Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: David E on January 25, 2008, 03:24:40 PM
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Can anyone help ID this magnificent vase. I am thinking it may be Webb Corbett, and possible designers Irene Stevens or David Queensbury, but my knowledge is a bit thin in this area!
Has five vertical lines, with drape cuts around each side and a star-cut base. The scalloped cut rim might provide a clue. Approximately 10-in. (25cm) high and 2.6kg in weight.
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Hi David Nigel is probably the one you need but maybe he has gone into hibernation.
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Looks a bit too traditional for the designs Queensbury did for Webb Corbett.
In 1963 Webb Corbett commissioned a range of decorative cut glass from David Queensbury, professor of ceramics at the Royal College of Art and one of the leading industrial art designers of his day. The company wanted something that was ‘essentially modern’ but which would ‘extend rather than break with tradition.’ This was a difficult brief for, as Queensbury said, ‘all the qualities of sparkle and intimacy expected of cut glass seem to be in opposiiton to the current demand for simplicity of line.’ Queensbury designed four basic patterns which he called: Random, Harlequin, Diadem and Mitre. On the strength of this, Webb Corbett commissioned another cut range from Queensbury in 1965 which included the Domino, Soliloquy and Cascade patterns.
Glassmakers of Stourbridge and Dudley 1612-2002: A Biographical History of a Once Great Industry, Jason Ellis
Pictures of Queensway at http://www.stylendesign.co.uk/guidepages/estoz4.html (http://www.stylendesign.co.uk/guidepages/estoz4.html) and Random and Harlequin at http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/ (http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/).
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Thanks JP, I'll bump it up next time he's around.
Heidi, I tend to agree. His designs were quite different to the traditional. Still a very nice piece though.
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Farquharson(ish) but perhaps a bit to strong. :huh:
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Could be, but that would date it pre-war I think? Seems a bit later to me, but I really am no expert.
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David, the scalloped edge seems to figure in a lot of designes ie:- cut, i have it on Stewart, Edinburgh, the lieth piece and also Webb?? how do we disdinguish the scallops please ???
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I had the thought of E&L too. But mine are all packed away ::)
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David, the scalloped edge seems to figure in a lot of designes ie:- cut, i have it on Stewart, Edinburgh, the lieth piece and also Webb?? how do we disdinguish the scallops please ???
It might only be possible when examined closely, but the simplistic 'drape' cut style should identify it. My feeling is still toward a Stourbridge maker, due to the locality.
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I recently bought a bowl and plate (from Nigel - where IS he when you need him?! ::)) with similar 'drape' cutting, although the edge is plain, not scalloped. From above, the cutting looks like a spider web! It's marked 'Stuart England'. Nigel was going to look up any info he had about it for me, but as you say John, he seems to be hibernating!
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Oooh, that looks close! :)
Nine panels of 'drapes', but it has the same double line at the top.
Is it worth counting the cuts on the star base? The vase has 20.
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Bowl has 32, plate has 22!
:huh: ::)
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There is a Stuart drapey pattern reputedly by Kny, but it's not the same. Would Whitefriars be a contender? Can you bear to go through all the cut glass pages?!
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Star base no clue then! I suppose the base diameter would determine the number of cuts.
I did think about WF, but Max wasn't that sure (having one herself). Thanks, I'll check it later though.
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Went through the Replacements book for breakfast - it is not a stemware design, at least not showing there.
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I did think about WF, but Max wasn't that sure (having one herself). Thanks, I'll check it later though.
Why not stick on wf.com? Might as well give it a good airing, never know, someone might recognise it even if not wf. :)
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Hello,
Out of hibernation - well actually back from a prolonged stay down at Mum's. Kept thinking I'd get away only to delay another day, and another, and anoth..... well, you get the picture.
I have looked this up in the catalogues I have and found two similar items that conform with the suggestion of Webb Corbett. However, both vases, pattern nos 405 (shown on page 29, item 153 of "Art Deco to Post-Modernism" catalogue) and 481 were available as 9" or 11"; both are the same shape and have the scalloped rim; 405 also has the same horizontal mitre cut band just below the rim.
Certainly not David Queensberry, but don't forget Len Green and David Smith also produced designs for WC post war. Len Green's work is, on the whole a tad pedestrian and traditional. Whilst both he and Smith worked with Irene Stevens, Smith's experimental work with Stevens gave him an insight into design that Green, perhaps, lacked. That said all three were obliged by the management to produce designs that were traditional, which was the bulk of the companies production - just as with other cut glass producers. The quality and scarcity of these items is why I believe these Art Cut pieces are so important as a collecting area.
Sorry, not conclusive, but it may suggest WC is the right area to research further.
Nigel
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Many thanks, Nigel. These deep-cut 'Art' pieces are indeed very impressive and something I do look out for. My contact has a few other pieces, which I will post over time.
I'll explore the WC route, although I can confirm the size is exactly 25cm (just short of 10-inches)