Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: NevB on April 14, 2020, 11:18:17 AM
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To carry on from Legsy's post this is a pair of 8" vases I bought a while ago. I say they are a pair but one weighs 1lb. 1oz. and the other 2lb 5oz. I think they are probably acid-etched or possibly sand-blasted, apparently both methods were used. The inside surface is smooth with a slightly sparkly finish and I've only just noticed a very faint floral decoration around the shoulders. The bottoms have been hand smoothed. As far as I understand it when acid etching wax was used to cover the areas not to be etched. They are actually green and the colour changed from my camera to my computer. I also thought they were probably French, early 20th. century.
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Here's a photo under UV.
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I think they appear 'sparkly' because the opaline has very tiny bubbles in it :)
Can't offer more about period but is there a large polished pontil mark on the base or is that just the effect of the photograph?
Strange to be such a vast difference in weight though- one is twice the weight of the other. Would that be accounted for by being blown more thinly?
m
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Hello flying free, the sparkly effect is made up of flecks almost like aventurine glass. It hasn't got a ground pontil, it looks like it's just been smoothed flat while still hot. The difference in weight is purely, as you say, down to the fact they are hand blown to a different thickness. I also have a "pair" of smaller vases which weigh 102gms. and 135gms!
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Perhaps mica then?
Then kind of look a bit like hyacinth vases with the cupped top.
m
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Wasn't there a fashion for finishes like that around the mid 1800s too?
Would be big for hyacinths generally.
John
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yes, and it's beautifully finished at the rim, cut, bevelled and polished. I don't think they are French. I think they might be Bohemian.
m
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That would fit.
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I think the sparkle is perhaps just the crystalline structure of the glass. This type of glass was first produced in the mid 1800's but seems to be of a finer quality, these just look later to me. I've added a photo of my 14cm. vases which I think are earlier and possibly French or Bohemian. The larger vases may well be Bohemian too but I've not seen anything similar anywhere.
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oh ok, I see what you mean. No mica then. I have a large blue opaline vase (enamelled) and have never pinned it down. The vase is substantial and thick and has a beautifully finished rim like your vases.
Can you take a photograph side on from a bit of a distance so it shows the profile of the vases please?
And are they very green, not at all blue? Is it just your camera reading them as turquoise?
The pattern around the rim would have been enamelled I suspect and that has worn off. I think it has possibly left the remains of whatever they used as an 'undercoat' pattern to ensure the enamel adhered and went 'off' properly however it was finished (i.e. it might have been hot finished enamel).
Are you sure the pattern is floral? It looks like rhythmic swirls to me maybe? A bit 'Etruscan' in design?
m
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and the bottom pair which are enamelled/gilded might be from somewhere like Josephinenhutte maybe ? Harrach or Schachtenbach are other possibilities.
A becher here in a green and with similar enamelling as an example:
https://www.dorotheum.com/en/l/5621105/
and another here with similar enamelling:
https://www.catawiki.com/l/19988805-franz-pohl-arthur-gerlach-workshop-graflich-schaffgotsch-sche-josephinenhutte-schachtenbach-alabaster-glass-carafe-with-burnish-gold-and-glass-stones-bohemia-ca-1860
I don't know if the maker reference are correct but they are two examples of Bohemian glass around the 1860/70 period with that type of enamelling.
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Here's a photo of one vase taken on my phone which shows the colour better I hope. Yes the pattern on them is swirls rather than floral and having had a look online definitely classical Greek in style. I've seen very similarly decorated vases like the bottom pair online attributed as being French, possibly even Baccarat, or as Bohemian. I've even seen some for sale in Finland which came out of Russia and are said to be Russian made. Considering the influence French culture had with in the Russian royal court in the late 1800's I think it's much more likely they were French.
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This is a very long thread but I have posted a huge amount of information on the topic of Etruscan style vases in opaline on it.
https://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,53085.msg301507.html#msg301507