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Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: WhatHo! on August 11, 2010, 12:14:29 PM

Title: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: WhatHo! on August 11, 2010, 12:14:29 PM
Hi, could any one help me with this bowl please.
It looks very well made, hand-formed (possibly) and 10.5" x 7". Its is in the form of a open clam? shell which has blues, greens and gold iridescence on the hinge side graduating into pink then pearly white. The underside is cased green, is polished flat and has a little bit of the pontil remaining.
It looks like something good to me but I've no idea what! tia Wolfie
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: Max on August 11, 2010, 04:37:12 PM
I must say, I've seen a lot of glass in my time and I've never seen one of those before!   :o
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: Sue C on August 11, 2010, 06:20:21 PM
Reminds me of a sting ray but without the tail, but where have i seen that little bottom before??
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: dirk. on August 11, 2010, 08:11:53 PM
No idea really, but - perhaps a relative of the common makora clam?  :-\
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: astrid on August 11, 2010, 09:05:13 PM
No idea really, but - perhaps a relative of the common makora clam?  :-\

To me as well it looks very Polish in style. Especially since they're very fond of these big type shell type bowls in multiple colours.... Whether it is Makora, Jozephina or another Polish company I can't say.

Astrid
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: Sue C on August 11, 2010, 09:39:03 PM
I have to agree, try this as your first step www.makora.com
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: Anik R on August 12, 2010, 04:26:22 AM
Having said in a previous thread that contemporary Polish glass is underratted, I'm strongly hoping this bowl is NOT Polish   :spls:  (No offence, Wolfie  :kissy:)

In all honesty, I don't think this has got a Polish feel to it...  granted, Polish glassmakers do seem to like using many colours, and the 'shell' is a popular form, I still don't think it hails from my end of the world. 

 :huh:
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: astrid on August 12, 2010, 06:09:51 AM
Sorry Anik if I in any way suggested something negative to you about Polish glass... I personally think some of the current handmade Polish glass is beautiful and quite underrated.

But if this is contemporary and handmade, the first two countries I would think of that have both the glassmaking skill and the love of bright colours necessary to make this - Poland and China. The pontil mark, I have to add, also looks very much like the pontil mark on a vase I have and strongly believe is Polish. I'll add it here for comparison (if anyone feels my vase plus pontil mark isn't Polish, please further my education!).

Wolfie, in this thread there were a lot of Polish glass works mentioned, you might want to search through there just in case it is Polish:

http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,33421.msg181100.html#msg181100

I don't know if we have references for the better quality Chinese factories?

Astrid
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: Anik R on August 12, 2010, 06:53:18 AM
Sorry Anik if I in any way suggested something negative to you about Polish glass...

Not at all, Astrid!  :kissy:
I was just making the point that Wolfie's shell/clam bowl is just so, eh, mmm, "original" and, er, "different" that after going on about the wonders and beauty of Polish glass in a different thread, I was kind of hoping this, uumm, "special" bowl does not turn out to be Polish as it would (IMHO) contradict what I said previously.
 :pb:

(Wolfie, please don't take offence... we've all got different tastes  :kissy: :kissy: :kissy:)
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: astrid on August 12, 2010, 07:42:26 AM
Ah, Anik, you never know what people will say about that in a few decades time or even now... our current senses are perhaps so tuned to the subtle and the modest colouring, that we have more trouble appreciating anything that stands out so much. Good quality workmanship and designs that are typical for its time period will be collectibles of the future, I'm told countless time on TV bij antique programs.

Maybe we live in colourful times, and haven't noticed it yet... I remember being rather surprised when I saw in the program "Cracking Antiques" that if you cover a deer skull with antlers in gold foil and paint the background bright red it's considered to be rather fashionable in Great Brittain at this moment. That sort of interior decorating can certainly do with some in-your-face bits of glass!

Astrid
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: Lustrousstone on August 12, 2010, 07:59:59 AM
Quote
I remember being rather surprised when I saw in the program "Cracking Antiques" that if you cover a deer skull with antlers in gold foil and paint the background bright red it's considered to be rather fashionable in Great Brittain at this moment.

I think much of Great Britain would disagree with that statement  :24: :24:
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: glassobsessed on August 12, 2010, 08:23:20 AM
Christine is right.

