Posted 10 years ago
VioletOrange
(150 items)
I joined CW just a few months ago and, although I have been a collector of art glass/art pottery for decades, I think I have already learned some new things and now try to think beyond just "that's beautiful" - although sometimes it is easy to not only "not see the forest for the trees" but actually "get into the bark of the trees". That certainly is valuable but comparisons can be made on other levels as well - especially by folks in the "it's pretty" crowd - like me.
These pieces range from six to eleven inches in height.
I had several thought in mind when I put this grouping together:
- Three examples of Spangle Glass
- Thanks to Leah I now understand that the basket is Bohemian, circa 1900 or so (Butler Brothers catalog)
- The absolutely identical decor of the large vase makes it almost certainly by the same maker/same time frame.
- I have learned here that the "trophy" vase is a contemporary of the other two (and possibly made for decades more?)
- Thus we have three late Victorian or perhaps more aptly described as three "Art Nouveau" examples.
- Great contrasts in shapes and size create different levels of appreciation among collectors, e.g. is it there are likely less basket collectors or less collectors or "big & clunky" vases or less collectors of the less "Victorian/Art Nouveau" trophy vase shape (you certainly can find more "organic" yet similar forms).
- Can you collect or more importantly display all three types together ?
- All three use mica I believe, but differently - from small granules to larger flakes and when the granules are covered (in green glass in this case) it is called aventurine while when not covered it is simply mica.
- Many people here in the USA and possibly elsewhere would simply think of these as "end of day" glass, made on a whim here in American/their country at the end of the day with remaining unused glass - and not as intentional, creative design produced in quantity.
STUNNING!!
Beautiful !
That shape of the "Trophy" vases has intrigued me some time.
Only a couple of days ago I was searching for a piece that I had on file somewhere of similar shape. It was huge. In one of the Czech museums. An exhibition piece. Glass five foot tall, from memory. No success.
But I did come across some other similar pieces.
From the 1860's.
Exhibition pieces too.
They are called "Alhambra" vases.
http://carltonhobbs.com/portfolio-items/a-monumental-cut-glass-and-gilded-vase-of-alhambra-form-exhibited-by-wilhelm-hoffman-at-the-1862-london-international-exhibition/
"This exceptionally fine and monumental glass vase was exhibited by Herr Wilhelm Hoffmann of Prague at the 1862 London International Exhibition.
It is a 19th-century variation on the “Alhambra Vases” of the 14th and 15th centuries. These Hispano-Moresque wares derived from ancient amphoras and were made for purely decorative purposes to stand in niches probably at the Alhambra in Grenada, to which they owe their name. The original vases, only eight of which survive intact, are impressive in decoration and size (the largest being over 5 feet in height) with a swelling body and large, flat wing-like handle. Figure 1 depicts two large examples of Alhambra vases in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, in a photograph circa 1936. It is interesting to note that in the present vase, in line with the 19th century fondness for eclecticism, the overall “Arabic” form is combined with some decorative elements selected from the Chinese canon of ornament.
Islamic art had been attractive to Europeans at least since the Renaissance and reached a new level of admiration in the 19th century with the rediscovery of Moorish Spain. In 1834 Owen Jones, along with Jules Goury, embarked on a study of the decoration of the Alhambra palace, which Jones completed in 1837 and which depicted an Alhambra vase entitled “La Jarra.” It was in the 1850s that “the Alhambra vases came to be known as embodiment of the beauty of Spanish art. It was in this period too that the large vases with their wing-like handles became important examples for pottery producing companies.”
Alhambra vases were reproduced in various sizes using numerous pottery techniques. This extended to metal, glasswork, and porcelain as well. The Sèvres factory produced two pairs of porcelain vases of Alhambra form, with decoration very close to that on a vase at the Alhambra Palace. One pair, dated 1852, is housed in the Mobilier National, Paris (Inv. GMI.10124/2) while the other, dated 1843-44, was sold at Christie’s New York, 7 June 2012, Lot 52. Despite the number of different models, the vases all shared the common elements of amphora-shaped bodies and large winged handles. The decoration comprises floral, geometric and abstract patterns, much like the Moorish tile decorations in Owen Jones’ illustrations.
