Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: rocco on April 27, 2013, 05:39:13 PM
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As I am rather hopeful that this piece is from Murano, I am posting my query here:
Pulegoso, a bollicine (or whatever the technique may be called) ashtray, 13 cm long, 7 cm high, weight around 1.1 kg.
Purple cased in a thick layer of very bubbly glass with copper inclusions.
Well finished base with big round circular polished pontil mark, and quite some wear to the stand.
>> This Barbini for VAMSA ashtray (http://www.moltabellaglass.com/items/766981/item766981store.html) has a lot of bubbles, too, and a very similar shape; but that's about how far I got.
Any help highly appreciated as usual!
Thanks
Michael
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The shape of the bowl reminds me of the ashtrays made by Kamei of Japan. The ashtrays were made using a variety of Murano-style techniques. It would be my first guess for your bowl just based on shape.
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Thanks a lot, Anita!
The Kamei glass ashtrays I have seen (and the ones I could find on the web) are rather thin-walled, while mine is thick and heavy. Do you have a link to one of the Kamei pieces you think of?
And would their bases be finished like mine? (The nice big polished pontil mark was the main feature which led me to think Murano, and not Japan or Romania)
Michael
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Have to admit, the same thought occurred to me about Kamei, although yours is much nicer than most I've seen Michael. I've seen the common ones similar to Alrose (bright colour with thick white stripe) that had a large concave polished pontil mark. I've also seen some large chunky ones in a wide variety of patterns, example below:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230556864869
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Thanks Wayne, so Kamei seems to be an option..
Did you ever see any of this bubbly type glass by them?
The design of my ashtray seems a little "rougher" than the Kamei glass pieces I am able to find on the net.
(And thanks Kevin for moving my thread to the main board)
Michael
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I don't think I've seen any with this bubbly effect, no, so it's hard to say 1 way or another. It's a shame there isn't more info around on Kamei, they have made quite a wide variety of glass I think, some of it is very nice, and almost always described as Murano on ebay.
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Thanks again, Wayne!
So I will leave it down as possibly Japanese, but in need of confirmation...
Michael
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The base reminds me of old French paperweights - what is the small round mark in the middle of the base that shows on the photos? is that the pontil mark? so is the base polished slightly concave with a fine rim around it and then the polished pontil mark in the middle? I was just a bit confused because the pontil mark doesn't look overly large to me if that is what it is.
Is it possible to have a photo from the top view to see the indents please?
I always think of Kamei bowls as having more than two indents but I could be wrong, perhaps the smaller ones only have two.
m
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Thank you m for looking into this, very much appreciated.
To answer your questions:
the base has a big polished concave pontil mark, just leaving a stand ring of a few millimeters.
The thing in the middle cannot be felt from the outside, and I would think is some feature from the pontil which couldn't be polished away sufficiently...
Will post a top view when I get home in the evening. The overall shape is rather similar to the Barbini ashtray I linked to in my first post.
Michael
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Here a top view, and a close-up of the "feature" in the centre of the base, which is smooth (the bubbly bits are inside the glass), apart from the margin which feels slightly rough to the touch.
Michael
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Michael,
I can see why the Kamei suggestion was made, and I know that Anita has seen far more of these than I have, but I have some reservations. I've had a a couple of Kamei and they've both had three indentations in the lip. The appearance of the ashtray is almost square, unlike your piece. And I agree with you that the Kamei pieces are thinner-walled than this piece.
Also, like Wayne, I've never seen a Kamei piece with bubbles. Of course, it may be that I wouldn't recognize a piece with bubbles as Kamei, so that's not a strong argument.
I wouldn't suggest Murano as an alternative. The form of the bubbles (small bubbles behind a thinner layer of elongated bubbles) I tend to associate with Chinese glass.
An interesting research project again, Michael.
David
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Thanks, David!
I guess I should stay away from research projects and stick to the stuff I know a little bit about ;D
I would prefer Japanese to Chinese I have to admit...
What confuses me: the piece doesn't look newish to me, and the base is not typical recent Chinese either.
Let' see if my research will bring up something one day.
Michael
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Michael, if the round mark in the middle can be felt slightly then is it possible that is the pontil mark but then that the 'base' of the bowl has been ground and polished into a large (is it slightly concave or totally flat?) base with a foot rim?
With the base ground and polished it would have removed any rough stuff on the ring shaped pontil mark but probably didn't get ground and polished deeply enough to remove the pontil mark entirely.
I don't know enough or see enough Chinese glass so I can't comment on the decor or the base finish, but the base looks very neatly done to me. I'll be interested to see what transpires on this one :) It's pretty.
m
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Michael:
Looking at it again today, especially from the top view, I'd change my vote to Murano.
David
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Thanks m and David!
Yes, it is a concave (polished) base with just a narrow foot rim, so the thing in the centre should be the remains of the pontil mark.
Nice if Murano is still in the running! But if it turns out to be Japanese (or even Chinese) I have at least learned a bit more about glass :)
Michael