Paul, the BB code for the thumbnails had got itself into a tangle so wasn't displaying correctly. It's sorted now and the thumbnails work as they should.

I do agree that the signature looks like Mtarfa as well. It's a super pot - I've not seen this from Mtarfa before.

[Anne]

Images are no longer available. Is there any chance of adding them as attachments please?