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Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: melbryan on March 07, 2015, 12:47:20 PM

Title: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: melbryan on March 07, 2015, 12:47:20 PM
I have just bought this cased glass blown vase with ground out pontil approx 11" tall it has a seaweed green swirl, brickwork type hand faceted blasted. Cannot find it anywhere. Help please. Please excuse the colour cast it is kingfisher blue.
Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: Paul S. on March 07, 2015, 01:43:50 PM
hi - welcome to the GMB :)     

Regret to say I don't recognize your vase - although hope someone might know its origin.      Not all glass is 'findable', in the sense that the internet has a picture of every piece ever made - had it occurred to  you that this might not in fact be by any of the three names you mention  -  a lot of blue glass is made throughout Europe.
W/Fs did produce a 'Kingfisher blue', although don't believe the other two houses did - but have a feeling this piece isn't from W/Fs.........     we have folk here who will know for sure, but in the meantime you might try the W/Fs. on line catalogue.

Date wise this might be later than 1960's

Try this recent link  ....   http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,59276.msg335282.html#msg335282
where Anne (Mod) discussed what looks to be a similar surface finish to yours, which is called battuto (or hammered effect.

best of luck. :)



Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: johnphilip on March 07, 2015, 02:03:44 PM
I had a very large Dartington studio vase with a battuto panel . it also had a label .
Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: Paul S. on March 07, 2015, 04:31:56 PM
and they did of course do a kingfisher blue, as I should have remembered :-[       So label only then John and no backstamp.
Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: chopin-liszt on March 07, 2015, 04:34:02 PM
It is absolutely not Mdina.
There is a lot of very good quality contemporary Batutto work coming from both India and Germany just now, which can often be purchased very cheaply from TKMaxx.
Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: melbryan on March 08, 2015, 06:45:03 PM
Thank you everyone. It is definitely Battuto, and is also hand made, each section you can see the grinding marks. As it has some age, plenty of foot wear I can presume it is Murano but not Venini. Unless anyone knows better of course.
Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: Lustrousstone on March 08, 2015, 07:07:59 PM
Battuto has to be handmade because of its very nature.
Quote
I can presume it is Murano
That's a bit of a leap of faith. What's it based on?
Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: melbryan on March 08, 2015, 07:38:01 PM
Well, I have ruled out Whitefriars as I have been through their catalogue, and what people have told me and what I have read from other threads Murano is the most likely. I have found an identiclal but red example on another thread and someone suggests it is Murano despite the ground pontil. I have been non stop searching the web and books to no other avail.
Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: Lustrousstone on March 08, 2015, 07:53:29 PM
Numerous glass makers use/used the batutto technique, but it was never going to be Whitefriars because they didn't. I'm assuming you mean unpolished when you say ground pontil mark
Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: johnphilip on March 11, 2015, 09:04:53 AM
Yes Paul label only .
Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: Pinkspoons on March 11, 2015, 12:29:56 PM
I strongly suspect it came over in a Chinese shipping container within the last 5 years. The battuto cutting is rudimentary, and the base appears to be quite rough.

That said, Whitefriars did experiment with battuto in the 1970s. I've had an otherwise boring green 9571 vase decorated densely with hundreds of very small polished battuto cuts - it looked ridiculously stunning.
Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: melbryan on March 11, 2015, 06:06:43 PM
Thank you for the response, I have been able to trace the vase back to the 60/70s as well as the footwear and layers of paint splatters I have removed with consecutive redecorations. I have seen another in red ,the same red as Dartington used. It has been suggested it could be part of their "innovative" range.
Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: Lustrousstone on March 11, 2015, 08:22:39 PM
Dartington production is extremely well documented for the Frank Thrower period 1967-1987 and there is nothing like this from then. I would also expect the cutting to be better quality and the base properly finished.
Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: chopin-liszt on March 11, 2015, 08:46:43 PM
The Dartington range mentioned is called "Innovate". It came after the (very expensive to produce, using top quality materials and emulating much older styles) and short-lived "Studio" range.
It's really very recent.

there's a thread I found here;
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,38062.0/nowap.html

and this link shows a few bits of Innovate
http://www.chinaetc.co.uk/dartington/innovate.asp

I'm afraid I'm still convinced the OP's piece is far eastern and very recent, not neccessarily China, quite possibly India, for Battutto.

It's perfectly feasible for a recent bit of glass to succeed in getting spots of paint all over it and it doesn't take that long for dirt or scratches to accummulate. It all depends on what happened to it and how well it is looked after.
Title: Re: Whitefrirs Dartington Mdina ? Multi faceted 1960s Kingfisher blue vase
Post by: Pinkspoons on March 11, 2015, 11:13:47 PM
The bulk of the battuto of this ilk that I've seen in department/discount shops has been of Chinese origin - but Indian wouldn't be terribly surprising.