Posted 3 years ago
IronLace
(879 items)
The most commonly found glass hand vases tend to be made from opaque white (milk) glass. One way of making them stand out was to add painted decoration of various types.
Photos 1 & 2 show a milk glass hand vase with particularly unusual & outlandish decoration - I call it the "tattoo" hand vase. If you look closely at it, you might notice a ragged mould "fin" extending down from the thumb to the base. This was not high quality item by any means...but the elaborate, all - over decoration lifts it above its humble status. An acquired taste, I suppose, but I like it a lot.
Photo 3 shows a well - documented design by Portieux - Vallerysthal. The hand is painted in a pale "flesh tone", & the cornucopia, a deep cobalt, plus touches of gilding. This vase displays a nice crisp form from the mould unlike the first one.
Photo 4 shows another milk glass vase with painted details in green & dark blue. The hand has a slight pinkish tone within the glass itself, rather than from paint.
The “tattoo” vase is a real standout! It makes me think of a really fancy glove. :^)
Many thanks, Patricia!
Very unusual and beautiful!
Thanks also, vintagelamp!
Hey, IronLace, your tattoo hand vase is a witness to your connoisseurship abilities. It is true that the mold seams appear on the glass, but by no means the vase is an inferior specimen. These were produced in mid 19th. C. by Saint Petersburg Imperial Glass Factory, for the Middle Eastern markets. Traditionally in those lands the brides hands were embellished with henna designs on wedding day. The vase being a marriage vase, depicts the embellished bridal hand holding the cornucopia. Yours Truly. Frank
Many thanks, Frank, that is really interesting information!
Fascinating to think how such an item would find its way to Australia, perhaps in the suitcase of one of the many post-war migrants that came from all over the world in the mid 20th century...