Topic: Ikora?

[Cranesbill]

A new purchase, 20cm across the rim, 9cm high.

It doesn't resemble its beautifully-lit photo on the Etsy listing, which showed a bowl of glowing golden yellow with greenish stripes. The reality is a milky tea colour with grey stripes within colourless casing, but it does liven up with the sun behind it, becoming translucent golden brown with yellow threads and 'eyes'.

The reticulated pattern is not formed in the more familiar Ikora manner (quenching followed by dipping into a metal salt solution) but with elongated bubbles and thin ochre yellow threading. The bowl doesn't have the usual foot, but a few patterns were made without, and I assume in those designs there would be the pontil mark you can see in my photo. The glass body has the look, feel and heft of Ikora.

All that said, I'm still not sure my attribution is correct. Any thoughts?

[chopin-liszt]

I think it's right. The colours are produced using silver salts, and I had a charger which dated to the '30s, with a different design but also no foot and an odd pontil scar.
You can see from my pics that the greyish milky colour appears with reflected light on the base, but you get rich browns and reds when back-lit. Like yours.
I wonder if the unusual features might be because they are a bit older and standards were less developed?

[Ivo]

absolutely.

[Cranesbill]

Thank you, Sue and Ivo.

I like your charger, Sue. I've often wondered whether I might come across the more unusual patterns and decorations one can see in the WMF book. Your point about the likely age of my bowl is interesting; there was certainly a great deal of early practical experimentation.

[chopin-liszt]

  I bought it, suspecting it might be Mdina - a very, very long time ago.
It was Rocco who told me it was actually '30s WMF. 

[Cranesbill]

Interesting! I'm sure the Ikora line (especially those chunky, colourful vases I long to find!) must have influenced some of the early studio artists.