Posted 10 years ago
IanBrighton
(573 items)
The term martelé, borrowed from metalworking, means "hammered" and the base metal frog for this has an interesting stylised Art Nouveau flower, parts of which are themselves martelé. Design at the end of the 19th century was looking to most perfectly fuse materials - hence all the mounted vases - and this unimposing vase has taken that to another level for me.
The iron in the frog has sadly left its mark, and the frog will need some TLC if it is to last another 100 years.
It is 9.5cm high x 11cm diameter.
stunning!!
Thanks, Sean.
That is an unusual frog; I haven't seen one quite like it before. It goes so well with the lovely pale green martele, too.
In Wichmann's "Jugendstil Art Nouveau: Floral and Functional Forms", as well as lots of examples across the design field, there are illustrations from the period showing diatoms which remind me of the frog (a circle surrounded by 5 pentagons surrounded by semi-circles). Either that, or a stylised flower.