Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: Jazzy_d on October 26, 2015, 07:06:48 AM
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Hello
Please see attached images of a decorative glass bottle with stopper that we are trying to identify.
There are two dragonflies in grass around the bottle. It is purple in color.
Any help anyone can provide would be most appreciated.
Thank you.
Allan
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We are arguing over where we have seen these before (in Australia, possibly in a gallery or other retail outfit). Can we see a close-up photo of the bottom of the bottle, please, preferably taken on an angle so the texture shows?
Trevor
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Hi Trevor
Thanks for your response.
Please see image of base as requested.
The size of the bottle is 21cms with the stopper, 9cms without stopper, and 8cms diameter at thickest.
I'm not really sure what the purpose of the bottle is - I assumed decorative, but other than that, perhaps perfume?
Appreciate your time, thank you.
Kind regards
Allan
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It would be called a 'perfume bottle' or 'scent bottle' although the purpose is mostly or entirely decorative. See my blog article on decorative glass perfume bottles (link below).
There is writing on the base, although it is none too clear in the photo. It looks like it says 'Stephen Morris' - and perhaps some other stuff as well. What do you think?
The noted Australian glassblower Stephen Morris has produced some highly varied output, and this item is well within his scope although the particular design is not one I would identify with him. He has a website, so if on a closer inspection you agree with the possible identification, you might ask him.
http://www.stephenmorrisglassware.com.au
Trevor
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Hi Trevor.
Thanks for your response.
I have seen those markings on the base of the bottle and I could not work out what they were. They're not very clear unfortunately.
I looked at the studio glass website you mentioned and agree that they are a bit different to the style we have here, but perhaps this was produced at an earlier stage or something. I'm not really sure. It is difficult to say.
Thanks so much again for your time.
Allan
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Can you produce a larger photograph of the signature please? but still in focus, so it blows up much bigger on the screen?
That bottle is done in cameo with the dragon fly carved into the glass. Hopefully you'll be able to find the maker as I'm not sure there are that many doing cameo work.
Thanks
m
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see my post above - am thinking it's similar to a Sarah Cowans piece for Okra that I had, with the iridescent layer on the outside and sand blasted cameo work. But the pontil mark is a little odd I think.
However if you look up Sarah Cowans Okra this does come up
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/17781641_an-okra-cameo-glass-vase-and-a-black-glass-bottle
it has 'some' similarities.
This link shows my paperweight. Sorry I didn't have a pic of the base but I think it was ground completely flat. No pontil mark or scar on show at all.
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,39471.msg218679.html#msg218679
m
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Thanks M.
I am working on producing a better photo of the base and signature. I am going to use my digital camera and macro lens. Scaling it down to the required size for posting on the notice board will be (and has been) problematic but I will see how it goes. To be honest, I'm not expecting to see too much. One lot of markings look like cursive scratchings (I was not even sure if it was a deliberate marking/signature or just random scratching) while the other lot of markings look more deliberate and I can make out letters but they don't mean much to me. I will see what I can produce. It may take a while.
I agree with you, it does seem to be cameo work. The pontil I thought was odd as well. My limited amount of research suggests you can age a bottle by its pontil, but I don't know what to make of this one. Do you have any ideas?
Would the iridescence be a modern technique? And the engraving on the wings, I guess they could be hand done but a machine would have been much easier perhaps to maintain that same consistency and depth.
Thanks for your time. I'll have a look at the images you suggested and post another photo as soon as I can.
Allan
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reduce your photos by amending the pixels to 600 x 400. That should leave the detail fine but allow you to get within 125 kb for posting.
It is I would say definitely contemporary - last 20 years or so perhaps younger.
difficult to tell but no, I'd say you can't age this one based on the pontil mark. Studios did leave them unpolished although I would have thought on a cameo, that the mark would have been eradicated somehow.
Cameo work comes out of a few studios/,makers, not many do it. It's specialised, takes time and costs money.
There is also work that comes out of Japan as well as the countries which more easily come to mind such as Australia, GB, USA etc. and probably many others as well. But as far as I know only a few studios/makers specialise in it.
The only sticking point is the pontil mark because it would normally be finished flat or finished somehow as far as I have seen. But I have seen blown studio glass finished like that. It does look as though it has been polished but I think the scar where the pontil rod was broken off was too deep to grind the pontil mark any more without damaging the glass piece.
It's a lovely bottle.
m
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Hi M
I have uploaded one of the sets of marks. These are the ones that look deliberate to me. The first letter possibly looks like a D while the fourth looks like a W. The second and third, well I'm not sure, F and P's? And I think possibly a fifth, which could be an I.
I will try to upload the other marks as well.
Thanks
Allan
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Allan, you have us intrigued now.
Here is a suggestion that might help to bring out the slight engraving on the dark coloured ground base. Rub a stick of chalk over the surface, lightly enough so not much of it goes into the engraving. The example in the photos shows the result, although here the engraving is possibly deeper than in your case.
Incidentally, my example is by the noted West Australian artist Alan Fox. It shares the characteristic of yours that the pontil scar is only partly removed by the base grinding. Unlike yours, it is not cameo work, but nevertheless it is a fairly refined piece from a major glass artist. I expect the image on yours is cut by sandblasting.
Trevor
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Me again.
I'm guessing the image in Reply #9 says DRAGONFLY. The other scratching is probably the artist's signature.
