Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: Anik R on August 15, 2015, 04:30:54 PM
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Hi :)
I'm hoping someone will be able to help me with a rather odd piece of glass which came my way from the Czech Republic.
I'm not quite sure if it's a vase or a bowl or a candleholder... It's 10cm tall and 12cm wide though the opening is only 6cm. The body is mottled brown with a porous texture and some opalescence. The slug-like handle is clear glass with orangy-red mottling. The base has a neatly ground and polished pontil mark. The piece does show some signs of wear. It weighs 458g.
Does anyone recognise the maker? Is it Czechoslovakian? Is it oldish, or was it made yesterday?
All help greatly appreciated. Thank you for looking,
Anik
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It's much more handsome than you make it sound ;)
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Hee hee ;D I didn't realise I didn't make it sound as handsome as it is. Thank you, Christine.
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I do have to agree, there is some serious design going on there.
It's rather bird-like, with it's red "comb, and bellied-out-but-still-very-elegant shape. :)
Do you think it might have a corroso sort of surface finish, in order to make it pitted?
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Sue, I don't know. (You and 'em fancy glassy technical terms... x).
When you look very closely, the surface is actually lumpy, bumpy and pitted. The glass feels smooth and rough at the same time. Here are a couple close-ups.
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Perhaps a silly suggestion ... but could it be a creamer?
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It definitely looks as if the surface has been treated in some way - the effect is nice and it must be deliberate.
I haven't ever handled corroso myself, but I'll never forget the time here, many years ago, when a lovely chap (who isn't here any more) found a Seguso corroso hippopotamus and posted it here.
I think he eventually sold it for about £4,000! You don't forget that sort of excitement. He wasn't expecting it to ba anything particularly important.
So I'm afraid I really was just using "fancy words". :-[ :-[ :-[
I have a small beige posy vase, which has an illegible signature/mark and a rough but smooth surface, with patches of iridesence inbetween lumpy bits, which also might be corroso, but it doesn't look like yours and isn't nearly such an interesting or well designed thing.
I'd wondered if it would pour liquid myself, Anne!
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unlikely to be a creamer in my opinion. At first glance it appears to have a 'pouring spout/lip' and the overall shape is reminiscent of a creamer or milk jug - but I don't think that is the case since the lip is on the handle side - albeit a very unusual handle, and a shape that might make picking up the piece a problem............ try filling this with water and see if using the 'handle' is workable. The colouring appears similar to tortoishell. My opinion is that there isn't much age to this one. Sorry Anik.
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Ok, it was just a suggestion, I thought that what looks like a handle, actually isn't one and is just part of the design. It wouldn't be very practical, as design in general sometimes can be, and to have the whole thing in your hand when pouring, but they do exist.
Anyway, just explaining my thoughts why I brought it up... not trying to make a point...
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Age is just a number and opinions on age are subjective. ;D
It could be "old" for studio glass and if made in the Czech Republic, might have surprising age (relatively ;) ) for something so modern looking.
The point of studio glass was not always to be functional, it could have been simply designed along the lines of a jug shape.
(I did imagine pouring stuff all over myself while trying to pour from this! :) )
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sorry if I sounded critical Anne, not intended remotely - your suggestion was good in a spontaneous way, and a creamer was my first thought.
As for age - unless something is at least early Victorian I think it's modern Sue ;) ;) :P and of course I know nuffin about modern glass.
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Sorry Paul if I gave you the impression I was cross... please don't think that what you said, to what I said to what you.... God, my head's starting to spin... I didn't get the impression you were critical and I was only explaining my thoughts, that's all ... :-* ... no problems here.
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Thank you for the comments.
Anne, I don't think the piece would work as a creamer -- there seems to be no way of holding the handle without having the piece slip from my grip. (Sue, not only would you have stuff all over you, but you'd have to deal with picking up bits of glass from the floor :'( ) But it was a perfectly good suggestion and I appreciate it.
Paul, no need to be sorry. Though I would prefer to hear it's an older piece, I don't mind if it's newer.
I would really like to know its origin, however.
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While it coming from the Czech republic might indicate an origin there, the overall design and appearance is not inconsistent with the sort of work produced by Kosta Boda. I'm not overly familiar with Kosta, but have seen a fair bit of brand new stuff it in shops when abroad. It is always full of surprises!
But also, having been to the Musueum in Wroclaw, (and having a fabulous book illustrating the ceramics and glass of the 20th century of that museum, Anik ;) ), I'm aware that in Polish glass factories, individual artists got to work and experiment with the hot glass and make studio-like pieces of glass in the early '60s.
I would be surprised if this did not happen in the Czech glass factories too.
I really think this is something rather good, Anik. :)
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I've taken some pics of my little beige thing, which is marked (but I'm clueless who for), to compare the surfaces. I am clueless about the surface on this little thing (I don't even like it) I only bought it because of the peculiar surface and the mark, intending to find out about it later, but have never got around to it. ;D
I think I've managed to capture some of the rainbow iridesence in the second image - it appears inbetween the raised, rough bits.
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Another piece I have with a brown, speckly, pitted surface with a blue iridescent sheen is a goblet in the shape of a foot, by Bjorn Weckstrom. Piccies here. :)
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,50103.msg283203.html#msg283203
My guts appear to be leaning in a Scandinavian direction. But I know so little about Czech glass, and there is so much to learn.
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Thank you, Sue. Your little vase is interesting, especially with the odd surface. I wonder who made it?
I don't think my piece is Scandinavian. My gut is thinking Polish, my heart is hoping Czech. :)
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:)
Czech glass was ignored by collectors for years, until relatively recently. It took books to be written before it "took off".
I'm of the opinion that fabulous Polish glass has still to hit the market - folk, in general, do not have enough confidence in their own opinions to buy it, even if they do like it, and don't yet know don't know enough about it or the designers to prop up their opinions.
I reckon good Polish glass is the stuff to be collecting just now, if you can find any.
Horbowy and Nawrocki pieces are a little thin on the ground! ;D