Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: vanmann on December 31, 2014, 04:02:16 PM
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Any ideas please on maker of this large blue and clear bowl 12 inches diameter x 4 1/2 inches tall. I thought that it was similar colour to a Skrdlovice vase I had but I would have expected the base to be clear rather than blue. This is almost all blue apart from the 4 clear folds
All thoughts appreciated,John
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Looks heavy... looks Chinese. I've had a few heavy (I mean weighty not, like 'heavy - man') Chinese vases pass my way and I'm now (with the kind advice of wiser fellow GMB advisers) trying very hard indeed to avoid them. There are a hell of a lot of 'em to avoid. Fair enough if you know what they are but not so good if you don't. Once you've seen a few (in an antique fair or centre near you, today), the familiar signs do become more and more (and more) apparent. Heavy weight (they must have a lot of spare sand in China), polished flat base, rather clumsy patterns. It's not to say that the Chinese can't make good quality vases 'cos they can, it's just that rather a lot of them are not good quality at all. Watch out for the one's with what appear to be Murano stickers on 'em.
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Oh well, wrong again!! :(
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Is/was the base matte or shiny?
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It's matte, Christine, with quite a lot of wear related scratches
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Well that being the case there's more chance of it not being Chinese - most Chinese glass I've seen doesn't have any, or very much wear on the base.
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The Chinese have been making glass for a long time and wear can occur quite quickly but I think the matte base rules out Czech and Murano
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Any ideas please on maker of this large blue and clear bowl 12 inches diameter x 4 1/2 inches tall. I thought that it was similar colour to a Skrdlovice vase I had but I would have expected the base to be clear rather than blue. This is almost all blue apart from the 4 clear folds
All thoughts appreciated,John
Not sure of the answer, but definitely not Czech.
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So if it is a bit 'hefty' in its weight and proportions, the design is a bit lack lustre, and it has a matte finish to its bottom - even though it has wear marks - chances are it's Chinese. I suppose there's an outside possibility that it's Polish, but that matte bottom is a bad sign. Don't think the Polish go in for matte bottoms. I have, at the moment, at least three vase that I know are Chinese and they all have matte bottoms! Matte bottoms - matte bottoms - matte bottoms... Let's try and not forget the significance of the matte bottom. Of the many vases (at least 100) I currently have, only the Chinese ones have matte bottoms. Do vases from anywhere else have matte bottoms?
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Absolutely and some are very desirable, much studio work (especially American) will have a matt unpolished base.
Stop thinking that a single feature can guide you, start considering the object as a whole, all aspects are important.
John
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What, like the Chinese vases - very smooth and fine matte finish - as if it's been achieved perhaps by using acid? I don't actually know how they do it...
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Bases are like this are ground; the standard and gloss of the finish depends on the fineness of the wheel and whether polishing and grinding are used. Acid base finishing was generally only used on paperweights and then you can see the remains of the pontil mark. Acid is not used so much today as to etch glass it has to be very, very nasty stuff.
This bowl is large and, consequently, heavy but not disproportionate. It's often large as in very tall that may, note the may, be one indicator of a Chinese vase. Disproportion is another feature. But as John says you have to look at it as a whole not just at it base or it's size or it's wear.
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I try to keep an eye on what is available for sale in TKMaxx, loads of Chinese glass there, Mr Turnip. (And Polish - some of it very nice indeed. Also German, Murano and others. It's a real hotch-potch, but very educational with the occassional amazing bargain - I've had some lovely Beranek.)
I'm sure it's where stock for a lot of "antique and vintage sales" comes from. The glass coming from China is improving all the time and I've seen stuff with properly polished shiney bases recently.
But if there's a store near you, just pop in and have a good look and a feel - regularly.
Another thing that can help id Chinese glass is a funny greasy sort of feel to it, along with a strange acetic acidy smell. After holding a piece, your hands will stink. It's a poor quality of cullet that was used for a long time, I'm not sure it's so common in brand new pieces, part of the recent improvements.