In Bohemia, the 19th century was a period of great advancement in decorative glass production. New manufacturing techniques making for brilliantly colored glass were developed, as were a variety of new shapes and improvements in decoration methods such as cutting, engraving, enameling and ceramic “incrustations.”
The present vase was illustrated in J.B. Waring’s “Masterpieces of Industrial Art and Sculpture from the International Exhibition of 1862” (Vol. II, Plate No. 125) (figure 2), labeled as an Austrian ornamental vase by Herr W. Hoffmann. Wilhelm Wenzel Sebastian Hoffmann, born in 1808 in Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic), was a nephew of the famous glassmaker Johann Meyr of Adolfhütte, Bohemia. As of 1837 Hoffmann was a citizen of Prague, where he worked as a glass refiner and retailer. Some time after 1850, he took over the Prague outpost of the famed Harrach Glassworks, which was situated in Neuwelt, in the town of Harrachov, northern Bohemia. Here, Hoffmann traded glass that was made in Neuwelt, cut in his own shop and enameled by the workshop of his brother Karl Hoffmann in Karlsbad. The Harrach glass factory is the oldest working glasshouse in Europe, opened by Count Harrach in 1712. By the mid-1850s Harrach employed approximately 320-350 workers, and their annual output was a staggering 572,000 pounds of finished products, which were decorated in at least 200 refining shops.
Wilhelm Hoffmann is described in the catalog for the Austrian section of the 1862 Exhibition as a “Patented Glass Refiner and Trader to the Imperial Royal Court, Prague and Vienna.”4 He received honorable mention at the London Great Exhibition of 1851 and an honorary medal at the Munich Industrial Exhibition of 1854, and participated in the Paris Exhibition of 1867 and in Vienna in 1873, where he received further acclaim and awards. “All articles of [his] establishment are made, according to [his] own designs, in the glass-houses and then refined by cutting, polishing, painting, gilding or silvering. That manufactory works for inland trade and export, also undertaking works and orders after designs and models sent in.”6 Figure 3 depicts a photograph of Hoffmann’s table at the 1862 Exhibition, by the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company, with the present vase standing in the center.
The Alhambra shape and arabesque-eclectic design of the present vase was reproduced with variations in size and color by Harrach, Hoffmann and various glass refiners in the mid-19th century. A pair of gilded Alhambra-form vases in the Glasmuseum Passau, circa 1850, although smaller and without the base, is decorated with near-identical arabesque designs as the present vase (figure 4). Petr Novosad, director of the Harrach Glassworks (called the Novosad & Son Glassworks today), suggests that the body of the present monumental vase was most probably made in Harrachov, while the handles and decorations were made in Vienna. Unfortunately, the design book that could prove this was lost during a fire that almost destroyed the glass factory in December of 1862."
http://carltonhobbs.com/portfolio-items/a-monumental-cut-glass-and-gilded-vase-of-alhambra-form-exhibited-by-wilhelm-hoffman-at-the-1862-london-international-exhibition/
Check out the photo of two vases from the 1862 exhibition at 'carlton/hobbs'.
Image # 5.
"An illustration from J.B. Waring's "Masterpieces of Industrial Art and Sculpture from the International Exhibition of 1862" Vol II, Plate 105."
I think the piece on the right is the one I was originally searching for. It is still held there, I'm sure. Perhaps someone can help me with a link?
Thanks everyone
vetraio50
Thanks for all the very interesting information
I love this post. Something similar occur to me though we had always bought pieces to learn not only from the piece if not because of the era and place it was done.
I have a basket with the same shape, rim, and handle in a slightly different spatter color, but I have not given it a positive Bohemian attribution. It might indeed be Bohemian, but the examples in the Butler catalogs all either have the standard loop over handle, or a handle with a twist at the top. None have this handle shape. You can't even tell from the catalogs whether they were just spatter, or also spangle. One ad showed a rim that poked out in places, but you really couldn't tell the full rim shape from the ad. Since these baskets were very popular and also made in England and America, I would not be comfortable making an attribution without seeing at least one example with the same shape, rim, and handle in a factory design drawing, ad, or similar.
I appreciate your input ABQCathy.