Trevor
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That's a great idea. I tried water, but that wasn't working well. Chalk is an excellent idea.
I'll have to buy some though, so I will do that and try it again. Might take some time, but there's no major rush.
Thanks!
Allan
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Thanks Trevor. I'll try the chalk and see whether that makes it any clearer.
Appreciate the input.
Allan
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I would be a little careful with chalk if the writing isn't that deep :-[
Will Shakspeare does glass like this (I don't mean cameo, I mean dark glass with a finely ground base) with bases like this and his signature is often so faint that most people miss it. It's only if you know his work and know it's there that you can spot it. The scratched mark might disappear if it's chalked over and then washed off maybe? Or perhaps not.. but I'd be careful.
m
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Hi
Well I tried the chalk, and it would work well I imagine, ordinarily, but the markings are very shallow. I will upload two images. One is the chalk over the lettering, which looks like DFPMI, or DPPMI (it doesn't look long enough for Dragonfly I'm afraid). The other image is the cursive scratching - I say scratching because I struggle to make anything of it to be honest. The clearest section is the "end" (assuming I am looking at it the correct way up), which looks like a couple of eyes, or dots, above something that could be a word ending in something like a cursive "g" or "y". Could it be a symbol instead? Maybe Japanese? I tried chalk on this bit, but it was not deep enough I am afraid. I could post what I shot, but it is not clear sorry.
Many thanks
Allan
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Hi Allan. This is progress.
I agree my guess of "Dragonfly" does not look right.
It would be worthwhile having another go at photographing the cursive signature (for that is what I think it is). Use the same kind of angled posture into the light without using flash, as in your first attempt at the base in Reply #2. This time use the close-up setting on the camera and the good enlargement proportions as in these recent shots.
Trevor
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You could also try using talc shaken over the base (after initial cleaning), such that the talc fills the shallows lines. Then gently wipe the talc of the base with something flat so that the lines are left with the talc.
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I would suggest it is by Tony Hanning - who used to make dragonflies and moths by etching. I notice he is making them again, recently. Attached are two photos of my moth vase - notice it too is blown by Stephen Morris.
Ross
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I think Ross is right! The identification with Tony Hanning fits with our (rather imperfect) recollection of what we saw in a gallery, and the dragonfly is an image he has used. The precise carving by sandblasting is his trademark, too. I now think the faint signature on the original piece of this thread is indeed Hanning's. (In that case, the coincidence between my guess of the sig and the maker of the blank for Ross's bowl is just that - coincidence.)
Here's another example of Tony Hanning's sig (from 1988 and on a blank blown by Richard Morrell). Apart from Hanning's tendency to give his "exhibition" works strange monosyllabic names, there are some other mysterious letters D.J.S.C. 7.11. I believe this inscription relates to the gallery where it was exhibited, on the seventh floor of the David Jones department store on Elizabeth Street in Sydney, which operated as a fine art gallery from the late 1920s until the early 1990s. Towards the end of the period the emphasis of the gallery became more high-end Australian crafts rather than international fine art. The gallery hosted several exhibitions in association with the Crafts Council of Australia in the 1980s.
That's a long-winded way of saying that the letters on your bottle may indicate the retail outlet to which it was consigned.
As I said in an earlier post, I can't recall where we saw a bottle like yours, but almost certainly it was within the last five years and in a gallery-type retail outlet. I have no recollection of the price, but it was clearly high enough to prevent me buying it. Your bottle is likely to be quite valuable - multiple 100s of dollars, rather than 1,000s, though.
Trevor
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Tony Hanning for sure. Look at this site - the smaller pieces. http://www.tonyhanning.com/smaller-pieces.html
If you contact him at https://www.facebook.com/DrTonyHanningArtistTutor/
He will probably confirm it and may be able to shed light on the other marks, etc. I have met him and he seems most approachable.
Ross
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I'd really like to thank everyone for their help here. I didn't see any of the recent replies, and coincidentally walked into an art glass store at Federation Square in Melbourne, and lo and behold, there was some Tony Hanning glass there for sale, and those items were in a very similar style, with reeds but other figures (not dragonflies), and they were larger, about 21cms in height I think, and about $1800, so I would tend to agree with Trevor's guess as to value. Tony Hanning for sure. Thanks everyone!
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Thanks for reporting back to the Board.
There is a photo of a bottle just like yours on page 367 of the book described below. This one is in translucent purple and described as 28cm high including a stopper that looks even taller than the one in your photo. It is called simply "Dragonflies" by Tony Hanning.
The book was published 23 years ago, so it is possible your bottle dates from then.
An interesting residual question is: Who made the blank? That is probably too arcane a question for all but the most diehard collector. Ross, any thoughts?
Artfile: a source book of Australian contemporary artists with over 900 illustrations in colour
Editor: Ken Lockwood.
Published: Sydney, Craft Arts International, 1992.
Trevor
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Given it is not blue - a colour strongly favoured by Stephen Morris in the distant past, it may not be by him. If you want to send Stephen an email try smglass@dodo.com.au or call him on mobile 0439 615 243(Australian) and he may be able to confirm or deny being the blower of the form. It would be best to email him with the photos. Tony Hanning has dragonfly vases in the Town & Country Gallery, Yarragon, VIC at present.
Ross