Posted 2 days ago
IronLace
(1012 items)
I really like these classic Victorian opaline “mantel vases”. I feel that in some ways they get overlooked in the art glass collecting scene. Perhaps because they’re so ubiquitous. I would love to get more, but they are large & unless I get another house (LOL) I’ll restrict myself to the occasional special example of the genre such as this unusual one I picked up at a flea market last weekend.
I spotted it from a way off, just a glimpse of a crimped top in a weird but highly appealing (to me anyway) shade of brown.
Of course it had to come home with me! I was actually thinking to myself on the way to the market that I’d like to find some brown glass…
The vase is made from a single layer of brown opaline glass with painted decoration of a red & yellow flower. It measures 30 cm tall, 11.5 cm across the crimped top rim, & 10.5 cm across the base, which has a rough pontil mark.
The other thing that makes this vase unusual is that crimped top. Although commonly found on most other forms of Victorian glass vases, the mantel vases usually have flat, cut top rims, & sometimes cut crenelated ones.
Most likely. Bohemian origin, late 19th century.