To look fantastic it should of course be silver foil..... ;D

John
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: Anik R on August 12, 2010, 09:06:00 AM
 :24: :24: :24:

Astrid, I've also wondered about the Briton's home-decorating tastes and what is considered 'fashionable' -- I just don't get how a person can take a perfectly respectable lampshade, stick plumes to it, and think it looks better than it did originally  :spls:.  And when it comes to colour, I'm a bit of a colour-phobe -- I only wear black (and when I'm feeling wild, dark brown)...  the interior of my home is in shades of white, cream, beige and brown.  I had a nervous breakdown one month ago when my husband insisted on painting our bedroom walls pale blue  :thud:.   Britons seem to like bright colours on their walls.


But, before I'm accused of going off subject, let me get back to the bowl... 

Though the style may certainly be reminiscent of Polish glass, I do not recall seeing iridescence used on any contemporary pieces.  That alone makes me doubt its 'Polishness'.  (Now I'm sure someone will prove me wrong by sending a link, but I'm used to being wrong, so it's OK  :usd:)
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: chopin-liszt on August 15, 2010, 05:13:49 PM
Oh dear, Anik! - i think white, beige (eeeeek!) and brown would give me a nervous breakdown.
(just the thought sent my to my bedroom for relief - orange and deep purple with patches of various deep pinks and yellow on the walls, midnight blue and petrol green ceiling, bit of gold glittery border stuff - the theme is sunset)

I found this thing on ebay today, wondered if it might be related to the thing in question.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CARL-RADKE-PHOENIX-STUDIO-ART-GLASS-SHELL-BOWL-83-1-/110544861469?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: Anik R on August 15, 2010, 06:42:07 PM
Quote from: chopin-liszt link=topic=he35417.msg192450#msg192450 date=1281892429
...just the thought sent my to my bedroom for relief - orange and deep purple with patches of various deep pinks and yellow on the walls, midnight blue and petrol green ceiling, bit of gold glittery border stuff - the theme is sunset

Oh lordy, lordy, Sue  :thud:!  Such a room would send me running for the hills in a hysterical fit...  orange, purple, pink, yellow, blue and green???  And all in one room?  And I thought my husband was acting freakish by painting my perfectly lovely white bedroom a lady-panty-shade of blue.  :wsh:


Now, very cleverly keeping this thread on the topic of the shell/bowl, I wonder if anyone will recognize the maker?  The shell in your link doesn't quite strike me as a relative of Wolfie's piece -- it (the one in the link above) looks much more refined and delicate. 
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: chopin-liszt on August 15, 2010, 07:25:30 PM
 :ha:
My bedroom is very cosy!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/bedroomart.jpg

Sorry the shells seem to be very different - it's hard to tell on my monitor, because everything's washed out.
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: Anik R on August 15, 2010, 07:42:30 PM
Sorry the shells seem to be very different - it's hard to tell on my monitor, because everything's washed out.

... must be due to all those crazy colours bouncing off your walls and hitting the screen  :24: :24:
(Just teasing, Sue...  :kissy: :kissy: :kissy:)
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: Cathy B on August 17, 2010, 03:38:57 AM
Oh dear, Anik! - i think white, beige (eeeeek!) and brown would give me a nervous breakdown.
(just the thought sent my to my bedroom for relief - orange and deep purple with patches of various deep pinks and yellow on the walls, midnight blue and petrol green ceiling, bit of gold glittery border stuff - the theme is sunset)


:hug: Give me colour any day...

We're in the process of getting our house altered (expanding to fit more glass room for the kids) but there are issues with the architect. She keeps suggesting greys as being 'nice and neutral', a phrase I think is an oxymoron, and she almost went into paroxisms when I said I wanted our bathroom to be art deco...
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: WhatHo! on November 12, 2010, 05:53:26 PM
What Ho! To get back on topic!!! Do we think this a similar example?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Gorgeous-Murano-Glass-Bowl-Plum-Opalescent-w-Orig-Label-/220694005606?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3362634766
Title: Re: Iridescent shell bowl
Post by: Cathy B on November 13, 2010, 05:13:35 AM
I think they're quite different because the ebay piece is opalescent (and thus slightly transparent - which ironically is hard to see because of the white background), whereas yours is opaque with a turquoise underside, and of course has that irridescent effect.