Posted 8 years ago
philmac51
(210 items)
So completely out of my comfort zone here!!
This is something I acquired cheaply recently. I remembered when I saw it something about Harrach Revivalist art glass from the 1880s and thought it may have been one of these pieces. So I went back through CW and found a couple of posts. There's a post by Alfredo and an interesting post by Kevin (vetraio50) :
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/22693-my-harrach-etruscan-revival-vase
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/125462-harrachov-historismus-enamel-trasfer-vas
I have never ventured into the world of Harrach glass as it seems overwhelming and the above two posts show very refined pieces. Mine is less so. Interesting all the same.
It's small at just 6" tall and has a neat polished pontil and is generally off white, sort of very light grey and has a kind of eggshell finish. The foot the middle band and the rim are white.
Where's MARTY ????
Phil, could I please see a picture of the base of this vase? Thanks!
...just based on the thought that Baccarat did work like this as well, and the shape is very Baccarat-esque to me. Just curious!
Hi Michelle
New image uploaded.....
Thanks, Phil. Now that, to me, is very much a base in the Baccarat style. The bottom is ground flat, and then there is a perfectly round and deeply ground center. I personally would lean more towards French on this one, now. I just had a new vase arrive two days ago that illustrates this perfectly - I'll put a link here for you to it in just a bit.
Thanks Michelle...
Here, Phil, I just took these so please excuse the lighting: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9646837@N06/29781924000/in/dateposted-public/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/9646837@N06/29781924220/in/dateposted-public/ - this is a documented Baccarat shape, and you can see the base on my latest one. Sometimes the ground pontil is much more shallow and wide, but it does vary. They are really heavy for their size, too. I am not saying for sure that your piece is Baccarat, but I do think it being French is a good possibility.
By the way, I do think your piece is very refined; the figures are beautifully done.
Thanks for all this Michelle, it's very interesting indeed. There is definitely similarity on the base and from what I can tell the surface texture that I can make out on yours is very similar also to mine. I don't think my vase is as refined as you think though, as I'm pretty sure the images are transfers and not painted, which is what first gave me the idea that they may be Harrach , as Harrach used transfer images for some of these revivalist pieces... Also mine is not so heavy, even for it's diminutive size. Thank you so much for the information!!!
Happy to help, Phil. Just to add, I have several Baccarat vases that used transfers; I think it was common in both the Bohemian and French work. They then painted over them in soft colors and often added vegetation details, etc. to add to the hand done appearance. I was a bit surprised when I first came across this, but it appears to be a pretty common thing. :)
Here's a bit on the earlier (1850's) Harrach work:
http://www.glasscollector.net/Blog/glass-notes/harrach-documented-1860-classical-period-vases/
Thank you for the link Brian!