Posted 7 years ago
IronLace
(917 items)
Inspired by racer4four's recent post about 1930s Japanese glass vases that have a Czech look to them, here are my two examples. These vases were purchased at the same time from a flea market about 12 years ago. The stallholder was selling a variety of Victorian glass from their collection - & I picked up a few other definitely Victorian pieces as well as these oddities. At the time I thought they were possibly later examples of Victorian type glass of Czech origin, but there were odd details about them that just never seemed to fit in with more typical Czech glass of the early 20th century.
As can be seen, the taller vase (16.9 cm tall) is made from two layers of cased glass - a pale pink lining with a white & clear banded opalescent exterior. There is a very simply formed applied flower (more a blob) & stem in blue, & a black applied footed base with a snapped off pontil mark.
The second vase (15.5 cm tall) is made from three layers of cased glass - clear over pink & green aventurine pulled loops, with a white interior. Once again, it has the same black footed base with a rough pontil mark.
Many things about the pastel colours & types of decors (opalescent pattern, applied decoration, pulled loops) suggested a Victorian date, but the black feet threw me off & got me thinking about all the black accents seen on 20s - 30s Tango glass. So for a long time I thought of these as odd Victorian/Tango hybrids.
Now I am feeling fairly sure that their quirky aesthestic is a uniquely Japanese interpretation of Czech glass.
I love the black base’s on these, it really highlights the colours in the rest of the vase...very nice!
Definitely Japanese in shape and execution - super decor! - probably pre-WWII.
Fascinating. I do not know Victorian or Czech glass well but I can see the anomalies in these.
I would trust Artfoot's agreement that these are Japanese, he is good with early Japanese glass. The foot looks a good shape as does the finish. I sorta think only the Japanese would use these colours, particularly that blue.
Thanks for posting!
Many thanks, inky - yes, the black is a bold contrast to the soft pastel colours.
Thanks so much for the confirmation on these, artfoot! I actually knew nothing about Japanese glass at all until I got on board at CW, & it's great to learn more about it, & fascinating to see how European styles were translated in Japan.
Thought these would be of interest, racer...both were found in Sydney so some early Japanese glass did make it to Australia, it seems.
The are definitely quirky, but sit perfectly well with my other Victorian glass.
Interesting colors on these-- the black base had me thinking some sort of tango as well. The colors one on the left looks a lot like a welz decor we have seen in many shapes.
scott
love the first vase in particular reminding me of soft luxurious victorian velvet drapes kissed with soft pink hues subduing my racy mind
just super ironlace !!!!!!!!